Maneka Gandhi wants President Obama to stay away from bull running festival of Spain

US President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit Spain in this month and Union Minister and animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi has appealed to him to refrain from attending the "Running of the Bulls" spectacle in San Fermin festival in Pamplona.
This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 1 July 2016.

She has written a letter to the President where she has said that the US President should take a stand against such to animals and this stand would have "considerable influence". She has requested him to skip the "barbaric" event.
In her letter she has said that the 48 bulls used in the event are struck and terrorized as they slip, fall and injure themselves or human spectators on their way to a violent death in the bullring. This has been revealed by NGO People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India.
Maneka Gandhi has also pointed out that bull-fighting is an archaic display that has lost favor among Spaniards and has been banned in many parts of Spain and other countries. PETA notes that more than 100 towns and cities across Spain, as well as the entire region of Catalonia, have already banned bullfighting events.


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Shocking discovery of carcasses of 40 tiger cubs in Tiger Temple of Thailand

Tiger Temple in Thailand is an important and well known tourist attraction because tigers here roan free and thurists can come near hem and enjoy their company. It came as a shock to learn that carcasses of 40 tiger cubs had been discovered there. These had been kept in freezers.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 1 June 2016.

Based on suspected trafficking and abuse of these animals, wildlife authorities swooped on the Buddhist temple in Kanchanaburi near Bangkok. There was international pressure. While the animals were being sedated and taken away from the center, the bodies of 40 cubs were discovered in a freezer which was located in a kitchen area.
Why so many cubs had been kept in the freezer is a mystery. The carcasses had limp wet fur and there were blood stains. Among the carcass there was one of a Binturong which is a protected species commonly known as a bearcat. The monks at the temple have not commented.
As per oficials, they have moved 52 live tigers from the temple and another 85 still remain. PETA has described the temple as a "hell for animals" and has urged tourists to stop visiting animal attractions at home and abroad.


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PETA sends legal notice to Kerala government on illegally held captive elephants

There are 289 illegally captive elephants in Kerala and PETA has sent a legal notice to Kerala government seeking withdrawal of its order on illegally captive elephants which allows the state's Chief Wildlife Warden to give ownership certificates to owners of these illegally captive elephants.
This has been reported in ibnlive.com dated 29 March 2016.

PETA feels the orders of the government contradicts the spirit of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, which prohibits illegal capture, trade and custody of wild animals such as elephants, and the purpose of the August 18, 2015 interim order of the Supreme Court. PETA feels that the February 26 order goes in favor of illegal owners of elephants. Hence, the state government must withdraw it and also the ownership certificates issued as per the order.
Moreover, PETA wants that the state should penalize owners of the 289 elephants in Kerala who do not have valid ownership certificate.
As per PETA, the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, had allowed the declaration of captive elephants either within 30 days of its enactment or during the period of an amnesty scheme notified by the central government in 2003. This amnesty scheme was offered through Declaration of Wildlife Stock Rules, 2003, which required wildlife articles to be declared within 180 days from the date of notification of the Rules (ie, 18 April to 18 October 2003).
The Kerala government had on February 3, 2012 asked the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change for an extension of the amnesty period but the request was denied. By giving amnesty to owners of ill-gotten elephants, Kerala is supporting the cruel and illegal elephant trade and making a mockery of the Wildlife Protection Act. Incidentally, capturing an elephant is prohibited under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. It is believed that many of the captive elephants have been captured illegally from the wild, separated from their mothers as babies,beaten into submission and transported to Kerala for use as tourist attractions and in temples.


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Joyrides on Victoria carriages would be a thing of the past in one year from now because the Bombay High Court has ruled that these horse drawn carriages are illegal. The court has ruled that the carriages must be taken off the roads and necessary rehabilitation plans must be drawn up by the state for the horses, their owners and riders. Animal rights activists see this ruling as a victory.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 8 June 2015.

The decision was the result of a public interest litigation PIL that had been filed by Animal and Birds Charitable Trust – it sought a ban on the Victoria carriages on the roads of Mumbai. The PIL claimed that the horses are overworked, they suffer from malnutrition, and the owners do not take proper care of the animals.
The HC had earlier given the BMC the go ahead to confiscate unfit and unlicensed horses and hand them over to NGOs like PETA for rehabilitation.
The state had, earlier, intimated to the high court that, out of 53 applications that it had received, only 18 carriages were given the license to operate. The balance 35 had been rejected due to offences against the carriage drivers, unfit horses, and cruelty to the animals in the form of overloading.
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$10-million ad campaign of SeaWorld to rebuild its battered image

#seaworldorlando #blackfish #PETA #themepark #killerwhales With severe criticism of its methods of working in its whale-shows, and drop in attendance in recent times, SeaWorld Entertainment plans to go in for a $10 million image-building campaign that is expected to take the edge off criticism of its whale shows and, simultaneously, reverse a two-year drop in attendance.
As per information, the number of visitors fell to 4.4 million visitors from 4.5 million a year earlier.
This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dared 24 March 2015.

Among the methods being considered are print ads and online videos that would showcase the veterinarians, researchers and others from the company's 1,500 animal-care experts. This is based on information furnished by the Orlando, Florida-based theme-park operator. These experts would undertake the task of explaining to the public that the company cares for its killer whales.
The ads would also, simultaneously, refute claims of animal-rights activists. PETA alleges that SeaWorld should not keep killer whales in captivity. In fact, PETA feels that whales in captivity have shorter lives as compared to those who live in the wild.
Moreover, the ad campaigns would also focus on other attractions of the park.
It may be recalled that in 2013, there was a documentary film "Blackfish" – it was about the death of a SeaWorld trainer. It had raised a number of issues about the care of orcas in captivity and their use in entertainment.

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Orca whale ‘Lolita’ of Miami Seaquarium to get protection as endangered species

#orcawhale #MiamiSeaquarium #FreeLolita ‘Lolita’, an Orca whale that has been performing for decades in the Miami Seaquarium should get the same protection as a small population of endangered orcas that spend time in Washington state waters. This has been announced by the federal government as reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 6 February 2015.
‘Lolita’ has been at the facility since 1970. However, the National Marine Fisheries Service feels that the inclusion in the endangered listing for southern resident killer whales will not have any effect on the animal's stay at the Florida facility.
As has been clarified by Will Stelle, regional administrator for the Fisheries Service's West Coast region - it is not a decision to free Lolita, neither does it have any effect on the conditions of the orca's captivity or care at this time. Will Stelle has added that the agency is more focused on doing what it can to recover the wild population of Puget Sound orcas – its population at present is just 78.
Incidentally, Lolita was 4 or 6 years old when she was legally rounded up in 1970 and subsequently sent to the Miami facility.
The federal government had declared the protected Puget Sound orcas as endangered species in 2005 – that decision was not applicable to captive animals.
The decision to include it now is based on a 2013 petition of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Foundation PETA and others for inclusion of Lolita and the Fisheries Service have done so now.

Two cotton-top tamarins of the endangered species die in Alexandria Zoo from cold temperatures

#Tamarins #PETA #AlexandriaZoo It was unfortunate that two cotton-top tamarins, belonging to the endangered species, died from freezing cold temperatures in the Louisiana Zoo. Each of the monkeys weigh less than a pound and they died when a caretaker "overlooked" them and left them out in the cold on Jan.7 at the Alexandria Zoological Park. There was a third monkey but, it survived the exposure.
News of these deaths have been made public only this week.
Incidentally, these monkeys from Colombia are among the world’s smallest new-world primates and need temperatures of 76 to 85 degrees to survive. However, the high temperature last Wednesday in Alexandria was in the 50s while the overnight low was in the teens. The deaths are seen as due to carelessness.
The cotton-top tamarins monkeys are critically endangered and there are roughly 1,800 in captivity and about 6,000 in a small area of northwest Colombia – this is as per the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
PETA, is demanding a federal investigation into the deaths of the tamarins because, in their opinion, the deaths could have been avoided.
With drop in temperatures, the zoos have been stepping up measures to ensure that the animals are kept protected from the cold.