A message for World Animal Day

H. NETHISINGHE

WORLD ANIMAL DAY was named after the birthday of St. Francis of Assisi on October 4, 1182. The late Pope John Paul II, when he was still Karol Wojtyla, Bishop of Karakaw wrote - “Animals have feelings. They suffer just as we do. Man should not hurt or torture them when he uses them for his own purposes”.

The animals are treated in a cruel manner in this country. They have no respect for animals. The few animal welfare organisations do the best they are permitted. They have to run these organisations mostly with the help they get from foreign countries.

Sad to say many rich people spend their nights in hotels squandering thousands of rupees for just one meal but is there anybody who think of these suffering animals and give a contribution to these animal homes for their welfare? This land has very little concern for animals. In spite of many requests to the Government for the past years - animal laws are not passed.

Dog breeding has become a money-making affair. The food of these animals are fish heads and leftovers. They are sold to anybody and everybody and mostly they die or end up on the streets. Is this the way we treat our fellow creatures? Let us be responsible and caring about the animals we make use of.

Flowers of Sri Lanka:

Propagating annuals through seeds

Manoj DISSANAYEKE

SINCE SEEDS are found at the centre of the flowers it is necessary to pluck the whole flower from the plant. Do this when the flowers have wilted and turned into a brownish shade. Collect and dry the flowers in the light rays of the sun for two to three days.

Once you are able to separate the dried particles of the flowers, put them in a bucket or cardboard box and squeeze them gently. Then you will see that parts like the anthers, seeds, petals and stem can be easily separated. Dry these particles further for another two or three days.

Store the particles in a wooden box covered by a net to prevent them from being carried away by the wind or insects. Store the seeds that have been separated in a safe place.

It is easy to separate perennial seeds of tall arboretum trees. However Jacaranda (a plant which blooms purple flowers) and frangipani bear pods that burst and propagate seeds on their own. Some plants bear wings-like objects attached to the seeds.

This is formed in a way that enables them to be swept a long distance with the breeze. If you have the desire to collect these seeds do it as soon as the seeds have matured.

You will be able to notice this stage once the pod has changed its colour from green to brownish black. Most plants belonging to the araceae family such as anthurium, Habarala and philodendron have a gelatine-like covering around its seeds.

In anthurium, seeds are found in the finger-like part sprouting out of the middle of the flower.

Though this substance enhances the

growth capacity it also attracts insects and diseases. Wash the seeds in water and add a solution like condis before planting them.

(The writer is the Agriculture Instructor of Royal Botanical Gardens, Peradeniya)

Embark

celebrates World Animal Day:

EMBARK, Otara Gunewardene’s personal Corporate Social Responsibility initiative (CSR), will mark World Animal Day by hosting a two-day fundraising event for dogs on October 6 and 7 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. partly sponsored by Browns Ltd.

This initiative will allow pet owners to bring their dogs to the car park at Odel - Alexandra Place, where the dogs will be given a full medical check-up by qualified veterinarians, dog food samples as well as a grooming package consisting of a shampoo and dry, and nail-clipping for a nominal charge.

The day will also feature live DJ music, a number of food and beverage stalls, as stalls selling Embark merchandise and Eukanuba dog food.

The grooming project by Embark has also been organised with the intension of thanking those who have supported this CSR initiative, where regular field clinics are organised.

At these clinics, Embark and the team from TAPA, in alliance with Sathva Mithra, treat dogs under the stringent standards of the Catch, Neuter, Vaccinate and Release programme (CNVR), and until now have treated over 900 community dogs in the Colombo area.

The initiative’s third project is currently under way, where the team of field doctors from Embark and TAPA are aiming to treat a minimum of 300 dogs under the CNVR procedure, which has been approved by the World Health Organisation, and is recognised to be a humane process.

These projects are just the beginning of a long-standing commitment by Gunewardene to create awareness and raise funds to the plight of dogs in the country.

The project simultaneously organises individual field clinics with real merit in conjunction with other animal-welfare organisations in a bid to significantly improve the living conditions of all animals in the country.

A side from sponsorships, in order to raise funds for this and future projects, Embark also maintains branded merchandise, including t-shirts, mugs and dog tags for sale at Odel throughout the year, as part of its continuous fundraising efforts.

Flowers:

What is the meaning behind them?

Anemone - Forsaken

Anemone is a genus of about 120 species of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae in the north and south temperate zones. They are closely related to Pasque flower (Pulsatilla) and Hepatica (Hepatica); some botanists include both of these genera within Anemone.

The plants are perennial herbs with an underground rootstock, and radical, more or less deeply cut, leaves. The elongated flower stem bears one or several, white, red, blue or rarely yellow, flowers; there is an involucre of three leaflets below each flower. The fruits often bear long hairy styles, which aid their distribution by the wind (“windflower” is a common name sometimes used for members of the genus).

The Anemone coronaria (“Kalanit” in Hebrew) is one of the most well-known and beloved flowers in Israel. During the British Mandate of Palestine British soldiers were nicknamed “Kalaniyot” for their red berrets.