Animals through the World - Online since June 2003

A monthly Magazine edited and published by Maria Lopes - November 2006

SHANGHAI, China: A Shanghai zoo said Tuesday it had canceled a show dubbed the "Animal Olympics" following accusations of cruelty from animal welfare groups.

The show was scrapped "out of consideration for the safety of our visitors," said a woman who answered the phone at the Shanghai Wild Animal Park's publicity department.

The woman declined to give her name and said official spokesmen were unavailable. She refused to answer questions about the cruelty accusations or give other details.

However, the Shanghai Daily newspaper quoted a park official, Su Feilong, as saying that a negative public response had prompted the cancellation.

"The games never caused any trouble before, but we received complaints this year, so we stopped them," Su was quoted as saying.

The show had featured animals in athletic-type situations, such as boxing matches between kangaroos and their keepers, bears fighting and riding bicycles, and an elephant tug-of-war.

Animal rights groups documented the acts, spread news about them on the Internet and organized letter-writing campaigns to the central government's tourism authority and Shanghai officials.

"This is degrading for the animals, insulting to our intelligence and a disaster for any possible chance of increasing respect for the wild animals we share the world with," Daniel Turner, senior program officer for Born Free's Zoocheck program, said in a statement on the British-based group's Web site.

The cancellation indicated heightened sensitivity to negative publicity about animal welfare in China, where such shows are common at zoos and animal parks and rarely draw complaints from the Chinese public. But growing concern is evident and is often linked to personal freedoms such as the right to own a pet, which used to be banned by the communist regime.

Earlier this year, mass slaughters of dogs in an effort to control rabies sparked criticism even from state-controlled media. A campaign in Beijing to enforce strict rules on dog ownership, including limiting ownership to one dog, also prompted a rare public protest earlier this month by about 500 demonstrators outside a city zoo.

"Chinese law only seeks to protect rare wild animals and there is little that can be done to publicize the importance of animal protection in general," said Tao Rongfang, of the Shanghai Small Animal Protection Association, a private voluntary group that is one of China's oldest animal welfare organizations.

"Dark horses"
Though illegal, the practice of horse fighting continues to flourish in the Philippines and other parts of south-east Asia, pitting overworked stallions against each other in a savage and bloody fight which many consider an integral part of indigenous tribal culture. Andrew Marshall investigates what passes for sport in Mindanao.

THE people of Magpet are celebrating. It is the town’s founding day, and to mark it there will be parades, street stalls and – this being the music-mad Philippines – karaoke and marching bands. There will also be sport, or what passes for it in scenic Magpet, which sits at the foot of a volcano in the lawless Mindanao region. Hundreds of spectators are gathering around a wooden enclosure erected in a field on the town’s outskirts. The horse-fighting is about to begin.

Seven pairs of horses are battling today, compelled to do so over a mare on heat who is tethered inside the enclosure. Each fight is the best of three rounds, with a round lasting usually 10-15 minutes. Before entering the ring, the owner carefully washes his opponent’s horse to ensure that no poison has been put on the mane or tail. The enclosure is clogged with a dozen or so bookies, who shout out the odds for the punters while waving fists full of banknotes. Riding on each bout are bets worth a total of 8000 pesos or £85 – two months’ wages by local standards.

The horses are brought into the enclosure and presented to the mare. She stands in the middle of a centre circle. If either stallion fails to enter the circle for 60 consecutive seconds, he loses the bout. The same happens if he flees the enclosure through its single exit. If neither horse fights for an hour, a tie is declared. The mare flicks her tail aside and launches playful kicks in the stallion’s direction. When the stallions are conspicuously aroused, and all bets have been placed, the fight begins. There are no ties today – the animals are simply too revved up by the mare’s presence and the screaming crowd. A savage bite of the testicles is enough to end one bout.

“It’s a dangerous game,” says spectator Raffy Mangondato, a local teacher. For the horses? “No, for us!” he grins. “Every year people get bitten or kicked.” As we watch, a horse rears up on his hind legs and sinks his teeth into his opponent’s neck. Then the two spin apart and stampede around the ring, scattering spectators and sending Mangondato – who is sitting precariously on top of the wooden enclosure – tumbling into the mud.

The horses suffer more. Their necks are lacerated with bite marks. In the next bout, one animal’s cheek is bleeding. The other has a deep cut on his lip. “Their ears – sometimes the other horse bites them off,” continues Mangondato. “Their eggs, too.” In Filipino, “egg” is slang for testicle. After the first round, the winning horse is led into a covered enclosure, out of sight, while the losing horse is re-introduced to the mare, to arouse him again and ensure the fight continues. Activists claim the mare is sometimes injected with hormones to keep her on heat for longer.

Horse-fighting was outlawed by the Philippine government in 1998, but the police and local authorities seldom enforce the ban. It was dropped from last year’s Kadayawan Festival, held annually in the provincial capital of Davao City, after protests from Filipino animal rights activists. But the practice still thrives in more remote towns such as Magpet, where locals argue that it is an integral part of tribal culture. (Mindanao is a predominantly Muslim province, although hill-dwelling ethnic groups such as the Manobo and Bagobo are indigenous to the region.) The Davao government has provided prize money and funds to build new horse-fighting arenas, claim animal rights activists. This so-called “sport” is even advertised on the nation’s official tourism website, called Wow Philippines.

Serious injuries and even death are common, says Nita Hontiveros-Lichauco of the Philippines Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), especially as the animals are already undernourished and overworked by farmers. “I saw some of the horses that were mercifully exempted from the Kadayawan festival fights,” she recalls. “They were exhausted from having to walk from their villages, where they were worked hard. I’ve been told that no horses are badly hurt, but there have been deaths afterwards and some have been blinded.”

Hontiveros-Lichauco doesn’t buy the excuse that this is an important tribal tradition. “It’s an open secret that the reason for these fights’ popularity is the betting,” says Hontiveros-Lichauco. “Gambling is behind the fights, not what tribes claim is a time-honoured tradition.”

Reny Dasian, a local farmer, is entering a six-year-old called King of the Road for the fourth consecutive year. Apart from some pre-match galloping to develop stamina, the horse gets no specific training for the fight. “It’s a cruel sport,” admits Dasian. “But it’s only held once a year. And it’s fun.”

King of the Road won last year, but today his heart isn’t in it. He loses the first round by lingering too long outside the inner ring. Despite being re-introduced to the mare, during the second round he barely engages his opponent, who jealously guards the female. Instead, King of the Road canters agitatedly around the edge of the enclosure, with bookies and spectators leaping from his path. Then he refuses to fight altogether.

Investigating animal cruelty can be perilous in the Philippines, where firearms are widely owned and unhesitatingly used to protect the interests of businessmen or politicians. Cock-fighting is a national obsession and regularly televised in the Philippines. In Mindanao province, two long-running armed insurgencies – one Islamic, one Communist – exacerbate an already lawless atmosphere.

When Hontiveros-Lichauco asked farmers if it made financial sense to risk blinding their much-needed work-horses in gambling fights, she was greeted with a hostile silence. “I felt it safer to just leave,” she says. She fared only slightly better in Davao City. “I met some people who thanked us for stopping the horse-fights, but who also warned us that half the city liked what we did and the other half were angry.”

Horse-fighting is not is not only the preserve of the Philippines. It is also found in Indonesia, where the people of Muna island stage bouts during harvest or Ramadan celebrations, or to accompany circumcision ceremonies. Horse-fighting also features in the Xinhe harvest festival held by the ethnic Miao people of China, where it is said to be a centuries-old tradition – although the state-run People’s Daily, perhaps scenting controversy, makes no mention of the practice in its online report on the last festival in July 2006.

Nor is it restricted to the developing world. The South Korean government promotes what it calls “equestrian martial arts” as part of its “Visit Jeju-Korea 2006” tourist campaign. The island of Jeju, sometimes tagged ‘the Hawaii of Korea’, is the country’s top tourist destination, especially popular among honeymooners, and was a venue for the 2002 World Cup Finals. Horse-fighting is staged under the bizarre English slogan, “Love Horses. Love Horse Fighting”, and is supported by both the Jeju Horse Breeders Association and Jeju Provincial Government.

The website WOW Philippines advertises a horse-fight in its what’s-on guide. (It is part of the Dorong Festival in Digos City, also in Mindanao.) “We actually tried to cut horse-fighting from our programme of activities for the tourists,” says Chit Afuang of Philippine Cultural and Tourism Office in London. “The thing is, some tourists would like to see it. So we’re quite confused about whether to retain or cancel it.”

Despite this equivocation, animal activist Nita Hontiveros-Lichauco says the Philippine Department of Tourism, which runs the WOW Philippines website, should be congratulated for making sincere efforts to banish horse-fights from festivals in urban areas. “That’s at least a step forward,” she says. She urges concerned British readers to send “encouraging letters” to tourism undersecretary Oscar Palabyab (the address is below), whom she describes as “sympathetic to our cause”.

That cause needs all the help it can get. Hontiveros-Lichauco says she has never heard of police taking action against anyone involved in horse-fighting. “There have been arrests in the dog-meat trade,” she says. “But that’s another story.”
If you wish to protest against horse fighting, write to: Undersecretary Oscar Palabyab, Department of Tourism, # 409 Dot Building, TM Kalaw Street, Ermita, Manila, Philippines; or visit the Philippine Animal Welfare Society’s website: www.pitstopit.com/paws3/history

I recently learned Cingular Wireless is the "Exclusive Wireless Provider for the PRCA," as stated in an ad for the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association ProRodeo Sports News. I respectfully ask you to end your endorsement of animals abused for entertainment.

As more customers learn their wireless payments help Cingular sponsor rodeos, more will choose another service. I urge Cingular to modify its contractual agreements so customers may opt out (without penalty) on ethical grounds.

"Without torture, there can be no rodeo," claims Peggy W. Larson, DVM, MS, JD, a former bareback bronco rider who says horses and bulls buck wildly only because they are in pain from rigid flank straps and spurring. Rodeo
handlers bully animals with electric prods, straps, spurs and tail twisting.
On-site veterinarians cannot intervene once a deliberately agitated animal is released into the ring.

Their eyes bulge in terror. They wheeze and tremble. Some suffer for days before they are hauled to the slaughterhouse. While the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PCRA) and International Professional Rodeo Association (IPRA) allege compliance with animal welfare regulations, graphic documentation tells a different story.

One cruelty investigator who records calf-roping "rehearsals" observes, "Without the noise of the crowd and announcer you can actually hear the calves' bodies slamming on the ground, and their choking and coughing after being clotheslined." In holding chutes, calves are shocked and their tails are wrenched over steel bars. As they flee into the ring at speeds up to 27 miles per hour, the "cowboy" neck-chokes and smashes them into the ground.
He typically body-slams them again for theatrical effect.

For bucking events, the horses' intestines and groins are cinched so tightly they lurch in response to the pain. Animals who won't buck are shocked with electric prods. Many careen into fences, posts or chutes.

In steer contests, a rider lassos a running, 700-pound steer and jerks the animal's head and neck in a 180-degree loop, pitching him into the dirt. The steer is tripped, tossed and lugged for 30 feet or more so the roper can subdue him and bind his legs for a score.

Animal welfare groups worldwide denounce rodeo's trail of busted bones, cracked skulls and severed spines. Please keep me informed of any decision to cease sponsorship of the PRCA and rodeo, so I may let family, friends and colleagues know Cingular does not support verified animal cruelty.

I am disappointed to learn The Coca-Cola Company has retracted its vow to drop rodeo sponsorship. In fact, Coca-Cola's logo adorned the bucking chute at a 2005 Cheyenne, Wyoming rodeo where a bloody horse was forced to perform despite an obvious hoof injury. Photos of more spattered blood in the chute indicate this horse was not the only wounded animal on display. With advertisements in rodeos throughout North America, Coca-Cola seems content to endorse animal abuse.

Interestingly, a June 6, 2000 letter from Mark Preisinger, Coke Shareholders Affairs Manager, proclaimed: "The Coca-Cola Company has a policy in force stating that our operations will not sponsor or promote events where there
is a risk of physical harm to animals... I also want to assure you that if you hear of any violations of this policy anywhere we do business, I would be anxious to know about it and will commit to rectifying the matter promptly."

I respectfully submit the fact that all animals used in rodeos are at "risk of physical harm."

"Without torture, there can be no rodeo," claims Peggy W. Larson, DVM, MS, JD, a former bareback bronco rider who says horses and bulls buck wildly only because they are in pain from rigid flank straps and spurring. Rodeo
handlers bully animals with electric prods, straps, spurs and tail twisting. On-site veterinarians cannot intervene once a deliberately agitated animal is released into the ring.

Their eyes bulge in terror. They wheeze and tremble. Some suffer for days before they are hauled to the slaughterhouse. While the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PCRA) and International Professional Rodeo Association (IPRA) allege compliance with animal welfare regulations, graphic documentation tells a different story.

One cruelty investigator who records calf-roping "rehearsals" observes, "Without the noise of the crowd and announcer you can actually hear the calves' bodies slamming on the ground, and their choking and coughing after being clotheslined." In holding chutes, calves are shocked and their tails are wrenched over steel bars. As they flee into the ring at speeds up to 27 miles per hour, the "cowboy" neck-chokes and smashes them into the ground.
He typically body-slams them again for theatrical effect.

For bucking events, the horses' intestines and groins are cinched so tightly they lurch in response to the pain. Animals who won't buck are shocked with electric prods. Many careen into fences, posts or chutes.

In steer contests, a rider lassos a running, 700-pound steer and jerks the animal's head and neck in a 180-degree loop, pitching him into the dirt. The steer is tripped, tossed and lugged for 30 feet or more so the roper can subdue him and bind his legs for a score.

Animal welfare groups worldwide denounce rodeo's trail of busted bones, cracked skulls and severed spines. Please keep me informed of any decision to cease rodeo sponsorship, so I may let family, friends and colleagues know Coca-Cola does not support verified animal cruelty.

Disclaimer: All items published in this magazine were received by us and we pass them on in good faith. We are not responsible for incorrect email addresses, errors, omissions etc. by the originators.