Outcry forces foie gras industry to swallow changes

Yahoo – AFP, Sandra Laffont (AFP), 17 November 2013

An employee force-feeds a duck at a foie gras production facility in Saint-Michel,
eastern France, on November 21, 2013.

Auch (France) (AFP) - Long accused of torture by animal-rights activists, French foie gras producers are admitting they may have gone too far and vowing changes to how ducks and geese are reared and their livers fattened.

They are also promising a new spirit of openness and transparency about the controversial practice of gavage -- the force-feeding of animals by passing plastic tubes through their throats directly into their stomachs.

"Maybe we did go a little too far," said Marie Pierre Pe of CIFOG, an industry group representing French foie gras producers.

"In the '80s, 30 to 35 percent of foie gras came from Eastern European countries. We had to improve production to be more competitive and maybe went too far," she said.

Employees prepare ducks on the production

 line of a foie gras manufactory, owned by

 Pierre and Philippe Perez, in Saint-Michael,

 eastern France, on November 26, 2013.

(AFP Photo/Remy Gabalda)

Animal-rights activists have carried out a sustained campaign against foie gras -- literally "fatty liver" in French -- for decades.

Its sale has been banned in California, Britain's House of Lords has taken it off its menu and Internet retailer Amazon has banned it from its website.

The delicacy -- a standard feature on French tables at Christmas and other festive occasions -- is fiercely defended by fans who argue that birds stuff themselves with food in the wild while undertaking long migratory voyages.

But critics insist the practice is cruel and a 1998 EU report showed that death rates among force-fed birds could be up to 20 times higher than in those reared normally.

Foie gras producers have also come under fire for keeping the ducks and geese in cages where they have no space to move or even spread their wings.

It was in the 1980s that France -- which accounts for 75 percent of global foie gras production -- widely adopted the practice of keeping birds in cage-like boxes.

Now steps are being taken to improve conditions, with the French agriculture ministry ordering producers by 2016 to introduce cages capable of housing at least three birds and big enough for them to move around and spread their wings.

CIFOG is also opening the doors of farms to show how the animals are reared and fed.

"Of course gavage is not very romantic and so we avoided talking about it. But now we are trying to explain it more and more," Pe said.

As part of its transparency drive, CIFOG recently showcased a farm in the southwestern region of Gers run by Pierre Peres and his twin brother, who force-feed nearly 9,000 ducks a year.

Considered an artisanal farm, it is far from typical industrial production.

At the Peres farm, ducks are kept in enclosed areas but are free to move around. Force-feeding is done individually, with feeders picking up the animals and placing them on their laps to insert a funnel in their throats.

At the start of the gavage period, which normally lasts 15 days, the ducks are fed 250 grammes of maize and the quantity is slowly increased to double that at the end.

There are about 1,500 such artisanal foie gras farms in France -- but they are hardly the norm.

The vast majority of producers, about 5,000, are industrial sites that are the main target of animal rights groups.

A visit to an industrial foie gras farm run by the Euralis group reveals a different world altogether from the Peres farm.

A thousand ducks are force-fed there, bundled in tight cages housing three birds each.

Jars with foie gras are displayed on the
shelves of a supermarket in Toulouse,
on November 28, 2013 (AFP Photo/
Remy Gabalda)

The cages are raised to human height to make the task of feeding easier for workers. The floor below is a stinking mess, with a flowing yellow river of droppings and duck fat.

In one cage several animals are clearly injured and bleeding. In another, one duck lies dead.

Xavier Fernandez, a researcher at the Institue of Agronomical Research in the southern city of Toulouse, admitted the images can be "shocking" but said visitors should "distance themselves emotionally" from what they see.

"Force feeding is no more shocking than any other method of animal husbandry," he said.

"The real question eventually is whether we should be rearing animals for human consumption at all?"

For most in France, there seems to be little doubt, even when it comes to foie gras.

An Opinionway poll in late November found that only 29 percent of the French refuse to buy foie gras for ethical reasons and that 55 percent want force-feeding to continue.

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"Current" Events –  Apr 10, 2005 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

"..  Animals and Reincarnation

On a lighter note, we interrupt the life and death discussion of Humans to talk about animals. There are the questions not asked, but laying there, of which you are more than curious. "Dear Kryon," it has been asked, "do animals reincarnate?"...

Again, the Human Being looks at animals as one word that covers trillions of entities on the planet. You believe that all of them either do or don't reincarnate, and you want one answer for them all. What if I was from another planet and communicated to you this question: "What color are animals? I want one answer, please." You'd laugh, and wonder what kind of singular consciousness I might have in my reality to ask such a thing.

So I say to you regarding your reincarnation question: Which ones? "You mean there's a difference, Kryon?" Oh, yes! We've already gone over the purpose of animals on the planet. We've told you many things about animals. We've told you that some of them are actually designed to be eaten, and they come for this very purpose. We've indicated to you what's wrong with the way you're treating them, and that you don't honor them in their death, or even as you extract their resources while they're alive. And that, my dear friends, is the reason there's disease in the meat. When you start honoring these animals in their death so that they can create the food that's needed for you, then you'll see the disease disappear.

This is a factor that has yet to be named in your language or your culture - the idea that there's an energy that the Human creates even in the appropriate slaughter of animals for food, the results of which change these animals and the health of the Human who consumes them. Why is it that the indigenous knew about it and you don't? It's an energy that addresses the consciousness of Gaia and the animal kingdom. It addresses the way animals are honored in death.

Animals don't all reincarnate, but some do - if it's appropriate for the Humans around them. Most of the animals on the planet don't reincarnate, but there are a select group and individuals who do, and even a "rule of thumb" that you can apply to those who do and those who don't. When I tell you about the ones who do, you're going to understand a little bit more about the process of who you are. Blessed is the Human Being who walks this planet in lesson: Everything revolves around you! It may not look like it, but it does. Gaia knows who you are when you walk on the dirt! You have a light that you can strike [create] and carry with you that will change the very elements around you. Matter will respond to what you do because you are the angels disguised as Human Beings.

Some of you have selected various animals on earth to be your partners or friends, and you call them pets. Even some of the ones to be slaughtered, if they have a Human who loves them, are pets... if only for a while. These are the ones who reincarnate.

"Why should such a thing be, Kryon? How does that work? Do they have souls? What's the ‘rule' you speak of?" In a way, they do have souls, but not as your souls are structured - not with the lessons your souls carry, or the multiple aspects you have. They're not angels, but they're support entities to those who are [Humans]. When they reincarnate the reason is in honor of the Human Being, you see? Animals, in general, don't last that long on the planet. You might have this beautiful partner, this love essence that you have with an animal pet-friend. Then that animal-friend disappears in death, for again, they don't live that long. The rule of incarnations is, therefore, "If the Human needs it, it happens." So there is a scenario created within the system that helps Humans temper the loss of this love, and we'll give it to you.

When your precious animal-friend dies, go look for another one right away. Don't wait. Don't wait! I'll tell you why. Immediately go looking in places where animal babies are. Make no presuppositions about the kind of animal or the gender. Don't necessarily try to match the one you lost. Instead, go to the places where you intuitively believe the young animals are, and look into their eyes. One of them will be the one... because it - and the Universe - knows intuitively where you're going to look!

This is the system that honors you. Many know this and have said, "I know this is so because when I found this other animal to be my partner and my pet, it started doing the same things that my former animal did - it even responded the same way to me." It's a beautiful system in honor of you. It's an acknowledgment of a broken heart, you see? So you can pick up where you left off.

Some may now ask, "What size animal are we talking about, Kryon? Is there a limit?" We say, there you go again [Kryon smile]. What size do you want? An elephant or a mouse? It doesn't make a difference. If they're loved by you and part of your karmic energy, they'll reincarnate. However, it might be prudent of you to intuitively look for the size of animal that meets your living needs. God doesn't give you an elephant when your mouse dies [laughter].

Orangutans fight for survival as thirst for palm oil devastates rainforests

Palm oil plantations are destroying the Sumatran apes' habitat, leaving just 200 of the animals struggling for existence

The Guardian, The Observer, Gethin Chamberlain, Sunday 15 December 2013

Gokong Puntung, a one-year-old male orangutan, rescued from a chicken cage
at a house in Aceh, Sumatra. Photograph: Gethin Chamberlain for the Observer

Even in the first light of dawn in the Tripa swamp forest of Sumatra it is clear that something is terribly wrong. Where there should be lush foliage stretching away towards the horizon, there are only the skeletons of trees. Smoke drifts across a scene of devastation.

Tripa is part of the Leuser Ecosystem, one of the world's most ecologically important rainforests and once home to its densest population of Sumatran orangutans.

As recently as 1990, there were 60,000 hectares of swamp forest in Tripa: now just 10,000 remain, the rest grubbed up to make way for palm oil plantations servicing the needs of some of the world's biggest brands. Over the same period, the population of 2,000 orangutans has dwindled to just 200.

In the face of international protests, Indonesia banned any fresh felling of forests two years ago, but battles continue in the courts over existing plantation concessions.

Here, on the edge of one of the remaining stands of forest, it is clear that the destruction is continuing.

Deep trenches have been driven through the peat, draining away the water, killing the trees, which have been burnt and bulldozed. The smell of wood smoke is everywhere. But of the orangutans who once lived here, there is not a trace.

This is the tough physical landscape in which environmental campaigners fighting to save the last of the orangutans are taking on the plantation companies, trying to keep track of what is happening on the ground so that they can intervene to rescue apes stranded by the destruction.

But physically entering the plantations is dangerous and often impractical; where the water has not been drained away, the ground is a swamp, inhabited by crocodiles. Where canals have been cut to drain away the water, the dried peat is thick and crumbly and it is easy to sink up to the knees. Walking even short distances away from the roads is physically draining and the network of wide canals has to be bridged with logs. The plantations do not welcome visitors and the Observer had to evade security guards to gain entrance.

To overcome these problems, campaigners have turned to a technology that has become controversial for its military usage but that in this case could help to save the orangutans and their forest: drones.

Graham Usher, from the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme, produces a large flight case and starts to unpack his prized possession, a polystyrene Raptor aircraft with a two-metre wingspan and cameras facing forward and down.

The £2,000 drone can fly for more than half an hour over a range of 30-40km, controlled by a computer, recording the extent of the destruction of the forest.

"The main use of it is to get real time data on forest loss and confirm what's going on with fires," he says.

Habitats under threat. Photograph: Observer

They can also use the drone to track animals that have been fitted with radio collars. Graham opens his computer and clicks on a video. Immediately, the screen fills with an aerial view of forest, then a cleared patch of land and then new plantation as the drone passes overhead. "We are getting very powerful images of what is going on in the field," he says.

The footage is helping them to establish where new burning is taking place and which plantations are potentially breaking the law. Areas of forest where the peat is deeper than three metres should be protected – the peat is a carbon trap – but in practice many plantations do not measure the depth.

"They shouldn't be developing it but the power of commerce and capital subverts all legislation in this country. There is no law enforcement or rule of law," says Usher.

The battle to save the orangutans is not helped by the readiness of multinational corporations to use palm oil from unverified sources. Hundreds of products on UK supermarket shelves are made with palm oil or its derivatives sourced from plantations on land that was once home to Sumatran orangutans.

Environmental campaigners say that the complex nature of the palm oil supply chain makes it uniquely difficult for companies to ensure that the oil they use has been produced ethically and sustainably.

"One of the big issues is that we simply don't know where the palm oil used in products on UK supermarket shelves comes from. It may well be that it came from Tripa," says Usher.

In October, the Rainforest Foundation UK singled out Superdrug and Procter and Gamble (particularly its Head and Shoulders, Pantene and Herbal Essences hair products) for criticism over the use of unsustainable palm oil. A traffic light system produced using the companies' responses to questions from the Ethical Consumer group also placed Imperial Leather, Original Source and Estée Lauder hair products in the red-light category.

A separate report by Greenpeace, also issued in October into Sumatran palm oil production, accused Procter and Gamble and Mondelez International (formerly Kraft) of using "dirty" palm oil. The group called on the brands to recognise the environmental cost of "irresponsible palm oil production". According to the Rainforest Foundation's executive director, Simon Counsell, part of the problem is that even companies that do sign up to ethical schemes, such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, cannot be certain that all the oil they receive is ethically produced because of the way oil from different plantations is mixed at processing plants.

"The smaller companies sell to bigger companies and it all gets mixed. Even those companies making some effort cannot be certain that what they are getting is what they have paid for," he said.

Driving out of Tripa, the whole area appears to have been given over to palm oil plantations; some long-established, 20-25ft tall trees in regimented rows, others recently planted. Every now and again there is a digger, driving a new road into what little forest remains, the first stage of the process that will end with the forest burned and gone and replaced with young oil palms.

There is a steady flow of lorries loaded with palm fruits, heading for the processing plant not far from the town of Meulaboh. From there, tankers take the oil to the city of Medan for shipping onwards.

It is outside Medan that the orangutan victims of clearances are taken to recover, at the SOCP's quarantine centre. These are the animals rescued from isolated stands of forest or from captivity. Those that can be will eventually be released back into another part of the island.

Anto, a local orangutan expert, says the spread of the plantations is fragmenting the remaining forest and isolating the orangutans.

"Then people are poaching the orangutans because it is easy to catch them," he says. "People isolate them in a tree and then they cut the tree or they make the orangutan so afraid that it climbs down and is caught. After that they can kill it and sometimes eat it. Or they can trade it."

This is what happened to Gokong Puntung and his mother. The one-year-old ape – now recovering with the help of SOCP – was rescued from Sidojadi village in February. He had been captured a month earlier in the Tripa forest.

A group of fishermen spotted Gokong Puntung and his mother trapped in a single tree and unable to reach the rest of the forest without coming down. The men apparently decided to try to grab the baby in the hope of selling it. One climbed the tree, forcing the mother to fall to the ground, where another man set about her and beat her with a length of timber. In the confusion, mother and baby became separated and the fishermen were able to get away. They sold the animal for less than £6 to a plantation worker.

"We got information from people who heard an orangutan crying in one house," says SOCP vet Yenny Saraswati. "They went in the house and found the baby orangutan in a chicken cage. The owner said he had bought it from people who had taken it from the plantation."

It was a very unusual case: more often, the mother is killed.

"They are very good mothers – better than humans," she says. "A lot of human mothers don't care for their babies, but I have never seen an orangutan leave its baby. They always hug them and don't let them cry."

That's why poachers tend to kill the mothers, says Anto. "They hit it with sticks. One person uses a forked stick to hold its head and the others hit it and beat it to death. But the young orangutans they sell."

The effect on Tripa's orangutans has been disastrous. Cut off from the population on the rest of the island, they teeter on the brink of viability; experts say they really need a population of about 250 to survive long term and, because orangutans produce offspring only once every six or seven years, it takes a long time to replenish a depleted population.

Those that remain in the forest face other dangers. Some die when the forest is burned, others starve to death as their food supply is destroyed.

If the orangutans did not already have it tough, there may yet be worse to come: gold has been found in Aceh's remaining forests and mining is starting.

"If there is no government effort to protect the remaining area, we will never know the orangutans here again," says Anto.

"If this continues they will be gone within 10 years."

In response to the criticism over its use of unsustainable palm oil, Superdrug said it "is aware of the complex issues surrounding palm oil and its derivatives, which are currently used in some of its own-brand products, and is committed to working with its suppliers to use sustainable alternatives when they become widely available."

Estée Lauder Companies, which makes Aveda hair products, said: "We share the concern about the potential environmental effects of palm oil plantations, including deforestation and the destruction of biodiversity and habitats."

The statement said that its palm oil (made from the pulped fruit) came from sustainable sources. But the company said the majority of its brands used palm kernel oil (from the crushed palm fruit kernels) and that it was working to develop sustainable supplies.

"We are committed to acting responsibly and will continue to work with our suppliers to find the best ways to encourage and support the development of sustainable palm kernel oil sources."

PZ Cussons, which makes Original Source and Imperial Leather products, along with the Sanctuary SPA range, said it was committed to using raw materials from sustainable and environmentally friendly sources wherever possible.

The company said it had "embarked on a sustainability journey" and was working with other producers to gain a better understanding of the supply chain and "to promote the growth and use of sustainable oil palm products". Mondelez International (formerly Kraft) said it wanted to eliminate unethical plantations from its supply chain by 2020.

"We fully share concerns about the environmental impacts of palm oil production, including deforestation. As a final buyer, engaging our supply chain is the most meaningful action we can take to ensure palm oil is grown sustainably," said a spokesman.

"Palm oil should be produced on legally held land, protecting tropical forests and peat land, respecting human rights, including land rights, and without forced or child labour.

"We expect palm oil suppliers to provide us transparency on the proportion of their supplies traceable to plantations meeting these principles by the end of 2013 and to eliminate supplies that do not meet these criteria by 2020."

Procter & Gamble, which makes Head and Shoulders, Herbal Essences and Pantene products, said it was "strongly opposed to irresponsible deforestation practices and our position on the sustainable sourcing of palm oil is consistent with our corporate sustainability principles and guidelines.

"We are committed to the sustainable sourcing of palm oil and have set a public target that, by 2015, we will only purchase palm oil from sources where sustainable and responsible production has been confirmed."

FIGHT FOR EXISTENCE

Orangutans are facing extinction as their habitats are becoming fragmented and agricultural production expands.

Populations of orangutans have been broken up into groups and this is causing a problem for the survival of the species.

The WWF estimates that a century ago there were more than 230,000 orangutans living in the wild, now they think there are only 41,000 in Borneo and 7,500 in Sumatra. Others put the figures at 54,000 in Borneo and 6,600 in Sumatra.

Some conservationists predict that orangutans could disappear in as little as 20 to 30 years, others think it could happen in a few hundred years.

Orangutans share 96.4% of their genes with humans.

‘Stunning’ Tsunami Record Discovered in Aceh Cave

Jakarta Globe – AFP, December 14, 2013

Scientists said they have discovered a cave Lhonga Leupung, Aceh, that provides
 a ‘stunning’ record of Indian Ocean tsunamis over thousands of years. (AFP
Photo/C.M. Rubin)

Scientists said Friday they have discovered a cave on the Indonesian island of Sumatra that provides a “stunning” record of Indian Ocean tsunamis over thousands of years.

They say layers of tsunami-borne sediments found in the cave in northwest Sumatra suggest the biggest destructive waves do not occur at set intervals — meaning communities in the area should be prepared at all times for a tsunami.

“It’s something that communities need to know,” research team leader Charles Rubin told AFP, adding that the team wanted to “promote safety of coastal communities”.

Professor Rubin and other researchers from a Singapore institute were working with scientists from an Indonesian university when they discovered the cave, south of Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province.

A quake-triggered tsunami devastated Aceh and areas across the Indian Ocean in 2004, leaving some 170,000 people dead in the province alone.

Inside the cave the researchers found layers of sandy sediment, which had been washed in by tsunamis thousands of years previously, Rubin said.

The layers, which contained small fossils from the seabed, were well-preserved and separated by droppings deposited by bats in the cave, he added.

“This is a beautiful, stunning record of tsunamis that you just don’t have very often,” Rubin said.

Only huge tsunamis and storm surges can get into the cave, which has a raised entrance — and afterwards the sediment is protected inside from erosion by wind or water.

Rubin said the scientists dated the layers and believe they show that between 2,800 and 3,300 years ago, some four to five tsunamis battered the area.

Before the 2004 tsunami, it had been hundreds of years since such a huge destructive wave had hit Aceh, the scientist said.

But he said the new discovery suggests that tsunamis are not evenly spaced through time, which should provide food for thought for those involved in policy and planning in the region.

“These don’t happen like clockwork, they have variations in time and variations in size,” he said.

Rubin works at the Earth Observatory of Singapore, an institute that forms part of Nanyang Technological University.

Scientists from the institute were working with researchers from Syiah Kuala University in Banda Aceh.

Agence France-Presse

African Wildlife Reserve Hurt in Philippines Typhoon

Jakarta Globe – AFP,  December 12, 2013

This file photo taken on September 18, 2011 shows giraffes being fed leaves
 at Calauit Game Preserve and Wildlife Sanctuary in Calauit island, Busuanga
province, western Philippines. (AFP Photo/Ted Aljibe)

Manila. Giraffes and zebras were badly injured and left with almost no food when a deadly typhoon struck a Philippine island reserve for African wildlife, an international animal welfare group said Wednesday.

Super Typhoon Haiyan felled many trees at the reserve when it raked across the central islands nearly five weeks ago, injuring some of its animals, said Birgit Leber of Vienna-based Four Paws International.

“Eight or nine giraffes out of 21 need medical treatment,” Leber, a member of a Four Paws team who had gone on a relief mission to Calauit earlier this month told AFP by telephone.

“Two or three zebras have not been eating very well, and one was seen walking strangely,” she said.

The isolated 3,760-hectare island on the South China Sea was turned into a wildlife reserve by the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1976.

The current government has continued to promote the island to tourists as offering a glimpse of Africa in a remarkable tropical setting.

Two of the reserve’s giraffes had open wounds above their front legs that were probably caused by falling trees, said Leber, an assistant to Four Paws’ director of project development.

Four Paws learnt the injured animals had not gotten any medical attention at all, and it plans to send a second mission to Calauit in the next few days to treat them, Leber told AFP by telephone.

“The [Calauit] animal hospital, sad to say, is broken and there is no medical equipment to treat the animals,” said Leber.

The first Four Paws team did not see the other animals, but observed that much of the food source of the giraffes had been destroyed.

“Most of the trees fell down. Giraffes eat from trees, they do not eat from the ground, so there is nothing left for them to eat,” Leber said.

Four Paws brought six tons of emergency food rations to the island, good for three months, so its giraffes would not starve, she added.

The reserve’s director, Froilan Sariego, could not be reached by telephone by AFP on Wednesday.

Calauit was originally stocked with 104 heads of giraffe, zebra, impala, waterbuck, gazelle, eland, topi and bushbuck acquired from Kenya, along with native wild mammals, according to its official website.

When AFP visited the reserve, located about 300 kilometres (180 miles) southwest of Manila, two years ago, it had just over 100 African animals, about the same as the original stock.

Agence France-Presse

Illegal Timber Seizures a Drop in the Ocean at Kutai National Park

Jakarta Globe, Tunggadewa Mattangkilang, December 9, 2013

Logging, both illegal and legal as in this photo in East Kalimantan — is rapidly
wiping out Kalimantan’s remaining primary forest. (JG Photo/Afriadi Hikmal)

Forestry police in East Kalimantan’s Kutai National Park have this year managed to confiscate a total of 80 cubic meters of illegally logged timber, much of it endangered species.

Hernowo, chief of management for the park’s Sangata I area said on Sunday that the Rp 600 million ($50,000) worth of timber they were able to secure from illegal loggers this year was a small amount in comparison to the estimated total illegal logging in the park.

“Those [were secured] from the regular patrol team and the joint team. There are many other cases that are yet to be revealed, because that timber was gathered from an area of 42,000 hectares, which is guarded by only 20 people,” said Hernowo, adding that just six suspects had been arrested this year to date.

“Most of them [illegal loggers] cut Borneo ironwood and meranti and the price at which it is sold is very high.”

The Borneo ironwood tree, known locally as ulin , was the single most targeted timber species in the park, because of high demand for it in East Asia, where it is typically smuggled by way of Malaysia.

The wood, described as one of the densest and most durable timbers in the world, typically sells for around $2,000 per cubic meter abroad, but it is banned for export by the Indonesian government.

In addition to insufficient law enforcement officers in the area, the existence of communities living inside the Kutai National Park was among the greatest contributing factors hampering the elimination of illegal logging in the park, Hernowo said. In many cases, he said, local residents work together with illegal loggers, warning them of any patrol officers.

According to data by the Central Statistics Agency (BSP), a total of 26,800 people have been living inside the national park since the 1990s, where they make a living out of farming and breeding livestock.

“However, lands inside the national park are mostly owned by employees of companies who had purchased the land from local residents who no longer live there,” he said.

The Kutai National Park has a total area of approximately 199,000 hectares, and comprises coastal mangroves, lowlands rainforest and freshwater swamps.

It is among the most important conservation areas in the country with vulnerable and rare fauna making their home within its borders, including orangutan and proboscis monkey.

Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said last week illegal logging had become a major threat to the nation, with the potential to accelerate extinctions and worsen flooding.

“Landslides and floods will continue to haunt [Indonesia] and Indonesian animals will become extinct if this [illegal logging] continues,” Zulkifli said during National Tree-Planting Day in West Sumatra on Wednesday.

He added that discussions on the draft bill on prevention and eradication of illegal logging, which includes severe penalties for forestry crimes, was still ongoing, and that he hoped the bill would soon be ratified.

Without A Word This 6 Minute and 2 Second Video May Leave You With a New Perspective

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"Current" Events –  Apr 10, 2005 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

"..  Animals and Reincarnation

On a lighter note, we interrupt the life and death discussion of Humans to talk about animals. There are the questions not asked, but laying there, of which you are more than curious. "Dear Kryon," it has been asked, "do animals reincarnate?"...

Again, the Human Being looks at animals as one word that covers trillions of entities on the planet. You believe that all of them either do or don't reincarnate, and you want one answer for them all. What if I was from another planet and communicated to you this question: "What color are animals? I want one answer, please." You'd laugh, and wonder what kind of singular consciousness I might have in my reality to ask such a thing.

So I say to you regarding your reincarnation question: Which ones? "You mean there's a difference, Kryon?" Oh, yes! We've already gone over the purpose of animals on the planet. We've told you many things about animals. We've told you that some of them are actually designed to be eaten, and they come for this very purpose. We've indicated to you what's wrong with the way you're treating them, and that you don't honor them in their death, or even as you extract their resources while they're alive. And that, my dear friends, is the reason there's disease in the meat. When you start honoring these animals in their death so that they can create the food that's needed for you, then you'll see the disease disappear.

This is a factor that has yet to be named in your language or your culture - the idea that there's an energy that the Human creates even in the appropriate slaughter of animals for food, the results of which change these animals and the health of the Human who consumes them. Why is it that the indigenous knew about it and you don't? It's an energy that addresses the consciousness of Gaia and the animal kingdom. It addresses the way animals are honored in death.

Animals don't all reincarnate, but some do - if it's appropriate for the Humans around them. Most of the animals on the planet don't reincarnate, but there are a select group and individuals who do, and even a "rule of thumb" that you can apply to those who do and those who don't. When I tell you about the ones who do, you're going to understand a little bit more about the process of who you are. Blessed is the Human Being who walks this planet in lesson: Everything revolves around you! It may not look like it, but it does. Gaia knows who you are when you walk on the dirt! You have a light that you can strike [create] and carry with you that will change the very elements around you. Matter will respond to what you do because you are the angels disguised as Human Beings.

Some of you have selected various animals on earth to be your partners or friends, and you call them pets. Even some of the ones to be slaughtered, if they have a Human who loves them, are pets... if only for a while. These are the ones who reincarnate.

"Why should such a thing be, Kryon? How does that work? Do they have souls? What's the ‘rule' you speak of?" In a way, they do have souls, but not as your souls are structured - not with the lessons your souls carry, or the multiple aspects you have. They're not angels, but they're support entities to those who are [Humans]. When they reincarnate the reason is in honor of the Human Being, you see? Animals, in general, don't last that long on the planet. You might have this beautiful partner, this love essence that you have with an animal pet-friend. Then that animal-friend disappears in death, for again, they don't live that long. The rule of incarnations is, therefore, "If the Human needs it, it happens." So there is a scenario created within the system that helps Humans temper the loss of this love, and we'll give it to you.

When your precious animal-friend dies, go look for another one right away. Don't wait. Don't wait! I'll tell you why. Immediately go looking in places where animal babies are. Make no presuppositions about the kind of animal or the gender. Don't necessarily try to match the one you lost. Instead, go to the places where you intuitively believe the young animals are, and look into their eyes. One of them will be the one... because it - and the Universe - knows intuitively where you're going to look!

This is the system that honors you. Many know this and have said, "I know this is so because when I found this other animal to be my partner and my pet, it started doing the same things that my former animal did - it even responded the same way to me." It's a beautiful system in honor of you. It's an acknowledgment of a broken heart, you see? So you can pick up where you left off.

Some may now ask, "What size animal are we talking about, Kryon? Is there a limit?" We say, there you go again [Kryon smile]. What size do you want? An elephant or a mouse? It doesn't make a difference. If they're loved by you and part of your karmic energy, they'll reincarnate. However, it might be prudent of you to intuitively look for the size of animal that meets your living needs. God doesn't give you an elephant when your mouse dies [laughter].

Coal Rush Ravages Indonesian Borneo

Jakarta Globe – AFP, By Angela Dewan, December 4, 2013

A barge on the river of Mahakam to load coal from the mining area in Samarinda,
 East Kalimantan, is shown in this photo taken on Nov. 10, 2013. (AFP Photo/
Bay Ismoyo)

Samarinda, East Kalimantan. Barges loaded with mountains of coal glide down the polluted Mahakam River on Indonesian Borneo every few minutes. Viewed from above, they form a dotted black line as far as the eye can see, destined for power stations in China and India.

A coal rush that has drawn international miners to East Kalimantan province has ravaged the capital, Samarinda, which risks being swallowed up by mining if the exploitation of its deposits expands any further.

Mines occupy more than 70 percent of Samarinda, government data show, forcing entire villages and schools to move away from toxic mudslides and contaminated water sources.

The destruction of forest around the city to make way for mines has also removed a natural buffer against floods, leading to frequent waist-high deluges during the six-month rainy season.

And despite the 200 million tones of coal dug and shipped out of East Kalimantan each year, its capital is crippled by frequent hours-long blackouts as the city’s aging power plant suffers constant problems.

Farmer Komari, who goes by one name, has lived in a corner of Samarinda half an hour from the city center since 1985 and used to get by growing small amounts of rice and breeding fish.

But the mines have poisoned the water used in his fields and small ponds, he says.

“The rice is basically grown in poisonous water,” said the 70-year-old, standing among his paddies, ankle-deep in brown sludge near the bare, one-room wooden shack where he lives with his wife.

“We still eat it but I think it’s pretty bad for us,” he says, adding that the water makes his skin itch.

Along with 18 other farmers, Komari has filed a civil suit against government officials, blaming them for contaminating their water sources and allowing rampant mining.

They are not seeking compensation, instead asking the government to oblige a coal company next to their homes to decontaminate the water and provide health services.

‘Cronies have done this to Samarinda’

Udin, who owns and drives a rental car and was born in Samarinda 30 years ago, said the city today has been transformed.

“When I was kid, my home was a jungle with orangutans and so many different colorful birds. But now it is bleak,” he said.

According to Jatam, a group representing communities affected by mining across Indonesia, the root of the problem is obvious — local officials have been lining their pockets with bribes from companies in exchange for granting them permits to mine.

“A bunch of cronies have done this to Samarinda. We call them the mining mafia,” said Merah Johansyah from the group’s Samarinda branch.

A general view of a coal mining area in Samarinda, East Kalimantan.
(AFP Photo/Bay Ismoyo)

Jatam and Indonesian Corruption Watch recently reported a case to the country’s anti-graft agency, alleging an Indonesian company, Graha Benua Etam, in 2009 bribed Samarinda’s former energy and mining department chief in exchange for a permit.

They say at least four billion rupiah ($340,000) was handed out in corrupt payments, and that some of the money flowed to a former mayor for a political campaign.

The company could not be contacted for comment.

Bribes are being paid for more than just permits, Johansyah said.

He said they also help companies mine in areas they are not supposed to and avoid obligations such as consulting communities and carrying out environmental impact assessments.

Law enforcement, often a problem across the sprawling archipelago of more 17,000 islands where power is heavily decentralized, is also lax.

Campaigners say that companies have ignored their legal obligation to fill abandoned deep pits once their activities are complete. More than 10 people, including seven children, died between 2011 and 2012 from falling into these holes, according to local media reports.

Coal mine destruction spreading

This grim picture of Samarinda is a far cry from what it once was — a lush jungle with orangutans and exotic birds, many native to Borneo.

It is a common story across the world’s third-largest island, which was once almost entirely covered in trees but has now lost around half of its forest, according to the WWF.

Like in the Amazon, the rainforest on Borneo acts like a sponge, soaking up climate change-inducing carbon from the atmosphere.

A recent report from NGO the World Development Movement warned the coal rush is spreading to better conserved parts of Borneo, such as Central Kalimantan.

The forest in that province is currently almost untouched but companies such as Anglo-Australian BHP Billiton have plans to begin mining for coal.

BHP said that any development it carries out in Kalimantan “will be subject to detailed environmental and social impact assessments”.

Despite the destruction, Borneo continues to attract nature lovers from around the world to see the oldest known rainforests on the planet and its more than 1,400 animal species and 15,000 types of plants.

But environmentalists warn there might not be much left to see if the environmental devastation continues at the current pace.

Agence France-Presse

Aceh Reports Sixth Elephant Death This Year

Jakarta Globe, Nurdin Hasan, December 3, 2013

Kids gather around a 2-year-old elephant cub left behind by its pack and looked
 after by residents of Blang Pante village in North Aceh district in this June 23, 2013 file
photo. The animal died two months after it was found. (Photo courtesy of Silfa)

Banda Aceh. A female Sumatran elephant, estimated to be seven years old, died last week in the district of Aceh Jaya, the sixth elephant death this year in Aceh.

The carcass was found on a river bank in Masen village in the subdistrict of Sampoiniet, Aceh Jaya, on Monday. The animal was estimated to have died a week ago and investigators could not confirm the cause of death on Dec. 3.

“Local residents said the elephant died because it was caught in a trap — there’s a rope on its leg,” Amon Zamora, the head of Aceh’s Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), told the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday. “The BKSDA team sent to the location is still conducting an investigation.”

Amon said the team was performing an autopsy to investigate the cause of the death, including whether or not the animal had been poisoned — am increasingly common cause of elephant deaths in Aceh.

The recent finding brings the number of elephants found dead in Aceh in 2013 to six.

In May, a 10-year-old male elephant died due to electrocution in Bangkeh village in the Pidie district.

In June, a two-year-old elephant cub died in Blang Plante village in North Aceh, two months after villagers took the animal in after it was left behind by its pack in a nearby plantation.

On July 13, a 30-year-old male elephant was found dead in Ranto Sabon village in Aceh Jaya after being caught in a metal trap.

On July 27, two elephant carcasses were found decaying in an oil palm plantation run by state-owned plantation firm PTPN I in Blang Tualang village in East Aceh district.

Amon said elephant-human conflicts had become widespread across 19 out of 23 districts and municipalities in Aceh, with Aceh Jaya, East Aceh, Pidie, South Aceh, Singkil and North Aceh reporting the most problems.

“The conflicts keep happening because the routes used by elephants have been converted into plantations,” he said. “We’ve called on people several times against disturbing the elephants’ pathway, but it keeps happening.”

Amon said only around 200 Sumatrans elephants remained in the wild in Aceh forests.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has classified Sumatran elephants as critically endangered. The population in the wild — spread over Sumatra and Borneo — is estimated at between 2,400 and 2,800 individuals.

The Worldwide Fund for Nature says around 70 percent of the Sumatran elephant’s habitat has been destroyed by deforestation in the last 25 years.

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Nine Dead After Rain Results in Deadly Landslide Near Mt. Sinabung

Jakarta Globe, Arientha Primanita, December 1, 2013

A long-exposure image of Mt. Sinabung at night on Nov. 28. (EPA Photo)

Torrential rain in Berastagi around Mt. Sinabung led to tragedy on Saturday after the buildup of surface water triggered a landslide that killed nine people as authorities continued to patrol villages around the North Sumatra volcano over the weekend.

“Nine people were found dead,” Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman of National Disaster Mitigation Agency told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday. “Two were found in Gundaling I village, six people were found in Gundaling II village, while one person was found in Simpang Ujungaji village.”

Rainfall in the hills around Berastagi began on Saturday afternoon and continued into the evening. The first land slip occurred at around 7 p.m. in Gundaling village and Laununggap.

Leni Wulandari, 22, and her two-year-old son were found dead by first responders in their house, which had been buried by the land slip. It is understood that Leni’s husband was working in Malaysia at the time and was not at home.

In Gundaling II village, authorities identified the victims as Maruli Sijabat, 65; Siti Boru Nababan, 60; Marolop, 20; Litna Boru Silaban, 25; Bela Kasih Boru Manik, 4 and Junaidi Donggol Manik, 2.

The body of Rosalina Siboru, 10, who was a resident of Laununggap villager, was recovered in Simpang Ujungaji.

Sutopo urged everyone living in landslide-prone areas to be especially vigilant over the coming months as the rainy season increases the risk of destabilizing soil layers. Earthquakes and heavy rain are common causes of deadly landslides in the country.

“People who live in landslide-prone areas like in the hills, mountain slopes and river banks are urged to be alert. Generally landslides happen during heavy rain or after an earthquake,” he said.

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