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| Monday, 16 December 2002 |
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Letters | |
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Please forward your letters to [email protected] in plain text format within the e-mail message, since as a policy we do not open any attachments.
In this country, poor suffering dying patients are of no concern to any section of employees in the health sector, be it doctors, nurses or paramedics, no difference when it comes to salaries, perks and transfers. Paramedics! Accept the international norms and practices, and place yourself behind the nurses who really form the vital link between the doctor and the patient. The nurses can perform 75% of the functions assigned to the paramedics, and what percentage of the work performed by the nurses could be done by the paramedics? That will lead us to find where the paramedics stand in respect of the service they render. The public too, will respect them in that order. Why are you so unconcerned? You have chosen a particular field of work, do it, love it and enjoy it while being there where you rightly belong to. E. M. G. EDIRISINGHE-Dehiwala.
Private zoos - a new threat to society Another environmental crisis has begun with the announcement to establish several private zoos to promote tourism and encourage investment. Zoos involve living creatures, not inanimate commodities. Therefore, consideration must be given to the moral and ethical justification and not just the commercial gain in such ventures. Today conservationists, zoologists, and other scientists have condemned zoos, which exhibit animals for commercial gain, as archaic. Many consider commercial zoos a crime against living creatures born free in their natural habitats. Scientists and conservationists limit their approval for keeping wild species in captivity to a few specific reasons. One is the ex-situ conservation of certain highly threatened species through captive breeding programmes with a view to saving and re-introducing them to the wild. However very few such animals born in captivity are introduced to the wild and are often separated from their mothers soon after birth and sold to other zoos. Education, research and study of animals are reasons for keeping animals in captivity. However, most zoos do not seriously pursue this aim and animals are exhibited in them purely for commercial gain. Regarding commercial zoos, we do not have to look outside for examples and need only to recall our own tragic experience of the private zoo at Ahungalla, a few years ago, where animals were exhibited for commercial gain. Visitors too were constantly under threat of attack there. Finally the threat materialized when a young boy was attacked and killed by a lioness kept in chains, in the open. It is only after this tragedy that the authorities hastened to close down this zoo. We also see in this venture of establishing commercial zoos for private entrepreneurs to earn quick money, other dangers and long-term losses to the country. A large extent of land will have to be cleared in each area to set up these zoos. This would mean the further destruction of the fast disappearing rural environment and its fauna and flora. The Minister must also be reminded of the monkey tricks of owners of private zoos. There is always the danger that they will get involved in the illegal trafficking in wild species and the rearing of animals for their skins and body parts. We would strongly urge the Minister not to go ahead with this plan of establishing private zoos in the country. It will only succeed in degrading our society nurtured in the Buddhist tradition of respect for the rights of all living beings to live in freedom, to the level of societies where people are entertained by watching animals seized from the wild and made to spend life sentences in captivity. Keeping animals in confinement is a practice unacceptable in our culture and the modern scientific thinking of today. SAGARICA RAJAKARUNANAYAKE,-Sathva Mithra
Crows too have a Right to Life We are deeply concerned at the wanton destruction of the lives of over 150 Crows in the heart of Colombo a few days ago as reported in the newspapers. Crows constitute a part of the traditional Fauna and is an important link in the ecology of this country. It is a natural scavenger and discharges a vital function by complementing the role of the Municipal Council in removing rubbish from the roads and alleys of Colombo. People who destroy crows are those who are alienated from the traditional culture of this country. They are unaware of a long - established bond that exists between mainly rural people and this bird and why people in some parts of this country still religiously participate in 'Balukaputu Dana' - feeding stray dogs and crows. In such a context it is sad to read that over 150 crows have died in Colombo by consuming a chemical known as Carbo-fleuran. According to some reports a leading Hotelier in Colombo 3 has deliberately poisoned these birds since it was found interfering with the Hotel's outdoor Buffet arrangements. Leaving food mixed with poison for animals is an inhumane and barbaric act and a clear infringement of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance, No. 13 of 1907. SPAR appeals to the Police, Colombo Municipal Council and other relevant authorities to adopt a stern view towards these acts of cruelty, which may lead if unchecked to the total elimination of a bird that figures conspicuously in the natural landscape of Sri Lanka. Society for the Protection of Animal Rights (SPAR).
About four decades earlier ragging was a joke to freshers and was miled, but now it has developed into criminal acts, violence and murder, which is deplorable. Hence the authorities should take stern action to suppress ragging legally towards allowing the majority of students to protect the image of universities which is violated by a few. KINGSLEY W. DIAS-Wellawatta.
I purchased an accessory required for enhanced TV viewing from a well-known retailer who boasts of a Japanese connection. This item was purchased by me on the 8th of Nov. 2002 (Friday). It was not tested by the salesman but I felt he had all good intentions as he went through and inspected about 10 boxes containing these items before he picked out one for me. It was connected to my TV set on Sunday the 10th of Nov. and found to be defective and not in working order. I phoned the store on Monday (the 11th of Nov.) morning to inform them and as it was raining heavily I said I would bring it the next day (Tuesday 12th) in order to get a refund and return this item. When I called at the store on Tuesday I was first informed that had I returned it on Monday despite the heavy rain and lightening I would have been given a refund and instead I was offered a replacement which I decline to accept as I felt all items they had were defective. On examining the packing one salesman noted that the instruction sheet which was enclosed was slightly soiled and remarked. "How can we sell this now as this paper is dirty?" This statement proves that this establishment re-sells defective items returned to them to other unsuspecting customers. I brought all these matters to the notice of the manager of this establishment (via regd. post) but he did not have the common courtesy of acknowledging my complaint. So I would request the general public not to be hoodwinked by advertisements published by unscrupulous traders who promise "Money back guarantees" etc. S. DE ALWIS-Moratuwa
Support private zoos and rearing pets Must wild life enthusiasts and animal lovers, be apprehensive of above? Rearing pets, as read somewhere, exist 'ever since Homosapiens stood erect'. The animal population is diminishing fast - some even to a point of extinction. Therefore breeding even in captivity, - in cage, zoo, or farm, - prevents and minimizes that danger of extinction and lessens the inroads to our wild life wealth. It is, therefore, a negative attitude to shed crocodile tears, whip up emotions and religious sentiment. Fanciers or owners of animals also care, protect and love their animals. Be it for pleasure or profit, no matter. Cruelty to animal, barbarous slaughter, and poaching on wild life are what is condemned and needs severe punishment. Scientific management and harvesting livestock helps the wild life conservation effort, even though indirectly. Many countries have widened the range of livestock animals and of those reared as pets. Locally, consider even deer, elk, peafowl, wild boar, etc. (for flesh), and rock squirrels, parrots, mynahs, etc. (for pets). The oft-cited Ahungalla Zoo episode to canvas against private zoos and rearing pets is weak argument. It only exposed indifference of the authorities that waited till tragedy struck, which must not repeat. The public must be educated. They must know - Which animals to rear? Where? How? Who authorizes? What the requirements are? What advice and services the authorities provide? What punishments ensue disregard? Etc. That is a more positive a step. Restrictions, simply because, certain animals live in the wild, is foolhardy. Our ancestor unfettered by Fauna & Flora Acts or by CITES conventions domesticated most of the livestock from the wild - totally economic and legal now. To succeed in 'Conservation' it must be thought of in terms of man-centred 'development' or in societal uplift. Stricter a law and harsher a punishment, have still failed to arrest the dwindling of natural resources. The authorities are stubborn to realize this. Higher penal risks, makes illicit trade more lucrative - not to speak even connivance therewith, more remunerative. A strengthened law for the wildernesses, remote to execute, supervise, or control, is only a vicious and a potent tool in the hands of the bad and the ugly. Law enforcement is claimed difficult for want of resources - a deficit that shall eternally widen and recurrently persist, for convenient an excuse. The answer to conservation is to achieve balance in demand and supply. Never arrest or prohibit either of them. Demand varies from pleasure, patient (medicine), to palate. Supply now is only from illicit sources. Arrest thereof is impossible. Besides national parks, a country also needs nature parks. These must mimic the natural habitat of plant and animal as closely as possible. The diversity of fauna and flora must be as rich as possible, - catering even some fodder, the shade and shelter - and the locations, appropriate, convenient, and manageable. Simultaneously, the diversity of livestock for rearing in cage, zoo or farm, must also amply widen. With the backdrop of scarce funds, private sector participation is not inimical, with controls as required. Only then can we achieve our target to save the animals, - from extinction as well as a lessening population in the wild. DONOVAN JAYAMANNE-Mount Lavinia.
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