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A pleasant surprise from our youngest contributor

Friday, April 16th, 2010

MY BEST FRIEND

By Cecilia Roy (8 years old)

My best friend is Peaceful paradise, the horse.

I love to ride on him. He listens to me nicely.

Those days, I didn’t have many friends.

So, I made Peaceful paradise one of my best friends.

We brought him for me from the Delhi race Course.

The day we bought him I was very happy because my wish was to ride on a horse which was granted.

We named him Peaceful paradise because he was as peaceful as a Paradise.

When I first rode him I felt as if I was dreaming.

The second and third time I felt very very happy.

And sometimes I got scared. Now I know how to stop and control him.

I like brown horses. So, we bought a brown horse.

After every ride, I would give him a pat – to say thank you

Sometimes, I take him for grazing – some nice fresh juicy grass.

I used to leave him free and he used to feel nice.  He never tried to run away and was happy being with me.

Jack Yeats, For the Road. National Gallery of Ireland

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Posted in Animal Friendships, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Best of Friends – Owen and Mzee

Monday, March 29th, 2010

Contributed by, Nicola Gothard

Owen and Mzee are a hippopotamus and a tortoise, respectively, that became the subject of much media attention after forming a unique bond of friendship.

A baby hippopotamus, Owen, was orphaned in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Kenya near Malindi during the Indian Ocean earthquake on December 26, 2004. The baby hippo, weighing 600 pounds (270 kg), was stranded on a large rock not far from shore. He was finally rescued during a day long effort by nearly 1,000 villagers using shark nets.

Owen was taken to Haller Park, a restored limestone quarry near Mombasa. He was released into a large wooded penned-in area that included a pond and a co-inhabitant − a 700-pound (320 kg), 130-year-old Aldabran tortoise named Mzee (Swahili for “wise old man”).

Owen immediately bonded to Mzee and would crouch behind him. However, Mzee initially resisted Owen’s overtures. Over time, the old tortoise came to accept the young hippo, who began to mimic his adoptive parent. Gradually, Mzee taught Owen what to eat and where to sleep.

In the first year, the two became inseparable companions who ate, slept, swam, and played together. Owen often played with the old tortoise by jumping on Mzee’s back, scratching the old tortoise on the neck, and in many other ways. They surprised scientists with the strength of what appeared to be a genuine bond, as well as with the unique vocal communication that developed between them.

Now they have a whole website and books dedicated to their special friendship. If you are interested in learning more about Owen and Mzee, click here.

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Posted in Animal Feelings, Animal Friendships, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Thailands Tiger Temple Sue Conservationists for exposing them

Friday, March 26th, 2010

Contributed by, Nicola Gothard

The infamous monks of the tiger temple in Thailand are sueing three prominent members of animal rescue organisations for daring to tell the truth about them. You may think this is not very monk like behaviour but then neither is animal explotation and cruelty and turning a profit through the deception of naive tourists.

Edwin Wiek, founder and director of Wildlife Friends of Thailand, Sawan Sangbunlang of the Thai Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Dr. Surapon Duangkae of the Wildlife Fund Thailand have been charged over remarks in an April 2009 article published in the “Thai Post,”. In the report, accusations were made concerning illegal possession of and trade in tigers at the temple, and abuse of the animals. If convicted, they could face jail sentences.

Hundreds of foreign tourists daily visit the Tiger Temple to see and take pictures with the tigers. It is a lucrative business. The entrance fee is 500 baht (US $15) per person while making “special photos” costs 1,000 baht (US$30) extra. For a morning experience, people pay 4,500 baht (US$120) per person to feed the cubs and watch the cub exercise session.

The Tiger Temple’s success is based around claims that its tigers were rescued from poachers and live and move freely and peacefully amongst the temple’s monks, who are actively engaged in conservation and rescue work.However, undercover investigations by the British wildlife charity Care for the Wild International, conducted from 2005-2008, revealed evidence of tigers at the facility being regularly beaten with wooden sticks and clubs, being forced to sit in direct sunshine for hours, and being kept in poor conditions with inadequate food.The CWI investigators observed that when tigers are not obedient before, during or after the photo-sessions they are sprayed by the keepers with urine from bottles in their eyes and faces and/or hit with wooden sticks on their backs and heads.Tigers are reported to be extremely lethargic during photo sessions, leading to concerns they may be drugged. I think it is highly likely they are drugged. It would not be safe to beat a tiger with a stick unless it had no means of defending itself.It is truly disgusting self deception that people think that the tigers would behave that way without being drugged – tigers don’t just sit there so limp and lifeless even if they are in the ‘calming presence of monks’.

When I visited Thailand in 2006 I was offered a trip to the tiger temple by a travel agent on Khao San Road. I have to admit for a second I considered it. Who wouldn’t want to touch a tiger and have their photo taken with one? However, I didn’t go because I knew that whilst I would enjoy the experience very much – the tiger would not. I think we forget all too often that other animals are not here for our convenience. I also know somebody that did go there and he said that the tigers were controlled by suddenly opening umbrellas in their faces to scare them and he observed them licking white powder off the floor. He instantly regretted going, as do many tourists, but by that point the monks already have your cash.

Any dangerous wild animal that is been cared for properly with respect to it’s natural behaviour and instincts will not be available for a photo opportunity or petting time. Apart from the animal welfare considerations, a  conservation organisation that is to be taken seriously will know that human contact will not do the tigers any good. It is important that they are fearful of people, so that they don’t stray near human settlements and cause conflict and also to avoid poachers. It is also important to maintain the behavioural integrity of the animal when breeding for conservation. If you domesticate them, they will not know how to behave like tigers and they won’t be able to pass information on to the next generation. If you selectively breed animals for tameness or the ability to deal with captivity, you are already changing the gene pool and it is too late to save them. If we only breed tigers in captivity that can’t fend for themselves – we will be creating living fossils. They will look like tigers but they will not be tigers.

Please don’t visit any tourist attractions that use animals for entertainment. As a hard and fast rule – if you are allowed to touch the animals, it is not a good thing for animal welfare or conservation, particuarly with wild predatory animals. It is also very unsafe for you. You better hope they are drugged, de-toothed and de-clawed to within an inch of their lives or you probably wouldn’t escape with yours! You never know when natural instincts will kick in or even when the animal will lose it’s temper and snap! We saw an example of this all too recently when Tilly, the Orca at Seaworld, drowned her trainer.

If you are interested in learning more about the tiger temple – please visit this website

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Posted in Animals & Tourism, Captive Wild Animals, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Middle-east animal trade can ‘no longer be ignored’

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

The trade in endangered animals is flourishing in the Middle East, fueled by corruption, ineffective legislation and poor law enforcement.

“It’s a problem in the Arab world that we can no longer ignore,” said Marguerite Shaarawi, co-founder of the animal rights group, Animals Lebanon. The group is pushing for Lebanon to join the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), whose signatories are meeting this month in Qatar. It is the first time the 175-nation convention is meeting in an Arab country. Lebanon and Bahrain are the only Arab countries yet to sign the convention.

John Sellar, chief enforcement officer for CITES, said it is difficult to estimate the extent of the illegal trade in the Arab world, but Animals Lebanon estimates that it is the third largest illegal trade in the region, after weapons and drugs.

“Much of the illegal trade that takes place here is of a specialized nature,” Sellar said, citing the example of prize falcons, kept by many Arab sheiks in desert encampments, particularly in the United Arab Emirates. “We’ve also seen some smuggling of very exotic species … like very rare parrots, young chimpanzees, gorillas and leopards that seem to be for the private collections of some of the rich individuals in the Gulf area,” he said.

In September, a 2-year-old lion cub was rescued by members of another local animal welfare organization after he was apparently abandoned off the main road in Beirut by the owner of the pet shop that imported him. The severely dehydrated animal was malnourished with open sores on his body, Attempts were made to save the animal, but it died shortly after it was found.

Find out more about the work of Animals Lebanon here.

Source: Y Net News

Anna Claxton

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Posted in Animals in the News, Uncategorized, Wild Animals | No Comments »

Animal Testing: more animals and more support than ever before

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

Contributed by, Nicola Gothard

According to an article in Telegraph today, there is more support for animal testing than ever before and we can thank animal rights extremists for it!

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills released new figures that reveal how public opposition to scientific and medical research involving animals has fallen by 10 per cent in the past 10 years.

A survey conducted by Ipsos MORI shows that just a third of British adults would like a ban on animal experimentation, while the number of people who now unconditionally accept the need for animal research has increased by 28 per cent since 1999.

It comes at a time when the use of animals in experiments has reached an all-time high. Nearly 3.7 million experiments were performed on animals last year, a rise of 454,000, or 14 per cent, on the previous year.

It’s not all bad news though, Over the past five years, the Government has invested £80 million in research aimed at finding alternatives to animal testing through the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research.

So are they right? Is this unfortunate rise in support due to the very people that wanted to end animal testing? Well, in part, yes- I think they are right. The public don’t like extremism and violence. Some animal rights extremists have done terrible things including threats against researchers families, digging up graves and physical attacks.

I am strongly opposed to animal testing on moral grounds. I think all animals are equal in that they can all suffer and have an equal interest in not doing so. I also think  that it is not morally acceptable to take one life to save a million or any other number. I don’t think you can weigh something as sacred as a life. If you take the life of one animal, you take everything from it. I just don’t think lives can be additive. If one life is 100% important – you can’t get greater  than that and by adding the worth of lives together it doesn’t increase the worth – it’s 100% whether it be one, two or ten million.

So, even coming from such a perspective,  I totally disagree with animal rights extremism for two reasons. Firstly, I don’t think extreme actions are going to win the hearts and minds of the public. If these people genuinely care about ending animal testing, then they need to think strategically. Sometimes we all want to scream and shout and cry but we understand and have done since our parents refused to respond to such tantrums since the age of three, that such behaviour is counter-productive. You will not win the sympathy of the public by setting yourself apart from them and by scaring them in to submission. I am also opposed extremism because people matter to me as much as animals. It is not right to subject them to a life of living in fear. It is not right to bully people in to doing what you want and it is not right that such people should get to play the victim card – we should not give them that power.

Like it or not, people rule the world and they make the decisions about what is right and wrong – therefore it is vitally important to stop targeting the researchers and start to try and win over society. I don’t believe you will win over the public by appealing to their better natures either. People are inherently selfish creatures. They don’t want to die and they on the whole value human life above all else, especially when it comes to prolonging it. Therefore in my opinion, if we want to win the war on animal testing, we must show the public that it is no longer neccessary. Alternatives to animal testing have been under development for some time now. We must show people that they work  just as well and ending animal testing doesn’t have to be a choice between their lives and animal life but a simple matter of progress.

If you are interested in finding out more about the alternatives to animal testing please visit the Dr Hadwin Trust Website.

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Posted in Animals in the News, Lab Animals, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Palm oil killing orangutans

Friday, March 19th, 2010

Contributed by, Nicola Gothard

This week Green Peace launched a campaign to force Nestle to stop sourcing their palm oil from Sinar Mas – an unethical palm oil supplier which cuts down areas of prime rainforest without government permits for palm oil plantations.

Palm oil is the single biggest threat to the rainforests and the animals which live in them (including the orangutan). The United Nations Environment Programme says palm oil production is the main cause of deforestation, which is occurring at a rate of about 2% per year. The industry could drive the orangutan to extinction within 12 years.Vast tracts of forest are been cleared every year to make way for lucrative palm oil plantations. This kills many animals and displaces others from their homes. In Indonesia, the area of land occupied by palm oil plantations has doubled in the last 10 years. Over the past 60 years Indonesia has lost an area of rainforest three times the size of the UK.  Indonesia is also the world’s third largest carbon emitter, largely as a result of deforestation and the burning of peatlands.

Most UK supermarkets, importers and manufacturers have refused to take action to get their palm oil from less destructive sources.A Friends of the Earth survey showed that 84% of UK companies don’t even know where their palm oil comes from.

In late 2009, Greenpeace released a report alleging that Sinar Mas was clearing rainforest and peatland without permits from the government. Unilever and Kraft both suspended contracts with Sinar Mas subsidiaries as a result. At the time, Nestlé said it would make its own investigations into the matter.  This prompted Greenpeace to target their campaign action on Nestle this week. Nestle have responded by saying that they do not source their palm oil from sinar mas but they did admit to purchasing it from Cargil who source their oil from Sinar Mas. They said they will take corrective action if Sinar Mas don’t answer Greenpeace’s allegations by the end of April. It seems to me like they are  just stalling for more time. If you would like to take action and force Nestle’s hand please visit greenpeace’s website and send their letter to Nesle’s CEO and share on Facebook.

Although other companies have made more of an effort than Nestle; none appear to be blame free. A lot of top brands have made a commitment to source sustainable palm oil by 2015 – this is not really good enough! If  deforestation continues at current rate and doesn’t increase – another 10% of rainforest will have been destroyed by then!  Panarama recently conducted an investigation aptly named ‘dying for a biscuit’ – if you are interested in what they found out, including the results of surveys anwered by top companies click here.

My advice would be to boycott all products containing palm oil until you can be sure that the supply chain is ethical and sustainable!


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Posted in Ethical Eating, Uncategorized, Wild Animals | No Comments »

How can we know how other animals feel?

Friday, March 12th, 2010

Contributed by, Nicola Gothard, MSc.

Testing a cows preference for a cooling shower in California!

There are good reasons to believe that all animals are sentient and experience emotion. From an evolutionary perspective, caring about what happens to you and even recognizing an inner sense of self that is separate from others, gives you a survival advantage.

An animal doesn’t have to do something extremely clever to be capable of experiencing emotion and in the very wise words of 18th century philosopher Jeremy Bentham, “The question is not, can they reason? Nor, can they talk? But, can they suffer?’’

As Humans we have a preoccupation with the importance of language. We wonder how we could possibly know how other animals feel when they can’t tell us with words. However, at the same time we all acknowledge that ‘talk is cheap’ and ‘actions speak louder than words’ so why shouldn’t this also apply to other animals?

The most crucial aspect of an emotion is that it matters to us. Therefore if we want know that other animals experience emotion we need to look for signs that they care about what happens to them.

Researchers have begun to study animal emotion using preference tests. Fish have been trained to swim through hoops, raccoons to press levers and pigeons to peck keys to name but a few examples of training animals to express what matters to them. Rewards can include mates, nesting material, food or even audio recordings. The reasoning being that the more the animal is willing to ‘pay’ the more something matters to them.

To use a farm animal example, Hens don’t like going through small holes, so we can test how much they want something by putting a barrier between them and what we think they might want. The cost the hen is willing to pay can be measured by varying the size of the gap – the smaller the gap the higher the price.

Bubier (1990) found that hungry hens will hesitate, eventually passing through small gaps to access food when they are too hungry to resist. Hens are social animals spending much of their time with other hens when given the choice. So it was surprising to find that although they preferred the company of other hens, they were not willing to pay a price to get to them. Yet they would squeeze through small gaps to access a floor with litter to peck and scratch at and immediately prior to laying, hens would pay ANY price to access a nest box. This is interesting because it shows that things matter to hens and not necessarily in the order that we would presume. It also suggests that caged hens must experience a strong sense of frustration every day when they come to lay an egg or dustbathe.

This is just one way in which we can unravel animal sentience and begin to discover how other animals feel.

Reference

Bubier, N (1990) Behavioural Priorities of Laying Hens. D. Phil, thesis. University of Oxford

Dawkins, M.S. (1998) Through Our Eyes Only. Oxford University Press. Pp 43-52.

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Posted in Animal Welfare Science, Uncategorized | No Comments »

All in favour please say “neigh”

Sunday, March 7th, 2010

Swiss voters will go to the polls on 7th March, 2010, to decide whether or not to appoint state-funded lawyers across the country to represent animals in court.

Supporters of the idea say such lawyers would help deter cases of animal cruelty and neglect, by making sure that those who did abuse or neglect animals would be properly punished.

Opponents, however, claim that Switzerland, which already has strict animal protection laws, does not need any more legislation and that taxpayers money would be better spent elsewhere.

Zurich already has had its own animal lawyer for a number of years; Antoine Goetschel is the only state-funded lawyer in Switzerland who goes to court to speak on behalf of animals. His clients include dogs and cats, guinea pigs, cows, horses and sheep, even, recently, a large pike, fished from Lake Zurich.

“People accused of animal cruelty very often hire lawyers to defend themselves,” Mr Goetschel pointed out. “Why shouldn’t someone speak for the animal as well?”

Source: BBC News

Anna Claxton

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