The Star 4 Nov 09;
TRAFFIC South-East Asia would like to offer a word of caution to well-meaning people who plan to buy birds, frogs, fishes and turtles and release them into the wild as suggested in your article “Saving animals from the pot” (Star Metro, Oct 29).
While the intention may be good, buying and releasing wildlife in this manner poses several serious problems. As a wildlife trade monitoring network, Traffic has documented sellers in many parts of South-East Asia anticipating this act of kindness and stocking up extra animals solely for the purpose of selling them to those moved by the animal’s plight. This means more are caught from the wild than would be otherwise.
Many of these animals are injured in the process of capture, and many more die in stores where they a re often kept in cramped and cruel conditions.
Take the example of the munias, a group of bird species most commonly sold for release for religious reasons. In Traffic’s five-year survey of the Medan Bird Market – the point from which many of them are exported to Malaysia and Singapore – dealers reported that between 30% and 50% of these birds died in the first 24 hours between capture and sale.
The birds are not sold as pets. The trade in these birds is fuelled solely by the practice of releasing them.
Many of the species released are also not native to this country, and by releasing them we could be introducing potential alien invasive species into our environment that would compete with local wildlife and spread diseases with devastating effects on native species of frogs, fishes and turtles.
Furthermore, many of the animals released are in poor health, largely due to the stress of capture, or are otherwise ill-equipped to survive in their new environment and die shortly after release.
The problem of invasive alien species is a worldwide concern that impacts not just nature but also agriculture, fisheries and many other sectors of the economy, and costs governments millions to solve.
Traffic truly appreciates the concerns of believers who want to alleviate the suffering of these captive animals, but perhaps a better way might be to boycott pet stores, restaurants and businesses that sell wild animals altogether. When there is no demand, there will no longer be any reason for them to continue taking these animals from the wild.
CHRIS R. SHEPHERD,
Acting Director,
TRAFFIC South-East Asia.
Saving animals from the pot
Anthoney Chew 29 Oct 09;
IN a wet market in Penang, bull frogs sit and fishes and turtles swim in rectangular containers. These creatures may long for their freedom but they are helpless.
They seem destined for the dinner table unless you step up to save them. You can pay the seller and release the animals to the nearest forest or stream.
Keen to save the lives of animals, more than 70 Buddhist devotees gathered at Chokyi Gyaltsen Centre (CGC) on Lorong Zoo 1 off Jalan Air Itam to attend an Animal Liberation ceremony one fine Sunday morning.
Present to conduct the ceremony and lead the prayers was the abbot of Kopan Monastery in Nepal, Khen-rinpoche Lama Lhundrup, who was on a five-day visit to Penang.
Thousands of crickets and hundreds of birds, fishes, frogs and turtles were released on that day.
Lama Lhudrup said the act of rescuing animals from being slaughtered had two benefits — not only do you save lives but you also prevent another person from killing them.
CGC president Dr Daniel Yeoh said that saving animals was “ one of the most effective ways to cultivate loving kindness amongst children.”
“If children can show loving kindness with animals, it is naturally easier for them to extend this loving kindness to the people at large.
“This is one way to minimise violence, cruelty and war.
“Many patients with cancer or other terminal sicknesses are advised by Buddhist master Lama Zopa Rinpoche to practised animal liberation, and quite often the results turned out to be positive,” he said.
CGC animal liberation project coor- dinator Lee Shik Kee said it was joyful to release these animals, especially knowing that they had been saved from being slaughtered.
“Animals share the same feelings as humans such as happiness and fear.
“We can do a small part to relieve the fears and sufferings of these helpless animals by liberating them.”
One of the CGC members Yap Cheng Hui said taking part in animal liberation would cultivate a sense of compassion or bodichitta.
“The fundamental belief of Buddhism is karma, that is, cause and result.
“Hence, the Buddhism practice of libe-rating animals is to create a direct cause for having a long and healthy life,’ he said.
This unique method of animal libera- tion practised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche encompasses four important elements, namely, rescuing animals from being slaughtered and taking the animals for a walk around holy objects consisting of Buddha statues, Buddhism scriptures and stupas (called the circumambulation of holy objects).
He said that praying for the animals created positive imprints so that people would have a good rebirth.
