Different stories, same fate

In the last couple of days there were two pieces of news about zoo animals with very different fortunes.

The first one was about the birth of a baby elephant which was thought and 'confirmed' to have died in the womb during the six-day labour. The male calf was trapped in a position from which a live birth was thought to be impossible and ultrasound appeared to confirm the diagnosis. The complete absence of any vital signs during all the checks and examinations made this survival story a 'miracle'. The baby elephant has taken its first steps.

The second news story is more depressing. Eleven Siberian tigers have died at a zoo in Liaoning, China over the past three months. There are discrepancies about how they died. While a manager at the zoo said the tigers simply died of various diseases, a local wildlife protection official said that malnutrition was one cause. Whatever the reason, the case raises questions about how zoo animals are treated in China.

While the two news items convey contrasting sentiments, what lies behind them is the sad fact that majestic wild animals like elephants and tigers are reduced to a life in captivity. Only about 50, or one percent, of the 5,000 tigers in China are left in the wild. The loss of their natural habitat and human poaching have driven many wild animals to the verge of extinction and a captive life may well be the only way to preserve them. But it is sad to see these regal animals which not so long ago still roamed and ruled the land now being forced to live an undignified life in cages where movement is restricted and disease is rampant. It may not be long before we can only have wild animals in zoos but not in the wild anymore.

What have they done to deserve this?

In my blog on 23 February, I wrote about how trusting street cats may become easy prey for animal-hating cowards. A news article yesterday reported a harrowing case where a one-year-old kitten was found wandering in the street with its left front paw cut off. The poor thing may have been another victim with too much trust to humans. The fact that the kitten was, as the article said, very hostile to strangers and wanted to bite the nurse cannot be taken to mean that this was a mean cat. How friendly would you be if someone cut off your left hand and then dumped you to the street to rot?

Today, a feature article described animal abuse of a different nature. "Where in the world is the elephant worst treated? The honest and straight answer is Kerala," said Paul Zacharia, one of India's best-known writers. He was referring to the plight of the state's 700 captive elephants, the largest "domesticated" elephant population in India.

According to the article, the elephants are mainly rented out for parades and processions during festivals, for political campaigns and for promoting goods in trade fairs. Here is how the article described the hardship the elephants have to put up with:

"The animals have to endure long and noisy parades where fire crackers are set off, they must stand close to flames, travel long distances in ramshackle open vehicles and walk on tarred roads in the scorching sun for hours. They also have to endure drunk, often brutal mahouts."

Mr Zacharia said that not a day passes without the news of an elephant meeting its death in an accident or getting grievously injured or killing the mahout in sheer desperation or running amok because it simply has had enough.

Killing the mahout? Running amok? You can imagine what sort of fate would await the poor elephant when such a thing happens. The elephant will certainly be regarded as having gone mad and will be killed or brutally tortured in retaliation. And hardly anyone in the angry mob will stop and think about what has driven the elephant to behave like that in the first place.