Christian the lion
To All Animal Lovers…
Kevin Richardson -Lion Man
Lions, leopard and dog playing together
Pug vs. Baby – the neverending battle
Life at the Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary – We can have the same in INDIA… It is not possible without your help…
Respect nature and someday nature will return the favour.
Each year, more than 40,000 bulls are barbarically slaughtered in bullrings around the world. From the moment they enter the ring, the bulls don’t stand a chance. They may be weakened by beatings with sandbags, debilitated with laxatives, drugged, have their horns shaved to impair their navigation, or have petroleum jelly rubbed into their eyes to impair their ability to judge distance.
In a typical Spanish bullfight, the bull enters the arena and is approached by picadors—men on blindfolded horses who drive lances into the bull’s back and neck muscles. This impairs the bull’s ability to lift his head and defend himself. They twist and gouge the lances to ensure significant blood loss.
Then banderilleros enter on foot, distract the bull, and dart around him while plunging banderillas—brightly colored sticks with harpoon points on their ends—into his back. When the bull has become weakened from blood loss, the banderilleros run the bull in circles until he becomes dizzy and stops chasing.
Finally, the matador appears and, after provoking a few exhausted charges from the dying animal, tries to kill the bull with his sword. If he misses, succeeding only in further mutilating the animal, an executioner is called in to stab the exhausted and submissive bull to death. The dagger is supposed to cut the animal’s spinal cord, but even this can be blundered, leaving the bull conscious but paralyzed as he is chained by his horns and dragged out of the arena.
If the crowd is happy with the matador, the bull’s ears and tail are cut off and presented as trophies. A few minutes later, another bull enters the arena and the sadistic cycle starts again.
The tourist industry is one of the biggest supporters of bullfighting. Travel agents and bullfight promoters portray the fight as a festive and fair competition. They don’t tell tourists that the bull never has a chance to defend himself, much less to survive. Most foreign visitors who witness a bullfight are repulsed, disgusted, and saddened by the cruelty of the spectacle and never want to see one again.
Tourism also keeps the cruel “Running of the Bulls” in Pamplona, Spain, in business. The bulls are kept in crowded, dark enclosures, and when they are prodded onto the streets with electric shocks, they are momentarily blinded by the sunlight. Runners hit the animals with rolled-up newspapers and twist their tails. The panicked animals often lose their footing on corners and crash into walls, breaking bones and injuring themselves. Most tourists don’t know that all the bulls will later be killed in the bullring.
Opposition to bullfighting is mounting. In April 2004, the Barcelona City Council declared Barcelona an anti-bullfighting city in an effort to eventually ban this primitive blood sport, and in November 2008, the Initiative for Catalonia Greens, one of the three main political parties in Catalonia, resolved to oppose bullfighting and other forms of cruelty to animals. In total, 52 Catalán municipalities have declared themselves anti-bullfighting, and a motion has been submitted to the Catalonian Parliament that could expand existing cruelty-to-animals laws to include bullfighting. According to a Gallup survey taken in October 2006, 72 percent of Spaniards show no interest in bullfights, up from 54 percent in the 1980s.
Despite the name, Portuguese bullfights are anything but bloodless. The bull is stabbed with banderillas by a matador on horseback, causing deep wounds and significant blood loss. The bull is then tormented by eight forcados, seven of whom grab the animal’s head while the eighth pulls on his tail, eventually stopping the exhausted animal. The bull is then dragged out of the arena and left bleeding to await his slaughter, hours or even days later.
Bulls aren’t the only victims in bullfights. Horses are used to carry people with spears and other weapons in order to stab the bull to weaken him. Horses used in bullfights are blindfolded and sometimes have wads of newspaper stuffed in their ears so that they won’t be spooked by the charging bull or the noise of the crowd. These animals are often gored as riders force them to move close to the terrified bulls, who try to protect themselves. Each year, approximately 200 horses are killed in bullrings around the world.
Animals in Entertainment: Cruel Spectacles
Animals are abused and exploited in a variety of forms of “entertainment.” BornFreeIndia’s primary focus is on the use of animals in circuses, where elephants, lions, tigers, and other animals are sentenced to a lifetime of misery in order to provide a few moments of human amusement. We were part of a groundbreaking lawsuit against Ringling Bros. for their mistreatment of Asian elephants. Click here for more details. Our Zoo Check campaign tracks abuses and substandard conditions suffered by animals in zoos, aquariums, circuses, or other places that exhibits animals.
Animals are also forced into the role of unwilling performer in other venues, including:
Marine parks, where captive marine mammals such as dolphins and orcas are doomed to a life of confinement, deprived of normal social and environmental interaction. Animals in marine parks typically show signs of psychological disturbance are often forced to perform degrading tricks that run counter to their natural instincts. (Join us in protesting the deadly dolphin exhibit at The Mirage hotel in Las Vegas.)
Roadside zoos and aquariums, where, under the guise of “conservation” and the name of “education,” animals are too often treated as disposable specimens. Many animals held in captivity in these facilities continue to be bored, cramped, lonely, and unable to perform normal social behaviors. Too many zoos still sell off older and “surplus” animals who may end up in roadside menageries, breeding facilities, circuses, or even as “game” in canned hunt facilities.
Movie and Television Sets, where animals are used as involuntary “props” to sell products and services, and to boost the profits of studios and production companies. In addition to all the problems associated with keeping wild animals in captivity, animals used in filming have been mistreated, injured, or even killed on set.
Other Venues: Animals are also exploited and mistreated for human amusement in horse and greyhound racing, cockfighting and dog fighting, and in shopping malls and schools where they are put on public display. Exotic animals are often used in photo opportunities, or are shot and killed in canned hunts or on hunting ranches. Unfortunately, people can be very creative in finding ways to make a profit off of other animals.
BornFreeIndia strongly opposes the use of animals in all entertainment venues. Animals are not novelties; they have their own needs, interests, and rights — including the right to engage in their natural behaviors in their natural environment. We are committed to using every tool at our disposal, from lobbying to lawsuits to grassroots organizing, to end the cruel exploitation of animals for human amusement and profit.
BornFreeIndia is a global campaign by Bangalore based charity foundation – BornFreeIndia Foundation. Our goal is to build political, financial and public support to double the number of wild tigers by 2015, the next Year of the Tiger.
A hundred years ago there were 100,000 tigers in the wild. Today there are as few as 3,200.Why are tigers disappearing?
The latest tiger census showed a marked increase in the number of tigers in India, raising hopes for the future of the endangered animal.
On Monday, India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests announced a 20% increase in the number of tigers – putting the population at 1,706 from 1,411 in 2006, when the previous count took place.
India was home to about 100,000 tigers about a century ago, but their population dwindled sharply because of poaching, a shrinking natural habitat, and increasing cases of tigers straying into inhabited areas and being put down as a result.
Presently, there are around 3,000 tigers in the world and India accounts for over half of them.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh welcomed the rise as an “encouraging sign” but warned a sharp decline in the tiger occupant areas was a “worrying development.”
In 2006, India’s tigers occupied 93,600 square kilometers but this figure is now down to 72,800 square kilometers, according to the environment ministry.
“The threat from poachers, international smuggling networks and powerful mining companies continue to pose threat to the endangered animal,” Mr. Ramesh said at a three-day international tiger conference that kick-started in New Delhi Monday.
Rajesh Gopal, a wildlife scientist with Project Tiger, the Indian government’s tiger conservation body, said: “We have expanded the survey to cover the whole country and our estimate is now more accurate.”
Mr. Gopal explained local forest officials and wildlife experts used double sampling techniques that included hidden cameras and DNA testing to count the wild cats in the 17 Indian states which they inhabit.
“Tigers walk across a sensor fitted at crucial points like water bodies in forests and other territories and take self-photograph based on a unique stripe pattern like finger printing which avoids duplication,” Mr. Gopal said.
The latest figures may not be directly comparable with the ones from 2006, when the methods used for counting tigers were less accurate.
The previous census in 2006 was based on the pug-mark method, which involved counting the tigers manually with the help of tracing boards and a measuring scale.
However, the tiger count may prove controversial owing to its inclusion of Sunderbans mangrove forests, an area that stretches across India’s western border with Bangladesh.
The current study was carried out in 39 tiger reserves in 17 Indian states included 70 tigers in the Sunderbans National Park, which were not counted during the 2006 census.
Excluding the Sunderbans tiger population, India’s tiger population increased 16% from the previous count.
Several other areas outside tiger reserves and national parks were also reviewed for the first time. The Moyar Valley and Sigur Plateau in India’s southern region was found to have more than 50 tigers. Likewise, the forest reserve outside the famous Corbett National Park in northwestern India contributed to the increased tiger numbers.
Wildlife experts, however, are doubtful about the accuracy of the latest tiger figures.
“The rise in numbers is significant but you can always fudge the figures if you want to, whatever counting method you use,” said M.K. Ranjit Sinh, chairman of the Wildlife Trust of India and a champion of tiger rights, told India Real Time Monday.
Valmik Thapar, wildlife conservationist echoed similar views and said that despite the best efforts to count the country’s tiger population, the methods used can give only give “a rough estimate.”
“The government should utilize the information to strengthen its act and work towards protection of the neglected forest sector,” Mr. Thapar added.
