Thane S.P.C.A. Quarterly Newsletter (April-July 2011)

Editorial – From the Horse's Mouth

BLACK MAGIC – DARK TIMES FOR ANIMALS

                                                        Photo Credit: TRAFFIC INDIA

These are dark times indeed. 'Civilization' continues to progress at a breakneck speed and the human brain performs to hitherto unimaginable capacities. Unfortunately, many human hearts and minds are still enslaved by desires – born out of greed, vanity or revenge. When conventional methods fail to achieve these ends, man turns to unexplainable, yet apparently effective means. And Black Magic happens. More often than not, even in an increasingly modernized society such as India, black magic pervades the common man's life and yes, in the process, animals are hurt.

In July, Thane S.P.C.A. had an unlikely visitor – a gravely injured Olive Ridley turtle. The species is a sparkling representative of all that is awe-inspiring in India's marine wildlife. This particular animal was found lying injured on a village coast – 20 km off Daman beach. Three of its limbs were reduced to stubs – an obvious result of human action. Initially, this was attributed to propellers of fishing trawlers, but later, more sinister facts surfaced, which changed opinions. 'Oliver', as he came to be known, was brought all the way to Thane S.P.C.A's hospital, where he was provided the necessary medication, environment and nutrition. Within a few days of care and shelter, Oliver was much better, but with so many injuries sustained to his limbs and carapace, it was evident that he would never be able to live in the sea again.

Soon after, another Olive Ridley – this time a female who was named Olivia, was found stranded on Juhu Beach and was brought to Thane S.P.C.A. with similar injuries. She was released into the sea soon after, since she was in a fairly stable condition. However, she surfaced a few days later with much more serious injuries – a partial break in the plastron and her left flipper severed (undoubtedly by human action) at the humerus. That is when suspicions were aroused and it came to light that Olive Ridley turtles, among other species of these amphibians, are reportedly, widely used in black magic rituals, not only in Mumbai and surrounding areas, but country-wide.

The flipper doesn't stop there. Other species, such as snakes, chickens and owls, often fall prey to blind superstitions and the dark arts.

It is common belief that being in possession of a sand boa is good for business. Some people also go to the extent of saying that if a sand boa is kept next to a mirror, it is bound to crack and be the harbringer of good news. Obviously not for the snake. In January 2011, TOI reported that the Ulhasnagar crime branch had arrested three people for smuggling a sand boa in an attempt to sell it to three tantriks for Rs 10 lakhs. In October 2009, the TOI reported that the Pune rural police had rescued a sand boa and a turtle from two people who were allegedly attempting to sell them to black magic practitioners. Seven other middlemen and six prospective customers were also arrested. Then Superintendent of police, was quoted to have said that the suspects were planning to sell the sand boa for Rs 50 lakhs and the turtle for Rs 20 lakhs! Evidently, the trade is a lucrative one and also, one that obviously needs immediate looking into by the authorities.

Owls also have always been a source of much fascination in magical folklore and one would think that Harry Potter's owl Hedwig, would have boosted right thinking among movie buffs and HP fans alike. However, in common Indian society, owls continue to be exploited for their apparent importance in black magic.

Tantriks regularly use owls and their body parts in 'sacred' ceremonies. Important owl body parts attributed to effective black magic, include skull, bones, claws, blood, eyes, beak, liver, kidney, meat and eggshells. Some owl species with extra tufts of feathers near their ears are supposed to be more magical than others and therefore in greater demand.

The worst time in the life of an Indian owl, is mid-October to mid-November. This auspicious period of Diwali and Lakshmi puja, spells doom for these nocturnal creatures, who are known to be associated with Lakshmi-the goddess of wealth and prosperity. As such, they are sacrificed during this time in the false belief that sacrificing an owl brings wealth, good luck and prosperity.

They are often caught with bamboo poles, nets and other such traps and during this time, wealth does come to bird catchers who receive anywhere between Rs 10,000-20,000 for every bird caught.

Late last year, Shri Jairam Ramesh, Hon. Minister of Environment and Forests, India, launched TRAFFIC India's report titled 'Imperilled Custodians of the Night: A Study on Illegal Trade, Trapping and Use of Owls in India', authored by Abrar Ahmed, as per reports. According to the reports, owls are used in the live bird trade for many other purposes as well. They are used in street performances, slaughtered for their meat and taxidermy, their body parts used in folk medicines and their feathers/claws in headgear. Often live owls are used as bait/decoys, to acquire other bird species.

According to the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972, exploiting Indian owl populations via hunting and trading is strictly prohibited, but the trade process continues nevertheless, unabated. Of the 30 owl species recorded in India, 15 are allegedly used in the domestic live bird trade spread across the country. In fact, black magic has pushed many of these 15 species to the brink of extinction.

So the next time you witness/participate in or hear of a black magic ritual involving the use of animals, STOP IT. As an Indian citizen, you have every right to bring these barbaric ceremonies to light. And as a sentient human being, it is your duty to do so.

Stay alert and spread the word. Walk the walk and talk the talk. Do your bit to bring light and spread a message of deep spirituality, not religious blindness, so that the darkness of black magic can be dispelled and our animals can breathe freely again.

Best,

Shreyasi Majumdar
(Editor)

Another Inconvenient Truth: Meat is a Global Warming Issue

Posted on August 14, 2006

From the Editors of E Magazine

Al Gore's movie (and book), An Inconvenient Truth, is playing to rave reviews. His laudable project is an urgent message on the vital issue of global warming. We all must heed the call.

If we didn't realize it already, we now know that we are overheating our planet to alarming levels with potentially catastrophic consequences. 2005 was the hottest year on record. Think of an overheated car; now imagine that on a planetary scale.

Organizations from Greenpeace to the Union of Concerned Scientists, World Bank and the Pentagon, all agree that global warming is, perhaps, the most serious threat to our imperiled planet. The Pentagon report, for example, states that climate change in the form of global warming "should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a U.S. national security concern," higher even than terrorism.

© Digital VisionThe effects of global warming are not hypothetical: waves are already washing over islands in the South Pacific, coastal cities and low-lying countries face severe flooding, extreme weather conditions like hurricanes are intensifying, the polar ice caps and the world's glaciers are melting, polar bears and other species are threatened with extinction, diseases are spreading more easily, crop failures are mounting. We are standing at a precipice.

There are many human activities that contribute to global warming. Among the biggest contributors are electrical generation, the use of passenger and other vehicles, over-consumption, international shipping, deforestation, smoking and militarism. (The U.S. military, for example, is the world's biggest consumer of oil and the world's biggest polluter.)

What many people do not know, however, is that the production of meat also significantly increases global warming. Cow farms produce millions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane per year, the two major greenhouse gases that together account for more than 90 percent of U.S. greenhouse emissions, substantially contributing to "global scorching."

According to the United Nations Environment Programme's Unit on Climate Change, "There is a strong link between human diet and methane emissions from livestock." The 2004 State of the World is more specific regarding the link between animals raised for meat and global warming: "Belching, flatulent livestock emit 16 percent of the world's annual production of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas."

The July 2005 issue of Physics World states: "The animals we eat emit 21 percent of all the CO2 that can be attributed to human activity." Eating meat directly contributes to this environmentally irresponsible industry and the dire threat of global warming.

© Jason KremkauAdditionally, rainforests are being cut down at an extremely rapid rate to both pasture cows and grow soybeans to feed cows. The clear-cutting of trees in the rainforest — an incredibly bio-diverse area with 90 percent of all species on Earth — not only creates more greenhouse gases through the process of destruction, but also reduces the amazing benefits that those trees provide. Rainforests have been called the "lungs of the Earth," because they filter our air by absorbing CO2, while emitting life-supporting oxygen.

"In a nutshell," according to the Center for International Forestry Research, "cattle ranchers are making mincemeat out of Brazil's Amazon rainforests."

Of course, the U.S. should join the other 163 countries in ratifying the Kyoto Protocol. Of course, we should sharply reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and shift towards renewable sources of energy. Of course, we need to stop destroying the rainforests. Of course, we need to stop the war in Iraq and drastically reduce the U.S. military budget (presently at half of the entire world's total military spending), which would increase, not decrease, national and global security. But as we're struggling and waiting for these and other structural changes, we need to make personal changes.

Geophysicists Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin from the University of Chicago concluded that changing one's eating habits from the Standard American Diet (SAD) to a vegetarian diet does more to fight global warming than switching from a gas-guzzling SUV to a fuel-efficient hybrid car. Of course, you can do both — and more! It has been said that "where the environment is concerned, eating meat is like driving a huge SUV…. Eating a vegetarian diet is like driving a mid-sized car [or a reasonable sedan, according to Eshel]. And eating a vegan diet (no dairy, no eggs) is like riding a bicycle or walking. Shifting away from SUVs and SUV-style diets, to much more energy-efficient alternatives, is key to fighting the warming trend.

Global warming is already having grave effects on our planet and we need to take action. Vegetarians help keep the planet cool in more ways than one! Paul McCartney says, "If anyone wants to save the planet, all they have to do is just stop eating meat. That's the single most important thing you could do." Andrea Gordon, in her article "If You Recycle, Why Are You Eating Meat?" agrees: "There is a direct relationship between eating meat and the environment. E Magazine asked the same question in its cover story, "So You're an Environmentalist. Why Are You Still Eating Meat?" Quite simply, you can't be a meat-eating environmentalist. Sorry folks."

© Digital VisionVegetarianism is literally about life and death — for each of us individually and for all of us together. Eating animals simultaneously contributes to a multitude of tragedies: the animals" suffering and death; the ill-health and early death of people; the unsustainable overuse of oil, water, land, topsoil, grain, labor and other vital resources; environmental destruction, including deforestation, species extinction, mono-cropping and global warming; the legitimacy of force and violence; the mis-allocation of capital, skills, land and other assets; vast inefficiencies in the economy; tremendous waste; massive inequalities in the world; the continuation of world hunger and mass starvation; the transmission and spread of dangerous diseases; and moral failure in so-called civilized societies. Vegetarianism is an antidote to all of these unnecessary tragedies.

The editors of World Watch concluded in the July/August 2004 edition that "the human appetite for animal flesh is a driving force behind virtually every major category of environmental damage now threatening the human future — deforestation, erosion, fresh water scarcity, air and water pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss, social injustice, the destabilization of communities and the spread of disease." Lee Hall, the legal director for Friends of Animals, is more succinct: "Behind virtually every great environmental complaint there's milk and meat."

Global warming may be the most serious global social problem threatening life on Earth. We need to fight global warming on the governmental and corporate levels, and we also need to fight global warming on the everyday and personal levels. We need to fight global warming with our forks! In the enduring and powerful words of Mahatma Gandhi, "You must be the change you wish to see in this world."

Global warming, as Al Gore so powerfully shows, is "an inconvenient truth." The fact that the production of meat significantly contributes to global warming is another inconvenient truth. Now we know.

DAN BROOK is a writer, activist and instructor of sociology at San Jose State University and author of Modern Revolution (University Press of America, 2005). He welcomes comments via Brook@california.com.

The Trumpet - THANE S.P.C.A. Quarterly Newsletter (January-March 2011)

Editorial - From the Horse's Mouth

The Other Demon

“The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river.” ~Ross Perot

Maybe it’s time to really hear what Perot is trying to say. He is a businessman and usually people like that are normally concerned with the ‘other’ kind of green stuff. But Ross is spot on.

We talk about animal welfare and lobby against animal cruelty – a noble task indeed in a world ravaged by corruption, greed and political power games. We are however, so engulfed by actual acts of cruelty that we often overlook the other demon that threatens the lives of so many animals and humans directly and indirectly – pollution. It’s everywhere. You look around and there is always something polluting your field of vision. Thin plastic bags are the worst culprits, but there are others with equal polluting potency. For example, do we think about the thicker plastic bags which we bring home from malls regularly? What about tetra packs, polypet storage containers, cosmetic containers and aluminium/plastic foils – all of which have become an inseparable part of urban living?

There comes a time in all our lives, when we have to think for ourselves and not just follow the crowds blindly. Choices must be made and the kind of choices we make, determine not only who we are as individuals, but also what we are contributing to the earth of the future. Sure, we won’t be around forever, but think about it this way – someone will.

Keep your car’s PUC updated and use unleaded petrol to do your bit in the reduction of air pollution – something that affects not just humans in cities, but also urban animals. Sound pollution also is far more sinister than is publicized – especially for animals and birds. Their hearing sensitivities are far finer tuned than ours are, so the next time you want to buy loud firecrackers for Diwali or an India-Pakistan cricket match –DON’T.

In fact, the next time you want to buy anything, make the right choice.

Choose companies which are eco-friendly and animal friendly, before you buy anything – and don’t worry there are plenty of such firms to choose from. Take The Body Shop for instance. It provides its customers with biodegradable bags which become one with soil within a year’s time. The company is also endorsed by animal protection groups worldwide, because of its humane approach to cosmetics.

That’s right! The company does not test on animals and by purchasing a product from them, you become a part of the crusade as well-it’s that simple! Amway and Star Bazaar are other examples of companies that believe in, practice and advocate sustainable living.

Make an informed decision, buy products with degradable bags and containers and ensure that an animal won’t choke to death on account of your purchase. When you’re travelling by train or car, refrain from dumping garbage and plastic bags into rivers and creeks and in your own way, become a hero for the life thriving in these water bodies. Carry your own bags to the marketplace and refuse plastic bags whenever you can. Keep your neighborhood clean and don’t wait for the garbage to pile up. Try composting at home and if you can, try community composting - it works!

Ruminate over what Perot says. Don’t just talk about the dirty river – clean it up! Be an animal welfare crusader and environmental activist in your own right. Make some differences and bring about changes – after all it begins with you!

Thank you!!!

For Thane S.P.C.A

Shreyasi Majumdar

(Editor)

Thane S.P.C.A. Quarterly Newsletter (April-July 2011)

Editorial – From the Horse's Mouth

BLACK MAGIC – DARK TIMES FOR ANIMALS

Photo Credit: TRAFFIC INDIA

These are dark times indeed. 'Civilization' continues to progress at a breakneck speed and the human brain performs to hitherto unimaginable capacities. Unfortunately, many human hearts and minds are still enslaved by desires – born out of greed, vanity or revenge. When conventional methods fail to achieve these ends, man turns to unexplainable, yet apparently effective means. And Black Magic happens. More often than not, even in an increasingly modernized society such as India, black magic pervades the common man's life and yes, in the process, animals are hurt.

In July, Thane S.P.C.A. had an unlikely visitor – a gravely injured Olive Ridley turtle. The species is a sparkling representative of all that is awe-inspiring in India's marine wildlife. This particular animal was found lying injured on a village coast – 20 km off Daman beach. Three of its limbs were reduced to stubs – an obvious result of human action. Initially, this was attributed to propellers of fishing trawlers, but later, more sinister facts surfaced, which changed opinions. 'Oliver', as he came to be known, was brought all the way to Thane S.P.C.A's hospital, where he was provided the necessary medication, environment and nutrition. Within a few days of care and shelter, Oliver was much better, but with so many injuries sustained to his limbs and carapace, it was evident that he would never be able to live in the sea again.

Soon after, another Olive Ridley – this time a female who was named Olivia, was found stranded on Juhu Beach and was brought to Thane S.P.C.A. with similar injuries. She was released into the sea soon after, since she was in a fairly stable condition. However, she surfaced a few days later with much more serious injuries – a partial break in the plastron and her left flipper severed (undoubtedly by human action) at the humerus. That is when suspicions were aroused and it came to light that Olive Ridley turtles, among other species of these amphibians, are reportedly, widely used in black magic rituals, not only in Mumbai and surrounding areas, but country-wide.

The flipper doesn't stop there. Other species, such as snakes, chickens and owls, often fall prey to blind superstitions and the dark arts.

It is common belief that being in possession of a sand boa is good for business. Some people also go to the extent of saying that if a sand boa is kept next to a mirror, it is bound to crack and be the harbringer of good news. Obviously not for the snake. In January 2011, TOI reported that the Ulhasnagar crime branch had arrested three people for smuggling a sand boa in an attempt to sell it to three tantriks for Rs 10 lakhs. In October 2009, the TOI reported that the Pune rural police had rescued a sand boa and a turtle from two people who were allegedly attempting to sell them to black magic practitioners. Seven other middlemen and six prospective customers were also arrested. Then Superintendent of police, was quoted to have said that the suspects were planning to sell the sand boa for Rs 50 lakhs and the turtle for Rs 20 lakhs! Evidently, the trade is a lucrative one and also, one that obviously needs immediate looking into by the authorities.

Owls also have always been a source of much fascination in magical folklore and one would think that Harry Potter's owl Hedwig, would have boosted right thinking among movie buffs and HP fans alike. However, in common Indian society, owls continue to be exploited for their apparent importance in black magic.

Tantriks regularly use owls and their body parts in 'sacred' ceremonies. Important owl body parts attributed to effective black magic, include skull, bones, claws, blood, eyes, beak, liver, kidney, meat and eggshells. Some owl species with extra tufts of feathers near their ears are supposed to be more magical than others and therefore in greater demand.

The worst time in the life of an Indian owl, is mid-October to mid-November. This auspicious period of Diwali and Lakshmi puja, spells doom for these nocturnal creatures, who are known to be associated with Lakshmi-the goddess of wealth and prosperity. As such, they are sacrificed during this time in the false belief that sacrificing an owl brings wealth, good luck and prosperity.

They are often caught with bamboo poles, nets and other such traps and during this time, wealth does come to bird catchers who receive anywhere between Rs 10,000-20,000 for every bird caught.

Late last year, Shri Jairam Ramesh, Hon. Minister of Environment and Forests, India, launched TRAFFIC India's report titled 'Imperilled Custodians of the Night: A Study on Illegal Trade, Trapping and Use of Owls in India', authored by Abrar Ahmed, as per reports. According to the reports, owls are used in the live bird trade for many other purposes as well. They are used in street performances, slaughtered for their meat and taxidermy, their body parts used in folk medicines and their feathers/claws in headgear. Often live owls are used as bait/decoys, to acquire other bird species.

According to the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972, exploiting Indian owl populations via hunting and trading is strictly prohibited, but the trade process continues nevertheless, unabated. Of the 30 owl species recorded in India, 15 are allegedly used in the domestic live bird trade spread across the country. In fact, black magic has pushed many of these 15 species to the brink of extinction.

So the next time you witness/participate in or hear of a black magic ritual involving the use of animals, STOP IT. As an Indian citizen, you have every right to bring these barbaric ceremonies to light. And as a sentient human being, it is your duty to do so.

Stay alert and spread the word. Walk the walk and talk the talk. Do your bit to bring light and spread a message of deep spirituality, not religious blindness, so that the darkness of black magic can be dispelled and our animals can breathe freely again.

Best,

Shreyasi Majumdar

(Editor)