Animal Earth Human

By Natacha Khalife

Special to The Daily Star
Monday, November 30, 2009

BEIRUT: A woman enters the veterinary clinic of Animals Lebanon (AL), holding a cage in which a red-haired, blue-eyed kitten is loudly meowing. The red-faced woman is screaming; she seems angry. She comes to the front desk of the clinic, opens the cage and throws the kitten at an AL volunteer before leaving and slamming the door.

“We demanded she bring back this kitten that she adopted here,” said Safa Hojeij, one of the founders of AL. A brown kitten with a skin infection is sleeping in her arms, and she adds that the same woman also adopted this kitten. However, a volunteer saw the woman this morning throw this kitten in a trash can.

“We do not want our animals to be treated like that, even if it means that we have to take them back to the clinic,” she said.

This episode embodies the typical Lebanese mentality concerning animals that AL and Beirut for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (BETA) are fighting against, said Jason Mier, executive director of AL, and Nathalie Semaan, a volunteer in BETA.

However, two special stories have recently raised interest for animals in Lebanon, said Hojeij and Semaan. In February, AL helped to close an entire zoo where animals were neglected and underfed. It took six months of negotiations with the owner to rescue the 42 animals of the zoo, said Hojeij. “This brought a huge amount of awareness to the issue of zoos in the Middle East,” said Mier.

Then, two months ago, a sick and mistreated lion was found almost dead in a small cage covered by a tarpaulin sheets in the Karantina area of Beirut by BETA, said Semaan. This case was extraordinary because it was the first time in Lebanon that a judge issued a decision to remove an animal from its owners because of mistreatment. The lion, named Adam, died one week ago.

These stories triggered a wave of solidarity for animals, said Semaan. After the story of the zoo, donations for AL exploded, said Hojeij.

“In 12 months … we raised $144,000,” said Mier. BETA also noticed a rise of donations following the story of the lion, said Semaan.

Moreover, more and more people have been attending the events organized the associations. On World Animals Day on October 4, about 100 people walked with 25 dogs in the streets of Downtown Beirut, said Semaan.

Lana al-Khalil, president of AL, is the ambassador of World Animal Day in Lebanon, so AL was very involved in this event, trying to create a bond between animals and people, said Hojeij. “World Animal Day was a great success,” she added.

The number of people in BETA’s Facebook group also reflects the Lebanese growing involvement in animal welfare. After Adam the lion was found, the number of members on BETA’s Facebook group doubled, said Semaan. The Facebook group of BETA counts 416 members, and Animals Lebanon has 653 fans.

In spite of this rising awareness, improving animal welfare in Lebanon still faces a lot of difficulties. Only one law protects animals in Lebanon; if someone is caught mistreating an animal, she or he has to pay a fine of LL10,000.

“It is ridiculous – LL10,000 is nothing,” said Semaan.

Lebanon’s legislature is behind a lot of countries concerning animals’ rights.

AL is campaigning for Lebanon to sign the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES), an international agreement between governments, which aims to ensure that “international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival,” said the CITES Web site.

BETA, meanwhile, is seeking to extend legal protection for animals to include regulations as laid down by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).

“WSPA is a program which contains about 200 pages of regulations and laws to protect animals, and Lebanon does not even follow one of them,” Semaan said.

Lebanon’s law makers should also create regulations concerning the running of pet shops, said Semaan.

The majority of pet shops in Lebanon are just economically focused and not concerned about their animals’ welfare, said Shadi Tarek, a veterinarian and owner of a pet shop.

“They just want to sell and do not care about what’s going to happen to the animal,” he added. To open a pet shop, people should have a license, added Hojeij.

People’s mentality also holds back the progress of animals’ rights in Lebanon.

“People teach their kids that beating an animal makes them stronger,” said Semaan. Even if some people are joining the animal’s cause, many still doubt the importance of the matter, said Hojeij.

To remedy the animals’ bad treatment the associations focus on awareness, hoping that changing mentality will lead to a modification of laws. AL and BETA organize a lot of programs to foster a love of animals among Lebanese citizens, said Hojeij.

BETA runs a community service where children from the International College come to the group’s shelters of to take the dogs on a walk, said Semaan. For its part, AL has five school children volunteers, said Hojeij.

Informing prospective pet owners of the realities of caring for animals is also used to change attitudes.

People do not really realize the difficulties of having animals, said Hojeij.

“When someone comes in my pet shop to buy an animal, I first scare him or her by compiling all the difficulties that an animal implicates. If she or he still wants to buy the animal, it means that they’re ready,” said Tarek.

Advertisements also play a great role in raising the awareness of Lebanese people concerning animals.

“In the last 12 months we have had tens of thousands of radio spots, more than 50,000 flyers and brochures distributed, and this definitely gets more people interested and talking,” said Mier.

To inform a broader spectrum of the population, AL and BETA organize publicity events, said Hojeij and Semaan.

“Events are a way to touch people that usually do not care about animals,” added Hojeij. Thus AL organized parties to sensitize the young generation about animals, said Hojeij.

The groups hold parties at private houses and venues such as Snatch and B018, said Mier. As well as raising awareness, these events are also a way to earn money for the association, said Hojeij.

But the groups also take more concrete measures to directly improve animals’ welfare.

One of the main proceedings of AL and BETA is the Trap-Neuter-Return program, said Semaan and Hojeij. This consists of trapping a cat or a dog in the street, neutering the animal to prevent breeding, releasing the animal where it was found and providing basic food and water for the animal to live safely, said Hojeij.

BETA and AL also take abandoned animals that cannot have a high quality of life in the street and put them in shelters when they can.

“We currently have 55 animals in our care – most in the shelter,” said Mier.

BETA at this time puts up 240 dogs. Animals in shelters are vaccinated, neutered and put up for adoption. Adopting a cat cost $40, and a dog costs $80.

“In the last year we got about 210 cats and dogs adopted,” said Mier. BETA has found homes for about 500-700 dogs since 2004, added Semaan.

But the fight always goes on. AL was behind a pre-release of the movie New Moon on Monday at the Galaxy cinema in Beirut, three days before its official date of release. Half of the ticket price was donated to the association.

The next event will be the Beirut Marathon on December 6, where 10 percent of the donations will head to AL.

It is a lot of effort, but animals are important and deserve this fight, said Hojeij. Moreover, they contribute to the overall well-being of people, she added.

“It is very simple – proper animal welfare standards help relieve poverty, improve human health and increase respect for the general rule of law,” said Mier.

KATHMANDU, Nepal, November 22, 2009 (ENS) - Emotional appeals to Nepalese officials by animal advocates from around the world have not persuaded them to call a halt to the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of animals and birds planned for November 24 and 25 at a village in Bara district in southern Nepal.

Every five years, animals and birds are slaughtered in the name of the Hindu deity Gadhimai. The event on the premises of Gadhimai Temple in the village of Bariyapur is believed to be the largest ritual sacrifice anywhere in the world and draws thousands of visitors from India and Nepal.

French actress and animal advocate Brigitte Bardot is one of those who sent a letter to Nepal’s President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav, who is a Hindu, pleading with him to stop the Gadhimai sacrifice. “I have dedicated my life to protect animals and the best gift I could receive for this lifelong struggle would be the announcement of the stopping of ritual sacrifice of animals,” Bardot wrote. “I personally find it hard to imagine that your heart can withstand such cruelty, knowing that you, being the head of the country, are ultimately responsible.”

The advocacy organization Animal Nepal is organizing protest events in Kathmandu ahead of the event and filing a case at the Supreme Court, as well as performing a symbolic ritual blessing in the hope that compassion will reign.

In addition, the Animal Welfare Network Nepal, which shares the Animal Nepal headquarters office, has joined with Anti Animal Sacrifice Alliance in an 11th hour plea to head priest Mangal Chaudhary and organizing committee chairman Shiva Chandra Kushwaha to stop the killing.

An Animal Nepal poster protesting the Gadhimai sacrifice. (Photo courtesy Animal Nepal)

“We beg to you on our knees to consider our plea. You, as the main two responsible persons for the world’s largest animal sacrifice, have the ability to show wisdom, compassion and courage by doing everything in your power to abolish the killing of innocent creatures in the name of the God. If you do so, the world will always remember you as the key decision-makers in stopping the killings,” the groups wrote.

The plea was reinforced during a symbolic peace ritual today at the Gahawa Mai temple in Birgunj.

Animal Welfare Network Nepal has also petitioned Nepal’s ministers of tourism, agriculture, peace and law and justice to put an end to the sacrifice.

Humane Society International says, “This horrendous cruelty somehow existed without much publicity until this year. Animal advocates and religious leaders both within Nepal and around the world have displayed outrage and disgust and are working together to pressure on the Nepalese government to put a stop to the mass animal sacrifice.”

HSI and its supporters are beseeching Nepalese leaders with a letter writing campaign, saying, “Even tradition is no excuse for cruelty in a civilized society.”

In a November 3 article in the “Kathmandu Post,” Maneka Gandhi appealed to the people of Nepal to abandon the killing of animals at the Gadhimai Festival.

A minister in four governments, the Indian politician, animal rights activist, and environmentalist said that this is not a way to honor the goddess, who will be instead be dishonored by the deaths and suffering of the animals. “Priests frighten villagers into believing that terrible things will happen if the goddess is not placated with animal sacrifices,” she wrote.

She detailed the ways in which the festival is a profitable enterprise for priests, moneylenders and animal sellers. “The festival is a business, and profit is the motive for killing so many animals. Villagers go into debt to buy the animals to be sacrificed. Debt leads to bankruptcies, and when the small farmers’ lands are confiscated to become the property of large landowners, then the former farmers become day laborers,” wrote Gandhi. “The festival exploits both humans and animals.”

The local business community is expected to raise about two million euros from sales of animal hides and carcasses as well as payment for logistics and recreational facilities.

The Tibetan Buddhist master Lama Zopa Rinpoche is requesting that all Buddhist centers and students read the Golden Light Sutra and pray that the killing may be halted before it begins. “I have asked Kopan Gompa [near Kathmandu] to send some monks to read it at the stupa and make strong prayers for the sacrifice not to happen, to dedicate like that and of course dedicate for world peace,” said Lama Zopa in a widely circulated email.

The Buddha Boy, known for his Buddha-like ascetic life in the jungle, today moved to the Gadhimai Temple in an attempt to stop the sacrifice in the district where he was born and raised. Officially called by his Tibetan name Palden Dorje Tamang Rinpoche, or by his Nepali name Ram Bahadur Bomjan, he intends to preach non-violence and offer a blessing at the venue to stop the slaughter.

Animals slaughtered at a previous Gadhimai event (Photo by Hamroblog)

Pramada Shah, director and vice president of Animal Nepal, explains what will happen during the Gadhimai event. “The fair reaches its climax on an ‘auspicious’ day, when thousands of buffaloes are sacrificed. The blood letting that takes place turns the entire area into a marshy land of blood,” she says. “It is expected that this year some 60,000 young he-buffaloes will be killed, as well as an additional 140,000 chicken, goats, pigs, birds and other poultry.”

“The sacrifice starts with the offering of five different animals: pig, buffalo, goat, wild rats and birds which include chicken and pigeon. The different animals represent the mental obscurations sacrificed by the community including anger, stupidity and desire,” Shah explains. “After the sacrifice of the first animal, a goat, thousands of pigeons are sacrificed by severing their heads. Next three wild rats are brought and sacrificed before a comb-like pole.”

“After this,” says Shah, “more than 250 people carrying naked swords and axes wrapped in red clothes, all with a license to kill, approach the temple. They frantically rush towards the field where more than 7,000 young buffaloes are kept. Before the beasts are slaughtered, seven buffaloes tied to a pole undergo the sacrificial ritual.”

The animal advocates are also appealing to the Gadhimai visitors urging them to keep the animals at home or donate the animals to them. Animal Welfare Network Nepal and the Department of Livestock Services have made arrangements to shelter any donated animals.

Organizers of the sacrifice claim a slaughterhouse has been built at a cost of over five million rupees to kill the animals and about 250 butchers have been hired.

Nepal’s government, wary of new disruptions threatened by the former Maoist guerrillas, has declined to ban the slaughter despite warnings by animal experts that the killings could trigger swine flu, bird flu and cattle diseases and have severe impacts upon the environment.

Animal advocates request that flowers, fruits and vegetables, incense sticks, sweets and coconuts instead of animals and their blood be offered to appease the goddess.

NEPAL
by Kalpit Parajuli

In Bara district, where the ‘living Buddha’ meditates, more than a million Hindus are preparing to sacrifice half a million animals during the festival of Gadhimai Mela. Actress Brigitte Bardot wants the inhumane practice stopped. More than 12,000 police agents are mobilised for the occasion.

Kathmandu (AsiaNews) – Hundreds of Buddhists and animal rights activists are protesting against the Hindu festival of  Gadhimai Mela in Bayapur, Bara district (southeastern Nepal). During the event, half a million animals will be slaughtered. More than a million Hindu pilgrims are expected to gather for the occasion on 25 November. Nepali authorities have deployed more than 12,000 police officers.Gadhimai Mela is one of the most important festivities on the Hindu calendar and the largest sacrificial happening in the world. It usually lasts a week, ending on the third Friday of November.

During the celebrations, the faithful sacrifice animals like buffaloes, sheep and chickens in honour of the god Gadhimai. According to Hindu belief, such offerings reduce the god’s anger, and bring people luck and prosperity. 

However, Bara district is also a major Buddhist pilgrimage site. This is where Ram Bahadur Bomjan, known as the living reincarnation of the Buddha, meditates year round.

At present, hundreds of Buddhists and activists are praying with him to stop the animal sacrifice.

“The killing of animals in the name of sacrifice is the most serious crime. So it must be stopped immediately,” said Rinpoche Sange Rangjung, a Buddhist monk and protest leader. “In no religion are animal sacrifices prescribed”.

Demonstrators, who are backed by French actress and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot, are calling on the Nepali government to legislate in the matter to ban the practice in the future.