28 September, 2010

Primates Exploited All Over the World

In the news this week, three cases of primate abuse, all for different reasons, all in different countries, and all for the amusement, or benefit of the public.


First, over in Japan, a monkey has been seen to cling desperately to a young boar as he runs around Fukuchiyama Zoo in Kyoto, wild eyed and scared while onlookers scream and laugh. Both animals are clearly too young to be away from their parents and a responsible zoo would have procedures in place to ensure that young animals, such as these, are given the chance to grow up and behave naturally.




The Boar and Monkey at a Japanese Zoo.


Meanwhile, in China, a travesty of a ‘wedding’ was conducted in Hefei, in east China's Anhui province, with two chimpanzees as the ‘bride’ and ‘groom.’ Reports say the four year old male, Yangyang, was brought over from Guinea. This is particularly worrying as chimpanzees are listed under appendix 1 in CITES, meaning that all trade is prohibited, except for reasons not being commercial, such as scientific research. Chimpanzees are endangered, and dressing them up in garish clothes and parading them around in a ‘mock’ wedding ceremony is not an effective way to teach people that apes need protection. Indeed, it is fiascos like this that encourage people to view them as things for our entertainment.

Finally, to protect tourists and athletes during the Commonwealth Games, India has deployed an ‘army’ of 10 langurs to scare away the Indian bonnet monkeys, which have a reputation of attacking humans. There are better ways to deter monkeys from the public, and using wild animals is not an ideal, let alone ethical method to use. With the large numbers of people expected to arrive at the Commonwealth Games, and the sheer noise they will make, the langurs themselves are at risk of becoming scared, and potentially becoming a liability.



A Novel Way to Deter Monkeys from Harassing Tourists.

Let’s hope that the new species of gibbon found in Asia will not be subjected to the same treatment as these unfortunate primates, and instead, are granted full protection, which is enforced.

20 September, 2010

Clinton Goes Vegan (Almost) for Health

Explaining how Chelsea had asked him to slim down for her wedding day, Clinton has declared that he is ‘pretty much a vegan, only eating fish occasionally.’ He says that he is trying to stay healthy so that he can stay alive and fit for any grandchildren he may have.

Clinton explains his vegan diet.

He also talks about Dr. Esselstyn's diet, how several hundred people, since 1986, have eaten only a plant based diet, and the remarkable results that have ensued, how the calcium deposits around their heart have broken down, significantly reducing the risk of heart disease.

Vegan diets are becoming more and more popular, not just for those with animal welfare in the mind, but also with health too. A vegan diet is a greener diet, not just for your body, but also for the world. If President Clinton can do it, why shouldn’t we too?

19 September, 2010

South Korea Considers Banning Vile Bear Bile Farms

Great news from WSPA and Green Korea United (GKU), it looks hopeful that South Korea will put an end to bear bile farming, aiming to have a policy in place by the end of 2010, provided it can secure enough support from the relevant authorities.

The South Korean government should be applauded for taking this huge step forward, as South Korea is one of a handful of countries that still farm bears for bile, using horrific and gruesome methods to house the bears before they are slaughtered to extract the bile. This age old method is still in place despite many other herbal alternatives.

Throughout Asia, around 12,000 bears are housed in tiny cages, resting on bars for their entire life. Naturally, the bears are showing signs of psychological distress; bar biting, rocking and head banging. To extract the bile, which is thought to cure a range of diseases, the bears, depending on the country are either:

1. Raised in a cage until a certain age, and then killed and the gall bladder removed.


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An Entire Bear Gall Bladder. Source: www.acres.org.sg




2. An ultrasound machine is used to locate the gall bladder and a syringe is inserted in the area, and the bile removed.


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Bear with 'Modern' method of extracting bile. Source: Animals Asia




3. An open wound leading to the gall bladder is created and a catheter is inserted to let the bile drip out. In order to maintain this method, the wound needs to be reopened several times a day.


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Catheter Used to Extract Bile. Source: www.all-creature.org





The conditions of the bear farms actually means that instead of working as a medicine, bear bile can actually cause harm to those who take it, due to the unhygienic conditions the bears are kept in, and the methods used to extract it.


WSPA reports that there are 1,400 bears currently being farmed in South Korean bear farms, where, unlike most other bear bile farming countries, in South Korea it is illegal to extract the bile while the bears are alive, instead the bears are kept in cramped cages until they reach ten years and are then slaughtered and the bile extracted.

If the South Korean government does push ahead for a ban, then it will provide hope, not only for the bears housed in the farms, but for all those who are working in the exhausting field of ending bear bile farming. The government actually informally asked WSPA and GKU to investigate feasible methods to phase out farming in the country, a positive and progressive sign.

Not only is bear bile consumed in the countries with farms, but the bile and the gall bladders are illegally imported to countries all over the world, including Singapore.

If you use traditional medicines, please ensure that your practitioner does not use any endangered animals in their products, including tiger parts or bear bile. If you live in a country that does not farm the animals, then they would have been imported, which is illegal and against CITES. If you do live in a country that farms, ask for herbal alternatives. Once the buying stops, the killing stops.

17 September, 2010

Elephants and Humans: A History of Torture, Abuse and Degradation

Mae Ka Pae is the 13th elephant to tread on a landmine on the Thailand/Burma (Myanmar) border. The mine that she trod on has shredded her left foot, and she is currently being cared for by Friends of the Asian Elephant, in the north Thai border.

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Mae Ka Pae is another victim of land mines.



The elephant was thought to have been allowed to cross the border into Burma, in order to find food; it was during this crossing that she stepped on the mine, which would have been left as a result of the conflict between the Myanmar government and ethnic minority rebels.

Friends of the Asian Elephant have experienced vets, who have been providing elephants in similar circumstances with artificial limbs. The first elephant to be fitted with an artificial leg was Mosha, in 2007.

Over the centuries, elephants have always had a subservient relationship with humans, from carrying royalty, used as an old style tank during times of war, being used as a mode of transport over long distances, hunted for their tusks for ivory, during temple festivals and blessing pilgrims and more recently in circuses performing tricks. Current day finds them being used for logging purposes, and, increasingly, as a huge tourist draw, with backpackers and families flocking to Thailand to ride on an elephant.

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An elephant used during war time.



Sadly, the conditions the elephants are raised in for logging, circuses and tourist riding centres, are not shown in the happy tourist/happy elephant photos. Westerners dream of being able to ride an elephant, imagining bonding with these majestic animals. The truth is that in order to ‘tame’ these strong, wild animals, first, their spirit must be broken, this is done via the method of ‘Phajaan,’ where elephants as young as 4 years old are ripped from their mothers and suffer horrific torture until they are deemed to have had their ‘spirit broken.’ They are tied and bound by ropes and chains and contained in a pen where they cannot move, they are held there for days and weeks, usually denied food and water until their mahout has decided they are ready.



Once the elephant is ‘trained’ they are then suitable for unsuspecting tourists to ride upon, feeling they are helping save the elephant, as usually the places they ride the elephants will state they are ‘saving’ the elephants, or are an ‘eco-park.’ Despite their size, carting around up to four people, plus over sized saddle on their back has a detrimental effect on the physical wellbeing of these intelligent animals.

Even after the Phajaan, the torture for the elephant does not stop there, the ‘ankus,’ a short stick with sharp curved hook at the end, is used to control the elephant. The hook is dug into the most sensitive parts of the elephants’ body, such as, behind the ear, on the forehead and trunk area. You just need to get close to an elephant after a show at a zoo to see the nick wounds on their face. Some zoos will try to hide the hook on the end of the stick by placing a brush on the end, but the hook is still there.


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Various ankuses used when training elephants. Source: www.upali.ch



Once an elephant is deemed too old, too unwell to work in the logging industry or the tourist industry, they are no use to the mahouts who have ‘trained’ them. For the lucky ones, in the north of Thailand, they may go to Lek’s elephant rescue, Elephant Nature Park. It is here that elephants can retire in peace, not having to be ridden on again, to ease their aching backs and hopefully heal their psychological wounds. As we know, elephants are social animals, with complex relationships, that have been known to mourn their dead and care for each others’ children. The emotional effects of the treatment they have received throughout their life runs deep.

So, let’s hope that Mae Ka Pae is able to retire now, and that the talented vets at Friends of the Asian elephant can help her to walk free of pain and unhindered, like Mosha.
If you are travelling to South East Asia, do the elephants a favour, and don’t support the elephant ride or mahout training centres, there is a dark secret behind the happy tourist photos. Once the demand stops, the supply will stop.

15 September, 2010

Fur the Sake of a Coat.

As Sweden looks to vote on whether to have an outright ban on fur farms, previously fox farms were banned, fur has hit the catwalks again ready for the autumn/fall season. Celebrities who have been off the radar recently have been seen to be endorsing the skin of farmed animals. Who knows what has possessed them to make this decision, let’s hope it isn’t just to make the headlines in order to revive their careers. Brooke Shields and Janet Jackson, to name but a few, have been seen not just wearing, but advertising fur.

Animals farmed for fur are kept in tiny cages, similar to those in puppy mills, which for solitary animals, such as mink, this can be psychologically damaging, leading to stereotypical behaviour such as self-mutilation (biting off one’s own paws and limbs).

We know how the animals are drowned, gassed or electrocuted to death, you can’t slit the animal’s throat, gash wounds do not look too good on a wolf skin coat. If you haven’t seen the footage, you can watch the trailer for the latest documentary, Skin Trade, which highlights the gruesome methods used.

However, the age old fur trade it hitting back, ‘fur is green’ is the new slogan often used to justify butchering animals for luxury fashion items. The Fur Council of Canada implies that without the fur industry’s trapping of wild animals for fur there would be a population boom and ‘Nature’ would not be able to support the surplus animals and even rabies would be rife. Tell that to the beavers in the UK.

As for the welfare of farmed animals, the Council says that ”the optimal standards for the nutrition, housing, husbandry and euthanasia of farmed-raised mink and fox are set out in Recommended Codes of Practice developed by Agriculture Canada,” this is not a law, and is only a guideline. The Council goes on to state that, “there is a strong incentive to respect these codes because there is no other way to produce high quality fur; farmers who do not care for their animals will not remain in business very long.”

With all due respect to the Council, I highly doubt that Janet Jackson and Kanye West visited the intensively farmed animals and hand-picked which ones would be killed for their coat.

Fur has become the texture of the moment.” Fur is not a texture. It is the skin of an animal that has been ripped from its body while it was still warm and often still alive. Fur was worn in the Stone Ages because it was the only source of warmth available. Today, there are plenty of ecological friendly materials that can be worn. Fur is tacky, and trashy. Even if it is ‘looked after’ it will smell eventually.



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Brooke Shields and Cruella de Ville: Two women who like to wear fur. Any resemblance is purely coincidental




Like shark’s fin soup, once a symbol of wealth, it is so readily available, mass produced so cheaply, anyone can afford it. You just have to come across to Asia to see how cheap both products can be produced.


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Source: PETA files. Fur Free and fabulous!




These women have denounced fur, and their careers are still going strong, Brooke.

02 September, 2010

At What Cost Conservation? Polar Bears in Tropical Zoos.

Polar bears, think of polar bears and no doubt snow will spring to mind, wide vast land with snow, or at least, during the warmer months, grass. You don’t expect to see concrete floors and cramped enclosures. Sadly, for many polar bears in zoos, this is the case.

There are polar bears in zoos all over the world. In the UK, the last polar bear,Mercedes, was moved to a larger enclosure to live out the rest of her years in a slightly colder climate.

Meanwhile, over in Asia, the Singapore Zoo has been making the news. The polar bear enclosure has attracted criticism from local animal welfare charity, ACRES (Animal Concerns Research and Education Society). ACRES has been monitoring the polar bears plight since 2005, where they discovered that in the Singapore heat, of up to 32 degrees C, the bears have been showing signs of heat stress and the stereotypical behaviours observed in zoo animals that do not have enough space.


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Singapore Zoo Bears. Source: www.acres.org.sg




In recent news, the Singapore Zoo has declared it will be making changes to the bear’s enclosure. They will be making the new enclosure 3.5 times bigger than the current one, it will be 1,400 sq m, considering a solitary bear’s home range can be a few hundred miles, the enclosure will fall short again. Not even considering that the mother and son relationship is completely unnatural, Inuka, the 18 year old male should have left home a long time ago.

The new enclosure will have soil so that the bears no longer will have to walk and rest on hard concrete, ideally it will be deep enough for them to dig down and make beds and dens.

At what cost will this enclosure be to the climate? Polar bears are arctic animals; even running in the freezing cold can cause them to overheat. So, in order to maintain an ideal temperature the zoo is making the new enclosure climate controlled. Imagine the financial and environmental cost to keep this running. Sure, the polar bears at the zoo may be cold, but what about their wild arctic cousins? Their ice caps are going to be melting, just to keep the two Singapore Zoo bears cool! Surely, it is better just to put the two bears on a plane and transport them to pastures cold?

The IUCN red list classifies polar bears as Vulnerable, listing the main threat to them as climate change, so while it is important to ensure that polar bears do not disappear completely, keeping them in an enclosure that contributes to climate change is irresponsible.

Animal Abuse in the Media

The recent video of a young woman throwing week old puppies into a river, has horrified all who have watched it.

Hopefully the video is a fake (like the recent fox killings), but watching the squirming and yelping puppies in her hands before she throws them into the river appears to be the Real McCoy.

Sadly, drowning puppies and kittens in rivers has been a method of ‘population control’ for years, especially on farms. In fact, poet Seamus Heaney even wrote an entire poem about growing up where drowning kittens was common place.

The reason for the outcry? The media. With the internet now accessible to almost everyone, videos and pictures depicting animal cruelty are available everywhere.
Recently, a facebook group which tortured and murdered animals and then posted the videos on the group was removed. On the internet, you can find crush videos (videos showing young women in stilettos squashing animals with their feet), animals being tortured and videos depicting animals being hunted. An American court has even placed protection on these videos, as they come under the First Amendment, namely, the freedom of speech.

However, the coverage of these videos means it has been possible in some cases to identify the person in the video. In the case of the woman who bizarrely dumped a cat in a wheelie bin outside a home, only because the cats’ owners placed the video on the internet were people able to identify her. The police and RSPCA are now looking at prosecuting Mary Bale.

Hopefully, with the wide coverage of the puppy deaths, someone out there will be able to identify her, and hopefully the country she resides in, has strong animal welfare laws. What is most horrifying about this video; is the sheer pleasure she seems to take in throwing the defenceless pups into the water.

Whilst publishing this post, a sanctuary goat was brutally mutilated; hopefully the internet sleuths can focus on finding out who tortured this poor animal, who had to be euthanized because of his extensive injuries.