SynopsisSynopsis: We need to be aware that all animals are precious whether domestic or wild so they should be loved and protected. This awareness should be taught to every child in every school in the world so that the future generation will learn to love the animals and protect them. Many species will become extinct unless we do this.
There is a park in the town of El Obeid in Sudan where there are a number of steel cages that keep wild animals for people to see. People who visit the park have all seen the wild lions in the cages and ignore them, but the kids poke the animals with sticks in their ribs knowing full well that they cannot fight back.
The adults do not stop the kids from torturing the lions because torturing animals in their culture is not an issue that occupies their mind. I have seen the same thing in Mascara where I used to work in Algeria. There the tethered animals were routinely tortured by the children who poked their anus with sticks but their parents never told them that it was wrong to torture animals so they should stop.
Now you can imagine that those children have grown into their adulthood after so many years so what they will teach their children who also torture tethered animals for fun? They did it themselves when young.
I saw the tortured lion in its cage in El Obeid that roared in anguish and slammed its body into the cage in rage, but this torture never stopped. I stopped and saw the pain, the hopelessness and the rage in the eyes of those lions who were still fighting it not knowing that they will never be free and will surely die in captivity.
All over the world we are responsible for the animal torture even if we do not torture them personally. It is because we do not stop our children who torture wild animals or even domestic animals, so we are complicit. We have all seen the wild bears in India that are made to dance for you for a few pennies by their handlers and surely, we have seen the wild monkeys with rope around their neck to dance and make people laugh. The handler makes the monkeys dance with the threat of beating so the monkeys are afraid of the punishment.
The bears suffer the most because their handler pulls the bear with a rope through its nostrils that are very sensitive and painful, so they cry out in pain and submit. People watch the bear dance, throw a few coins at him and pass on but never ask the handler to stop the torture of a wild animal that has never meant any harm to anyone. Once I saw at least 18 bears on the road from Agra to Jaipur but stopped counting because there were more. All these bears are tortured the same way by the nomads who eke out a meagre living. The bears have torn nostrils filled with pus and infection but who cares? If they die of infection, they are thrown away like garbage and soon replaced by new bears caught in the forest, so this horrific trade continues.
In China they put the bears in small cages and milk their bile that is used in the Chinese medicine. The extraction of bile from a living animal is a very painful process for the animals so they howl in pain but who listens?
The baby elephant that was used as a mascot during the Asian games in India was tortured to make him learn how to sit on a ball and do other tricks but the people did not see the torture the poor elephant was subjected to away from their eyes, but the baby elephant shed tears of pain. They are a very sensitive animals who show a wide range of emotions.
In Florida a whale called Orca that used to swim in the huge tank and entertain paid visitors to the Sea World one day dragged its trainer under water and held her until she died because the animal was greatly angered by the captivity. The wild animals are only happy when they are free. They refuse to be domesticated like dogs or other animals.
I think it is inherent in all living being that they value freedom more than anything else. You can see it in their eyes. There is no animal as sad as a caged bird that seeks freedom but knows that it cannot fly away. Some cruel people clip their wings so they cannot fly away someday.
We think that the animals are there to entertain us, so we put them in cages and teach them to mimic some words to make us laugh. There are millions of parrots and mynahs in cages that can never escape and feel the air under their wings, but I am sure a small hope lingers in their tiny heart that someday maybe they will become free.
When I see the tortured tigers and lions in circus, I feel very disturbed. Here is a video of a tortured tiger who looks pitiful so watch this video to feel his pain. That should be enough for you to stop going to circus forever. If all the circus goers feel the same way, the circus owners will go out of business and perhaps release the animals into the wilderness.
Source : U Tube video
There is another video that shows a tortured lion that was saved from its death almost by a miracle.
Source : U Tube video
In India some NGOs have started a rescue process for the bears and buy them from their handlers to put them in an animal shelter they have established near Agra where the bears get proper veterinary care, good food the company of other bears they can play with.
These tortured bears show their gratefulness for the help they get by embracing the shelter workers and shedding tears of joy. They do not harbor ill feelings toward the humans that have tortured them and show forgiveness. We have a lot to learn from them about forgiveness because we too treat our fellow humans with utmost cruelty.
Watch this video here on how the bears are tortured in India by their handlers.
Source: U Tube video
Source: U tube video
In Kenya there was an elephant that escaped from its captors in the circus and went on a rampage killing many people and destroying property. Sadly no one understood the reason why the elephant was so enraged, and the cruel people shot him dead.
We humans have always been cruel to animals both wild and domestic. The domestication of wild animals was started by early humans who tamed them to plough their fields or draw water from the wells among numerous other chores, so they did not treat their animals badly. They were fed and sheltered properly because they were useful animals that helped them in their agriculture.
The domesticated chickens laid eggs for them, and the cows gave milk. Later people raised the animals for meat or wool, so a new industry developed where millions of animals of improved breeds are now raised in massive operations in many countries to satisfy the need for eggs, meat or wool. People have set up modern factories where the meat or wool are processed that are then exported to other countries.
My blog today focuses more on wild animals that are being killed for sport or are captured and sold to people who mistreat them in circus or private homes. Beautiful wild animals are killed for their pelt or ivory or horns like in rhinos just because of greed for money so rare animals are on the verge of being extinct.
The Romans slaughtered thousands of wild lions and tigers during their sport fests that sometimes lasted many weeks. People cheered in the coliseums when a lion killed a gladiator, or the gladiator killed the lion. Either way they did not care as long as someone or the animal died in a horrific manner. Romans encouraged this blood lust.
The enraged bull tries to gore the matador in the bull ring where thousands go to see the bloody battle saying Ole Ole every time the matador makes a score meaning stabbing the poor bull. The bull eventually bleeds to death in the name of sport.
Recently a wounded bull bleeding heavily stopped in front of the matador as if asking why he was being tortured this way. It did not attack the matador but just stood there bleeding, so the matador was in tears, kneeled down in front of the bull in supplication and asked for its forgiveness for his sins. He vowed to never fight a bull again and retired from the sport. Now there is a demand from animal lovers in Spain and in Mexico to ban this blood sport forever. It remains to be seen if it will happen and the sport will be banned by law forever.
I have previously written about the mass slaughter of dolphins in Japan where they like to eat the meat. You can buy a chunk of whale or dolphin meat in any Japanese supermarket where they will fry the meat for you to take home. They kill the whales and other sea mammals in the name of “research” and harass the Green Peace ships that try to protect the whales. No amount of international pressure to stop the slaughter deters the Japanese whalers. It is just a business for them the same way the shark hunters kill thousands of sharks to slice off the fins that they sell for soup.
There was a time when Europeans and other hunters shot thousands of bisons from their train windows just for fun and let the animals rot in the sun. The Native Americans never understood the penchant of the white man for such slaughter in the name of sport. The tribes killed only those animals that provided them with meat and the skin. They never wasted animals like the white people did.
I still believe that we can live in harmony with the wild animals that normally do not harm us and want to be left alone. The wild animals fight back when we encroach on their territory, but we should try to understand it from their point of view. The human encroachment on their territory puts their existence in danger so they fight back. The nature reserves are shrinking worldwide because the human population is increasing around the nature reserves so animal- human conflicts occur frequently resulting in the death of precious animals.
I think we should teach our children that all animals are precious and should be loved and protected so that when they grow up, they will become the activists to run NGOs to protect them or become important officials in the government to promulgate laws to do so. Our generation has not done enough to protect all wild animals but perhaps our children will be able to do so if it is not already too late for some species.
I thank my eldest sister who freed the pigeon I had put in a cage when I was young. She told me that all animals need to be free and not in a cage. I have never forgotten this lesson.
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