Cambodia's tourist hotspot bans dog meat trade

Yahoo – AFP, 8 July 2020

A dog sits in a cage next to a pit where the animals are drowned at a
slaughterhouse in Cambodia

The Cambodian tourist town of Siem Reap has banned the dog meat trade, a victory for animal rights campaigners who describe the area as the "lynchpin" of an industry that slaughters millions of creatures each year.

Dog meat, a cheap source of protein, is eaten in several Asian countries, including Cambodia, although it is much more popular in neighbouring Vietnam.

But animal rights group Four Paws has identified Siem Reap province -- home to the famed Angkor Wat temple complex -- as a hub for the trade within the kingdom, where they say three million dogs are butchered annually.

Siem Reap authorities announced a ban late Tuesday, with the provincial agricultural department saying the dog meat trade has descended into "anarchy" in recent years.

"It has caused the infection of rabies and other diseases from one region to another, which affects the public health," said the statement.

"The catching, buying, selling and slaughtering of dogs... will be punished severely."

The maximum penalty for dealing in dogs for slaughter as food is five years in prison, while fines range from 7-50 million riel ($1,700 to $12,200).

How the ban will be enforced remains to be seen, as Cambodia has long struggled with lax policing.

However, Four Paws on Wednesday hailed the decision to take out Siem Reap as a "lynchpin for the Cambodian dog meat trade".

"We hope that Siem Reap will serve as a model for the rest of the country to follow suit," said veterinarian Dr. Katherine Polak.

Their investigation last year found that the northern province served as a gateway for the trade, with roving dog catchers nabbing animals and selling them to over 20 dog meat restaurants in the tourist city.

Thousands are also transported each month to different parts of the country, including the capital Phnom Penh where there are still more than 100 restaurants.

On Wednesday, a streetside vendor in the capital continued to advertise dog meat on his menu, hawking barbecue dishes from $2.50 to $10 a kilogram.

Tourism to Cambodia has seized up due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Siem Reap draws the bulk of the kingdom's six million tourists, nearly half from China.

Montreal horse-drawn carriages take one last lap

Yahoo – AFP, Anne-Sophie THILL, December 27, 2019

A horse-drawn carriage passes by in a street of Old Montreal, Quebec, Canada
on December 22, 2019.Montreal's horse-drawn carriages will be taken off the roads
on December 31, ending a long feud between the city and coachmen and a
quaint means of local travel that dates back to the 1600s. (AFP Photo/Eric THOMAS)

Montreal (AFP) - To tourists they are a time-honored, charming way of seeing the sights but animal rights activists say Montreal's horse-drawn carriages are a cruel and unnecessary relic of yesteryear.

A longstanding feud between the coachmen and their critics looks set to end however with the unique mode of transport set to disappear from the streets of Canada's second city by year end.

"You can pet him if you want," Nathalie Matte tells onlookers attracted to her hoofed beast with its flowing mane and tail.

In the heart of Montreal's Old Port neighborhood, a half dozen horses and carriages are lined up outside the Notre Dame basilica, waiting for riders.

A group of tourists, tempted by offers of a languid and comfortable ride along cobblestone streets, and a complimentary blanket across their lap on a cold winter's day, snap pictures.

Horse-drawn carriages line up in front of the Notre-Dame basilica in Old-Montreal, 

waiting for tourists in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on December 22, 2019.Montreal's 

horse-drawn carriages will be taken off the roads on December 31, ending a long

 feud between the city and coachmen and a quaint means of local travel that dates

back to the 1600s. (AFP Photo/Eric THOMAS)

The carriages this time of year are decorated with red ribbons and fir branches to mark the Christmas holidays.

"It's a unique way to see the city rather than just taking the bus or the subway," says Mujtaba Ali, 29, who is visiting with family from neighboring Ontario, as he steps off a carriage.

Horses and landaus -- four-wheel, convertible carriages named after the German city of their origin -- are a part of Montreal's cultural heritage, says owner Luc Desparois.

"They've been around as long as Montreal has existed," he told AFP.

The Quebec city was founded by European settlers in the 1600s at the site of an indigenous village inhabited as far back as 4,000 years ago -- although the landau itself was invented in the 18th century

City Hall has ordered an end to the tourist rides out of concern for the horses. In 2018, the council passed a by-law banishing horse-drawn carriages, starting in 2020.

Two horse-drawn carriages pass by in a street of Old Montreal, Quebec, Canada 

on December 22, 2019.Montreal's horse-drawn carriages will be taken off the roads 

on December 31, ending a long feud between the city and coachmen and a quaint 

means of local travel that dates back to the 1600s. (AFP Photo/Eric THOMAS)

The death of a horse in 2018 while pulling a carriage was the last straw for animal rights groups, and prompted mayor Valerie Plante to speak out against the carriage industry, saying it was no longer welcome in Montreal.

The decision will put some 50 coachmen and their horses out of work.

Animal welfare

"It is a tradition that has long been appreciated but today I think it is time to move on," said Jean-François Parenteau, the city's pointman in the case.

The city, he said, must "show concern for the animals."

His comments drew praise from Galahad, a Quebec association for the protection of horses, which lobbied for the ban. Its founder Chamie Angie Cadorette said the horses faced tough working conditions.

"It is not just an hour a day. It is eight hours a day, going up and down roads in traffic," she said, accusing horse owners of neglect.

"They say they are mistreated. Prove it," retorts Desparois, who recently lost a legal challenge to the ban.

A coachwoman puts a cover on her horse while waiting for tourists in freezing 

temperatures in Old Montreal, Quebec, Canada on December 22, 2019.Montreal's 

horse-drawn carriages will be taken off the roads on December 31, ending a 

long feud between the city and coachmen and a quaint means of local travel 

that dates back to the 1600s. (AFP Photo/Eric THOMAS)

City Hall, under pressure from activists, had long sought to ban the carriages, but until now had managed only incremental steps, such as requiring horses be taken off the road when summer temperatures soared.

That did not satisfy animal rights groups.

In April, to prevent out-of-work horses from ending up at slaughterhouses, the city said it would pay the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Can$1,000 (US$760) for each horse offered a refuge or adoptive family.

As of December 16, only one application to join the program had been made.

The offer is a "total insult" for Desparois, owner of the Lucky Luc stable, which has a total of 15 horses and employs 15 coachmen.

"You could offer me $10,000 tomorrow morning and I would not sell them to you," he said, adding that after 34 years in the business his animals mean more to him than money could.

After the ban comes into effect, the "king of horse-drawn carriages" -- as local media has dubbed him -- plans to take his horses to other nearby communities or maybe even to Ottawa.

Coachwoman Nathalie Matte, 52, who's about to lose her job after Montreal's 

horse-drawn carriages will be taken off the roads on December 31, waits for 

passengers in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on December 22, 2019.Montreal's 

horse-drawn carriages will be taken off the roads on December 31, ending a long 

feud between the city and coachmen and a quaint means of local travel that 

dates back to the 1600s. (AFP Photo/Eric THOMAS)

Neither option, he says, will be as profitable as rides in the Old Port, where he charges Can$53 per half hour ride or Can$85 for an hour with an average of two to seven rides per day.

Older coachmen will simply take early retirement. Others will likely leave the profession.

"I won't have a choice but to quit. I won't have the means to move to Ottawa," said Nathalie Matte, 52, a coachwoman who plans to return to a previous job as a groom.

City Hall, meanwhile, is working on a retraining program to help coachmen transition to other tourist jobs.

Nine deer dead in Japan after eating plastic: wildlife group

Yahoo – AFP, July 10, 2019

Tourists are forbidden from feeding the deer any food other than the crackers
(AFP Photo/Behrouz MEHRI)

Tokyo (AFP) - Nine deer have died after swallowing plastic bags in Japan's Nara Park, a wildlife group said on Wednesday, warning that a surge in tourism may be to blame.

The Nara Deer Preservation Foundation said that masses of plastic bags and snack packets were found in the stomachs of the deer which died between March and June this year.

"The biggest litter found in one of the nine amounted to 4.3 kilograms (9.5 pounds)," foundation official Yoshitaka Ashimura told AFP.

"We were surprised. It was so big," he said.

The picturesque park in Japan's ancient capital is home to more than 1,000 deer, which can even be found roaming the streets in search of special tasty crackers offered by tourists.

Tourists are forbidden from feeding the deer any food besides the crackers but Ashimura said some visitors offer the animals other types of snacks.

"The deer probably think that the snacks and the plastic packs covering them are both food," he said, adding the animals normally eat grass and acorns.

"They might also eat plastic bags dropped on the ground," he said, adding that he believed such cases had increased recently "due to the growing number of visitors".

"The only way to prevent this is to remove all the garbage."

The sprawling park that also includes wooden temples and shrines built centuries ago is a major tourist attraction.

The number of tourists visiting Nara city where the park is located has increased in recent years, with 16 million visitors in 2017.

The deer at the park -- numbering on average about 1,200 -- are protected as a national treasure.

At least 300 Himalayan yaks starve to death in India

CAN – AFP, 12 May 2019

In this file photo taken on Dec 13, 2014, an Indian local walks with his yak on a
snow-covered road during the season’s first snowfall at Kufri, some 17km from the
northern hill town of Shimla. (Photo: AFP/STR) 

NEW DELHI: Indian officials Sunday said (May 12) that at least 300 yaks starved to death in a remote Himalayan valley after a bout of unusually harsh winter weather.

Officials in the northeastern state of Sikkim said they received the first distress call from around 50 people cut off in the remote Mukuthang Valley in December.

Following very heavy snowfall the residents asked for help providing feed for their herd of around 1,500 yaks, a source of local milk, milk products, transportation and wool.

"We made several attempts to reach them but couldn't. No roads or air transport could reach there because of the weather conditions. We reached there now and have already confirmed at least 300 yak deaths," local official Raj Kumar Yadav told AFP.

"The local families say that 500 yaks have died because of starvation. We are trying to confirm that. Around 50 yaks are also receiving urgent medical attention," Yadav added.

Yaks are one of the mainstays of the region's tourism-dependent economy.

A few yaks die because of extreme conditions in the region each year, but the authorities say that this year's toll is unprecedented.

"The weather was too harsh. One heavy spell of snowfall in December was followed by even more snowfall and even the grass didn't grow. They died because of both cold and starvation," Yadav added.

The authorities are making arrangements to bury the dead yaks and assist local families in the valley, around 70 kilometres (45 miles) from state capital Gangtok.

Young elephant electrocuted in Thailand

Yahoo – AFP, September 15, 2018

The mahout (C) of 10-year-old elephant named 'Lucky', wildlife volunteers and
 police surround the animal's body in Samut Prakhan province, south of Bangkok,
in a photo taken by civilian volunteer charity Ruamkatanyu on September 14,
 2018 (AFP Photo/Handout)

Bangkok (AFP) - A young male elephant was electrocuted in Thailand after stumbling into a drain and crashing into a restaurant sign, police said Saturday.

Two elephant handlers were walking 10-year-old Plai Nam Choke -- or "Lucky" in English -- around a town in Samut Prakhan province south of Bangkok, offering passers-by the chance to feed him for cash.

But Lucky stumbled into an open sewer and collided with an electric signboard outside a restaurant, said police officer Nopporn Saengsawang.

"I received a call at 8:30 pm that the elephant was stuck in the drain," he said. "He likely died from electrocution."

Some rescue workers from a local charity group attempted CPR on Lucky for three hours after he fell.

The two handlers were charged with illegally moving the elephant and animal cruelty offences, Nopporn said.

Lucky hailed from the northeastern province of Surin, home to a famous annual elephant fair that features a parade by performing pachyderms.

Wild elephants can still be seen in Thailand's national forests, but their numbers have dwindled to about 2,700 from a peak of over 100,000 in 1850.

A large number have been domesticated for entertainment or tourism purposes, prompting accusations of animal cruelty.

Handlers are usually banned from walking elephants through cities due to space constraints, but many risk punishment in pursuit of living.

Research has shown that elephants caught in the wild and subjected to a lifetime of captivity suffer from long-term stress and tend to have shorter lifespans.

Greek holiday hotspot to protect over-worked donkeys

Yahoo – AFP, 28 July 2018

Authorities on the idyllic Greek holiday island of Santorini have decided to offer
protection for the donkeys who carry tourists up a steep  cliff after animal rights
activists held a protest

The authorities on the idyllic Greek holiday island of Santorini have decided to offer protection for the donkeys who carry tourists up a steep cliff, after facing protests and adverse publicity.

The town hall issued a statement Saturday saying a meeting had been held with animal rights groups and animal owners to ensure "respect for the rights and well-being of donkeys".

After a video of an owner beating a donkey aired on social networks, four campaigning groups held a protest Friday which ended in scuffles.

The town hall said all parties had accepted a series of measures including keeping the animals in the shade during rest periods and ensuring plenty of water and food.

The load and hours of the donkeys would also be limited while owners who mistreat their animals would be banned.

Donkeys and mules line up to give tourists a ride on the 

island of Santorini

The statement said the rights activists "declared themselves satisfied with these measures, as long they are followed".

Santorini, perched hundreds of metres above a bay in a volcanic crater, has struggled to cope with huge numbers of tourists who have flooded in over recent years.

The town hall has imposed limits on the numbers of cruise liners and people allowed onto the island.

Authorities on the idyllic Greek holiday island of Santorini have decided to offer protection for the donkeys who carry tourists up a steep cliff after animal rights activists held a protest

Donkeys and mules line up to give tourists a ride on the island of Santorini.

Baby bison put down after tourists put it in their car

Yahoo – AFP, May 16, 2016

Yellowstone is the only place in the United States where bison have lived
continuously since prehistoric times (AFP Photo/John MacDougall)

Los Angeles (AFP) - A bison put in a car by tourists because it looked like it was cold had to be put down, officials at Yellowstone National Park said on Monday.

The tourists loaded the animal into their trunk last week and drove it to a ranger station after taking a photograph that prompted a backlash on social media.

The newborn had to be euthanized because its mother had rejected it as a result of "interference by people," officials said.

"In this case, park rangers tried repeatedly to reunite the newborn bison calf with the herd. These efforts failed," the park said in a statement on its website.

"The bison calf was later euthanized because it was abandoned and causing a dangerous situation by continually approaching people and cars along the roadway."

Animals, they’re not just like us. A father and son arrived at  Lamar Buffalo Ranch

 in Wyoming on Monday, with a bison calf in the back of their SUV. They believed

 that the bison was cold and in danger, so they decided to kidnap the animal and

bring it to a park ranger.

The park berated visitors for taking selfies and recording video near the bison, flouting regulations demanding people stay at least 25 yards (23 meters) away.

"In a recent viral video, a visitor approached within an arm's length of an adult bison in the Old Faithful area," it said of the park's famous geyser. "Another video featured visitors posing for pictures with bison at extremely unsafe and illegal distances."

Five visitors were seriously injured last year after approaching bison too closely, the park said.

In the latest incident, a father and son transported the bison calf in their Toyota Sequoia to a ranger station in the park's northeast corner, a witness told the online East Idaho News.

"They were demanding to speak with a ranger. They were seriously worried that the calf was freezing and dying," said Karen Richardson, one of several parents chaperoning a group of fifth-graders on a field trip.

A grizzly bear and her two cubs approach the carcass of a bison in Yellowstone

 National Park in Wyoming, United States, July 6, 2015. Reuters/Jim Urquhart/File Photo

The website quoted another parent who told the tourists to remove the bison from their car, warning they could be in trouble.

"They didn't care," he said. "They sincerely thought they were doing a service and helping that calf by trying to save it from the cold."

Critics shared the picture of the calf in the car on Twitter, scolding the "dumbass," "stupid" and "idiotic" tourists.

Yellowstone is the only place in the United States where bison have lived continuously since prehistoric times.

The park is home to 4,900 of the animals, which it says injure more people than any of its other animals.

British tourist trampled to death by Thai elephant

Yahoo – AFP, 2 February 2016

Thailand has an estimated 4,000 domesticated elephants, many working in the tourism

trade, alongside some 2,500 wild elephants (AFP Photo/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul)

Bangkok (AFP) - A British tourist has been trampled to death by an elephant on the Thai tourist island of Koh Samui, police said Tuesday, the latest deadly attack by animals used to entertain holidaymakers.

The man, identified by police as Gareth Crowe, 36, was riding on the animal's back with his daughter on Monday afternoon when it suddenly threw them off, police said.

"We suspect that the hot weather made the elephant angry and that he was not accustomed to his mahout," Paiboon Omark, Samui district chief, told AFP.

A mahout is the person who trains, controls and rides an elephant, usually after years of building up a close bond with the animal.

Paiboon said Crowe had a prosthetic leg and was unable to run away from the marauding pachyderm.

His daughter and the mahout, a Myanmar national, were both injured but escaped and were out of danger, he added.

The elephant, named "Golf", was tranquillised and brought under control, he said.

A spokesman at the British embassy said they were aware of the incident and were providing assistance to the victim's family.

Thailand's use of elephants for tourism is under increased scrutiny following a string

of scandals and investigations by rights groups (AFP Photo/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul)

Thailand has an estimated 4,000 domesticated elephants, many working in the tourism trade, alongside some 2,500 wild elephants.

In August, an elephant killed his mahout with three terrified Chinese tourists still on his back. The tourists survived.

Thailand's use of animals for tourism is under increased scrutiny following a string of scandals and investigations by rights groups.

The government is currently locked in a battle with a controversial "Tiger Temple" that refuses to hand over hundreds of big cats despite holding them illegally.

In 2013, the pop star Rihanna inadvertently highlighted another thriving illegal trade when she posted a selfie with a slow loris.

The endangered primates are a protected species yet are often found with illegal handlers in tourist regions who charge holidaymakers for pictures.

Conservationists are meeting with Thai government officials on Wednesday to lobby for better animal welfare standards across the tourism trade.

"In my view, male elephants should not be in the tourism industry, they're simply too unpredictable," Edwin Wiek, from Wildlife Friends of Thailand, one of the groups attending the meeting, told AFP.

He added that almost all the killings of mahouts and tourists during rides in recent years had involved male elephants, sometimes when they are in must, a state associated with the rutting season when males display aggressive behaviour fuelled by a surge of testosterone.

New York deal to limit horse-drawn carriage rides

Yahoo – AFP, January 18, 2016

New York's horse carriage industry, which mainly takes tourists through Central Park,
has come under criticism from animal welfare agencies (AFP Photo/Spencer Platt)

New York (AFP) - New York reached a deal that will almost halve the number of horses licensed to perform carriage rides in Central Park after the mayor called them inhumane to animals.

The agreement, which will keep the industry alive, comes after Mayor Bill de Blasio promised two years ago to abolish the rides popular with tourists, loved-up couples and immortalized in movies.

The deal, which will start to come into effect from June 1 and take three years to be fully implemented, will reduce from 180 to 110 the number of licensed horses by December 1, the city council said.

The ultimate goal is to reduce the number to 95 and to give 75 horses a long-term home in Central Park stables, therefore banning public horse rides on the streets of Manhattan.

"We are pleased to have reached an agreement in concept on the future of New York's horse carriage industry," said the mayor's office said.

"We look forward to working together on the final details of this legislation and getting this passed," it added in a statement.

The agreement demands that by October 1 2018 stables will be established in Central Park to house 68 carriages and 75 horses, the city council said.

New York reached a deal late that will almost halve the number of horses licensed

 to perform carriage rides in Central Park after the mayor called them inhumane to

animals (AFP Photo/Jewel Samad)

Horses not at work must be on furlough outside the city, and no carriage can operate for longer than nine hours a day by December 1.

NYClass, one of the groups demanding a ban on carriage rides, has collected more than 35,800 signatures in an online petition.

The petition calls the carriage horse industry "cruel, inhumane and unsafe" and demands the horses to be retired to sanctuaries.

"Horses do not belong in a congested, urban setting where they constantly breathe exhaust while dodging dangerous traffic," it says.

The group was not immediately reachable for comment to the deal.

Mumbai's ornate horse-drawn carriages are nearing the end of the road after a

 court in the Indian city ruled them illegal, saying owners must wind up operations

within a year (AFP Photo/Punit Paranjpe)

Related Articles:

Indian court bans Mumbai's horse-drawn carriages

Culture or Cruelty?

Singapore banks urged to curtail loans to haze-linked firms

Yahoo – AFP, Martin Abbugao, 9 Oct 2015

A worker waters a field as downtown buildings are shrouded in smog in
Singapore on October 5, 2015 (AFP Photo/Roslan Rahman)

Singapore (AFP) - An umbrella group of local and foreign banks in smog-hit Singapore has urged members to make "sustainable development" part of their lending requirements, stepping up pressure on companies linked to land-clearing fires in Indonesia.

The 158-member Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) on Thursday issued guidelines for the inclusion of greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, forest degradation and biodiversity loss among the criteria for approving commercial loans.

The move came in the wake of fires illegally started to clear land for plantations on Sumatra island and the Indonesian part of Borneo, which have shrouded Singapore and Malaysia in acrid smoke since early September.

"The banking sector in Singapore wants to play a bigger role in driving responsible business and long-term sustainable development," ABS director Ong-Ang Ai Boon said in a statement.

The smoky haze has also reached the popular Thai holiday islands of Phuket and Samui, forcing several planes packed with beach-bound tourists to turn back.

Palm oil and pulp and paper companies are believed to be the main culprits behind the use of burning to clear massive tracts of land for their plantations, but prosecution by Indonesian authorities has been rare, prompting affected countries like Singapore to resort to economic pressure.

Singapore's biggest supermarket chain, NTUC Fairprice, this week withdrew from its shelves all paper products sourced from Indonesian-owned Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), which has corporate offices in the city-state.

The company's suppliers are suspected of starting forest fires in Indonesia.

The Fullerton Hotel is blanketed in thick haze, in Singapore, on September 24,

2015 (AFP Photo/Roslan Rahman)

Related Articles:

Singapore moves against Indonesian firms over haze
Malaysia shuts schools as choking smog worsens

Thai elephant kills keeper, runs off with 3 Chinese on its back

Yahoo – AFP, 26 Aug 2015

Thai policemen attend to the body of a mahout killed by his elephant in Chiang

Mai province on August 26, 2015 (AFP Photo)

An elephant in northern Thailand went berserk Wednesday, killing his "mahout" keeper before running off into the jungle with three terrified Chinese tourists still on his back, police said.

"The mahout who was killed was Karen and he was not familiar with the elephant. They (the tourists) are safe now," Colonel Thawatchai Thepboon, police commander of Mae Wang district in Chiang Mai province, told AFP.

The Karen are an ethnic minority widespread in northern Thailand.

Police said the incident took place at 9.30am (0230 GMT) as a Chinese family of three -- a father, mother and a young child -- took a ride on the back of a male elephant.

Rides are a popular and lucrative tourist activity but many animal rights groups say it is cruel and stressful for the pachyderms.

Mahouts with their elephants after bathing them in a river at Anantara resort, 

home to the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation, in Chiang Saen on

April 10, 2015 (AFP Photo/Christophe Archambault)

The elephant had not taken easily to his new keeper and turned on him suddenly, goring him to death, Channel 3 reported.

The channel broadcast footage of the three frightened tourists being led back to camp still on the elephant's back once it had been calmed down by other mahouts and their rides.

Thailand's roughly 4,000 domesticated elephants outnumber an estimated 2,500 remaining in the wild.

Domestic elephants in Thailand -- where the pachyderm is a national symbol -- have been used en masse in the tourist trade since they found themselves unemployed in 1989 when logging was banned.

Accidents are not unheard of. In June an elephant killed a Thai man and injured another as they were eating dinner at a beachside restaurant. The pair had been talking to the animal's mahout when it suddenly flipped.

Elephants eat platters of fruit during the elephant banquet to mark "National 

Elephant Day" in Ayutthaya province on March 13, 2014 (AFP Photo/

Pornchai Kittiwongsakul)

Rights groups have documented the more unscrupulous mahouts using controversial techniques to crush the animal's spirit or severely overworking their rides to make more money.

"Elephants work every day, of every month, basically 365 days per year," Edwin Wiek, a campaigner from Wildlife Friends of Thailand told AFP.

"If you had to do the same, you would get stressed. It is the same for elephants. At some point they become crazy and we can't control them."

The accident comes as Thailand's tourism industry reels from last week's bombing of a religious shrine in Bangkok, an attack that killed 20 people, mostly ethnic Chinese devotees from across Asia.

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Thai Department of National Parks (DNP) workers display pieces of ivory

during a destruction ceremony in Bangkok on August 26, 2015 (AFP Photo/

Pornchai Kittiwongsakul)

Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear Kryon: I live in Spain. I am sorry if I will ask you a question you might have already answered, but the translations of your books are very slow and I might not have gathered all information you have already given. I am quite concerned about abandoned animals. It seems that many people buy animals for their children and as soon as they grow, they set them out somewhere. Recently I had the occasion to see a small kitten in the middle of the street. I did not immediately react, since I could have stopped and taken it, without getting out of the car. So, I went on and at the first occasion I could turn, I went back to see if I could take the kitten, but it was to late, somebody had already killed it. This happened some month ago, but I still feel very sorry for that kitten. I just would like to know, what kind of entity are these animals and how does this fit in our world. Are these entities which choose this kind of life, like we do choose our kind of Human life? I see so many abandoned animals and every time I see one, my heart aches... I would like to know more about them.

Answer: Dear one, indeed the answer has been given, but let us give it again so you all understand. Animals are here on earth for three (3) reasons.

(1) The balance of biological life. . . the circle of energy that is needed for you to exist in what you call "nature."

(2) To be harvested. Yes, it's true. Many exist for your sustenance, and this is appropriate. It is a harmony between Human and animal, and always has. Remember the buffalo that willingly came into the indigenous tribes to be sacrificed when called? These are stories that you should examine again. The inappropriateness of today's culture is how these precious creatures are treated. Did you know that if there was an honoring ceremony at their death, they would nourish you better? Did you know that there is ceremony that could benefit all of humanity in this way. Perhaps it's time you saw it.

(3) To be loved and to love. For many cultures, animals serve as surrogate children, loved and taken care of. It gives Humans a chance to show compassion when they need it, and to have unconditional love when they need it. This is extremely important to many, and provides balance and centering for many.

Do animals know all this? At a basic level, they do. Not in the way you "know," but in a cellular awareness they understand that they are here in service to planet earth. If you honor them in all three instances, then balance will be the result. Your feelings about their treatment is important. Temper your reactions with the spiritual logic of their appropriateness and their service to humanity. Honor them in all three cases.