Govt. Rethinks Housing Exotic Animals At Mysore Zoo

“Whoever heard of a zoo not having a resident vet on site at all times? Little wonder animals are dying if there is no vet to oversee the daily management of the animals. Check out the deaths that have occurred at this zoo (at the end of this post), something is definitely not right if animals are dying left right & bloody centre…one more reason to close zoo’s; wild animals do not belong behind bars for the benefit of human entertainment!”

MYSORE: The series of animal deaths at the Mysore Zoo has worried the Zoo Authority of Karnataka, which has now decided to take a relook at housing exotic animals at the facility.

Two of the five green anacondas shipped in from Sri Lanka died within a year.

Now, the death of African hunting cheetah Tejas, who helped the Mysore facility in captive breeding of the big cat, has forced the ZAK to sit up and take note. “It is something serious and has to stop. I’ve decided to take it up on priority,” ZAK chairman Maruthi Rao Pawar told The Times of India.

African Hunting Cheetah Dies At Mysore Zoo

Tejas is suspected to have died of heart attack.

The zoo officials have sent the viscera to the Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals, Bangalore, for further testing.

According to vets, Tejas could have been killed due to the diet regimen here. Pawar said the big cat had high cholesterol (fat) which could have led to its sudden death. “We feed chicken and beef to the big cats housed in the zoo unlike abroad where horsemeat is fed,” he said.

Change in lifestyle in confinement could be a major contributor, a vet said.

“Given the back-to-back deaths, we are awaiting lab results and taking a re look at housing exotic animals at the Mysore facility,” Pawar said, adding they will consult experts in India and abroad.

“We lack vets to attend to the animals at the Mysore zoo. I’ve taken up the issue with the government,” he said. “WTF…no vet on site, how utterly stupid & incompetent; perhaps had there been a vet on site the cheetah could have been saved!”

News Link:–http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-02-11/mysore/37038569_1_mysore-zoo-exotic-animals-govt-rethinks

News Link To Cheetah Death:-http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-02-09/flora-fauna/37007471_1_mysore-zoo-b-p-ravi-leipzig-zoo

Information on Mysore Zoo in India

Mysore Zoo (officially the Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens) is a 245-acre (99 ha) zoo located near the palace in Mysore, India. It is one of the oldest and most popular zoos in Southern India, and is home to a wide range of species. Mysore Zoo is one of the city’s most popular

Elephant & Calf at Mysore Zoo

attractions. It was established under royal patronage in 1892, making it one of the oldest zoos in the world.

While mainly depending on entry fees for its financing, an adoption scheme introduced in the early 2000s at Mysore Zoo has been a success, with celebrities, institutions, and animal lovers contributing directly to the welfare of the zoo inmates.

Mysore Zoo Death Incidents:-

The zoo witnessed a series of animal deaths in 2004 and 2005. In August 2004, a lion-tail monkey (macaque) was found mysteriously dead.^[6] An emu and atiger were also reported to have died mysteriously. On September 4, 2004, an elephant died, reportedly of acute haemorrhagic enteritis and respiratory distress. It was reported that the illness in elephants were due to poisoning. As a safety measure, the zoo authority suspended several staff members who were allegedly responsible for the “gruesome killings”. Laboratory tests later confirmed that the two elephants, named Ganesha and Roopa, had been poisoned.^[7] This was followed by another elephant death (Komala) on 7 September despite heightened security. Komala had been scheduled to be transferred to Armenia in about a month.^[8]

On October 24, 2005, another elephant, Rohan along with his mate Ansul, died with suspicions of poisoning. The elephants were supposed to be sent toArmenia as a goodwill gesture. The Chief Minister of Karnataka immediately ordered a probe into the death of Ansul and Rohan.

Link:-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysore_Zoo

Circus Bosses On Trial For Cruelty To Elephant By Worker

“The story of  Anne the elephant, is very close to my heart! When the original news broke, with the video of her being beaten, I posted it onto Care 2; along with a petition & sent many letters to Lord Henley & the Government; including my MP. I was so pleased, when all the petitions put together made sure  she was able to leave that place, imagine being shackled to the floor unable to move but a step forward or back!

“The MF that beat Anne got wind of the news in advance, somebody grassed that they police were coming for him, which is why he did a runner. Who knows, perhaps the Roberts told him to go, thinking if he left the case would be over?  just hope that justice is served, & Anne did not suffer in vain; although I would have preferred the actual person seen beating Anne, to also be on trial!”

The trial of circus owners Bobby and Moira Roberts is due to go ahead on Monday 19 November, following video evidence filmed by ADI showing a worker of the Bobby Roberts’ Super Circus kicking and beating their elephant, Anne, at their winter quarters last year.

The worker caught on film left the country immediately.

Mr and Mrs Roberts are being jointly charged with a series of offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, to which they have pleaded not guilty:

1. Causing the elephant to suffer unnecessarily, by requiring the elephant to be chained to the ground at all times, contrary to section 4(1) of the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

2. Failing to take reasonable steps to prevent their employee from causing unnecessary suffering to the elephant, by repeatedly beating it, contrary to section 4(2) of the same Act.

3. Failing to take reasonable steps to ensure that the needs of the elephant were met to the extent required by good practice, contrary to section 9 of the same Act.

This is a test case, the first trial of circus owners and their responsibilities under the ‘duty of care’ detailed in the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

Anne is a 59 year old female elephant wild caught in Sri Lanka and bought by the Bobby Roberts’ Super Circus in the 1950s. Anne was transferred to a safari park with the owners’ consent following the release of the ADI video in 2011.

• Help us expose circus suffering – make a donation
• Read more about the trial

Here are a few of letters I sent regards Anne & animals in general in the circus. You can tell by my MP’s response to one letter;  I was implying that no animal should be forced to perform for human entertainment. Click on each page to read:-

 

News Link:-http://www.ad-international.org/animals_in_entertainment/go.php?id=2911&ssi=10

• Related
• https://preciousjules1985.wordpress.com/2012/06/20/anne-investigation-trial-update/
• https://preciousjules1985.wordpress.com/2012/04/06/trial-dates-set-for-anne-the-circus-elephant-case/
• https://preciousjules1985.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/owners-of-anne-the-circus-elephant-go-on-trial-for-animal-cruelty/

 

Owners of Anne the circus elephant go on trial for animal cruelty

The Northamptonshire owners of a circus elephant called Anne are to go on trial charged with causing unnecessary suffering.

Bobby and Moira Roberts will go on trial at Corby Magistrates’ Court.

The couple are accused of keeping Anne, a 58-year-old elephant brought from Sri Lanka to the Bobby Roberts Super Circus in Peterborough in the 1950s, chained to the ground at all times.

They are also accused of failing to prevent an employee from repeatedly beating Anne.

The pair, of Brook Farm, Oundle, deny causing the elephant unnecessary suffering, failing to take reasonable steps to prevent an employee from causing unnecessary suffering and failing to ensure the elephant’s needs were met.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) took over the prosecution of Mr and Mrs Roberts from Animal Defenders International (ADI) “given the public concern over the case”.

The charges, brought under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, were originally the focus of a private prosecution by Animal Defenders International (ADI), a worldwide animal welfare organisation, following its undercover investigation and filming between January 21 and February 15.

But ADI’s legal representatives contacted the CPS, asking it to take over the prosecution, and Jan Creamer, ADI’s chief executive, has called it a landmark test case.

Arthritic Anne is now living at Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire to see out her days in a 13-acre paddock, with her owners’ consent.

The trial is listed until Friday and will move to Kettering Magistrates’ Court from Tuesday on wards.

News Link:-http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/local/owners-of-anne-the-circus-elephant-go-on-trial-for-animal-cruelty-1-3963225

 

Uploaded by PETAEurope on 29 Mar 2011

Footage taken inside Bobby Roberts Super Circus shows shocking abuse to Annie, the UK’s oldest and only remaining circus elephant.

Footage courtesy of Animal Defenders International (ADI) for more information visit: http://www.ad-international.org/animals_in_entertainment/go.php?id=2075&s…

Global Impact of Ivory Poaching in Africa Addressed at Congressional Hearing

WASHINGTON, May 24, 2012 — Further protections needed as 1.5 tons of elephant tusks seized in Sri Lanka

WASHINGTON, May 24, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Sri Lankan authorities said they seized around 350 illegal elephant tusks weighing nearly 1.5 tons in Colombo port on Tuesday – marking the single biggest ivory haul in the island nation. As authorities around the globe work to bring these culprits to justice, today in the U.S. the Senate Foreign Relations Committee led by Senator John Kerry held a hearing to examine the global security implications of elephant poaching in Africa.

“We applaud Senator Kerry for recognizing the global impact of the illegal ivory trade in Africa,” said Kelvin Alie, Program Director, Wildlife Crime and Consumer Awareness, IFAW. “Since 2004, the scale of wildlife trafficking and its subsequent impact on wildlife in African range states has increased significantly. It is vital that this illegal trade is eliminated before it causes irreparable damage to these species and the ecosystems in which they live.”

So far, 2012 has proven a bloody year for elephants. A report released this week from wildlife officials in the Republic of Congo estimates that nearly 5,000 elephants have been killed by poachers around the Nouabale Ndoki National Park over the past five years. In addition, a tragic killing spree earlier this year in Cameroon’s Bouba Ndjida National Park left more than 200 elephants dead by the time the country’s military was sent into action.

“The U.S. has long been a leader in elephant conservation through programs like those managed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and USAID,” said Jeff Flocken, IFAW DC Office Director. “With more and more links being found to organized crime, regional conflict and even terrorist groups, the U.S. can now lead in fighting wildlife crime by looking at it the same way we do the arms and drug trades – as a threat to national security and global stability.”

To learn more about IFAW’s efforts to protect elephants, visit www.ifaw.org.

About IFAW (the International Fund for Animal Welfare) Founded in 1969, IFAW saves animals in crisis around the world. With projects in more than 40 countries, IFAW rescues individual animals, works to prevent cruelty to animals, and advocates for the protection of wildlife and habitats. For more information, visit www.ifaw.org. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

 News Link:-http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/24/4514284/global-impact-of-ivory-poaching.html

Elephants and rhinos face extinction according to experts

According to a new report which has been put forward by experts, tens of thousands of elephants were killed last year and both elephants and rhinos face the threat of extinction.

The African wildlife crisis is clearly on the high as alarm bells have already started ringing in the case of the extinction of elephants and rhinos. According to a new report by the global body tracking endangered species organization, around tens of thousands of elephants were likely slaughtered just last year. The reason for their slaughtering is their tusks. Rhinos are also a target for these killings as their horns are in high demand due to their medicinal benefits.

The report was presented on Thursday to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, calling for action so that this mass slaughter of these animals can be stopped.

The reason why poachers are after these two animals is that prices of their horns have sky-rocketed due to demand in Asia. In Asia, the elephants’ tusks are used as ornaments and are considered exquisite while the rhino horns are used in traditional medicines.

The poachers attack these animals and kills them and later just chop of their tusks and leave the corpse behind. The trade of these animal’s tusks and horns is illegal but their demand is pushing the illegal trade and putting these animals to extinction. John Scanlon, the secretary-general of the C0nvention on International Trade in Endangered Species said that there are just 25,000 rhinos left in this world and their extinction could come ‘during the lifetime of our children’. He further noted that in Africa alone, around 448 rhinos were killed last year, whereas this number had just been 13 in 2007.

In a recent smuggling incident, Kenya said that around 359 elephant tusks had been caught at Sri Lanka and it was identified that the shipment had come from Kenya.

“We have slid into an acute crisis with the African elephant that does not appear to be on many people’s radar in the U.S.,” added Iain Douglas-Hamilton, founder of Save the Elephants, according to a report by msnbc.com. “What’s happening to the elephants is outrageous, and the more so since we have been through these ivory crises before and should have found solutions by now.”

All the participants in the conference urged the U.S. to take notice of this problem and take timely action. The U.S. can help by pressing other nations, particularly China and Thailand to crack down on this trade and impose strict punishments and restrictions on it.

News Link:-http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/05/25/18714096.php

Close down all the zoos

For we do not deserve the poor things, the animal haters that we are. While one has long seen and felt the plight of these creatures in the Citadel of Islam, the death of young Saheli, the female Sri Lankan Asian elephant at Marghzar Zoo in Islamabad has really shaken one to the core.

Note that whilst Asian elephants live to an average age of 60-some years, Saheli is dead at just 22 of a sore foot! I ask you! And what has the great CDA done? Suspended her caretaker mahout, Mohammad, possibly the only one who really cared for the animal. News reports suggest that he was crying like a baby at Saheli’s death, intoning repeatedly through copious tears: “She was only one year old when she came into my care, only one year old”. Does nobody else at the zoo, Mohammad’s superiors, carry any of the blame for Saheli’s death? I suppose not, for this is the Land of the Pure where the axe always falls on the weakest, most powerless.

One has lived all one’s life in this country and has seen the progressive decline in animal care; and a rise in cruelty towards animals in direct tandem with the rise in jihadism and religious extremism. Walk down any street and you will see that the very first reaction of most people to a passing dog is to cast about looking for a stone, or brick, or stick to throw at the cur.

Go to any zoo and you will see people torment the animals, specially monkeys and apes, by screaming at them, making faces at them; in one case that I witnessed myself, actually prodding a leopard with sticks, which anecdote I must tell here in detail. It was at selfsame Marghzar Zoo where I was walking around several years ago on a bright and sunny winter morning.

What do I see but a bunch of Talibs (young madrassa kids, seven to 18 years old) poking the leopard with a long stick, through the bars of his cage, as he lay warming himself in the sun. It was fascinating to see the dignity with which the beautiful cat looked at his tormentors, as if to say, “My world is already taken away; what more can you awful people do to me?”

I saw red of course and looking around for a zoo worker shouted out to one to come open the gate of the cage so that these brave young men could go in and fight the leopard. The boys immediately desisted and ran away to another part of the zoo.

However, here we are talking about lay yahoos who would tease animals; what about zoo officials and veterinarians, the people actually in charge of zoos and the welfare of animals supposedly in their care? Stories are rife about the scant care that is taken in looking after the creatures. A giraffe died in Lahore zoo not too long ago because he had ingested a plastic bag, which had probably been thrown at him by a visiting yahoo.

Neither is any attention paid to inbreeding in the case of lions and tigers resulting in a shrinking gene pool that is producing sick and weak offspring. Inbreeding is widespread and is taken more as an exotic quality (as in White Tigers) rather than as a serious health problem. Indeed, one has seen tigers with such deformed features as are frightening to behold.

Read the rest of this interesting article:-http://tribune.com.pk/story/373629/close-down-all-the-zoos/

Mihiri campaign – END THE BRUTAL TREATMENT OF THIS POOR ELEPHANT!

A seven year old elephant at the Pinnewala Elephant ‘Orphanage’ in Sri Lanka has recently been seen with multiple wounds to her legs and head, believed to be caused by a brutal training regime. The young female Mihiri was born at the facility in 2005, and has always lived there. Photos taken on Wednesday 29th February show deep open wounds on her legs which appear to have been caused by chaining or use of a sharp tool such as an ankus (known in Sri Lanka as a Henduwa). She also has fresh wounds on the face and head which appear to have been caused by a similar implement.

Elephants at the Pinnewala centre are habituated to people and trained to a basic level required for management at the site. However they are not routinely trained in the traditional mahout system or to the same degree of control as a typical ‘domesticated’ elephant. It is believed that Mihiri is undergoing this kind of intensive training, possibly in preparation for transfer to another site either in Sri Lanka or overseas.

This treatment is clearly causing Mihiri significant pain and distress. It is not an acceptable way for any elephant care facility to treat its animals– let alone one which describes itself as an orphanage or sanctuary.

Please help us to save poor Mihiri from this terrible ordeal.
Pinnewala is owned and run by the Government of Sri Lanka, under the same management as the national zoo. Please write politely to the Director of the zoo to express your concern and ask for his assurance that this treatment of Mihiri will stop immediately and the facility will publicly pledge not to attempt such practices on any other animal in their care. Please send a copy of your letter or email to the Ministry for Economic Development (which is responsible for Pinnewala and the zoo).

Read more via Mihiri campaign.

http://www.bornfree.org.uk/campaigns/elephants/campaign-action/sri-lanka-elephants/captive-elelphant-welfare/mahasen-campaign/

Human-Elephant Conflict strategy

Human-elephant conflict (HEC) is one of the crucial conservation issues in Sri Lanka, being an agricultural island of about 65,000 km2 and harbouring around 20 million people and about 4000 – 5000 elephants! North Western, Southern and Eastern regions record the most serious incidents – in 2009 the annual elephant death toll was 228 and tragically an estimated 50 human lives were lost.

The causes of HEC are manifold, however, ecosystem encroachment for agriculture and subsequent reduction in quality and quantity of elephant habitat is the key factor. The conflict interface is exacerbated by human interference with elephant movements and elephants raiding palatable agricultural crops. The nature and degree of HEC vary greatly within and between regions, hence possible mitigation measures, too, are case specific.

Born Free has undertaken and supported site specific mitigation measures in several locations, however we also believe that to tackle the problem at the national level it is essential to maximise the working capacity of conservation practitioners and stakeholders. Working with local NGO the Sri Lanka Nature Forum (SLNF) we have initiated a network of more than 30 institutions and individuals who are actively engaged in HEC mitigation in Sri Lanka. The project is an ongoing process to consult HEC stakeholders, to facilitate HEC national discussion among them, and to strengthen their working capacity towards mitigating HEC in Sri Lanka through enhanced communication.

via Human-Elephant Conflict strategy.