Category: Animal Rights

Today, an albino Burmese python in the Emperor Valley Prison Zoo attacked one of the zookeepers inside its enclosure as the employee attempted to throw a dead rabbit for the snake to eat.

Since I believe there is more than one yellow python at the Emperor Valley Prison Zoo, I would like to know if this is the same snake they flaunt around different events and it is exposed to the general public to “pet”.

One of the yellow snakes is part of the “educational” program in this prison. Yes, like if the word educational and zoo can actually be used in the same sentence.

Animals at this prison are clearly overstimulated. Every day, they have to endure children and adults tapping hardly on their glass cages to get their attention and being exposed to a lot of noise (even though snakes cannot hear as we do, they pick up vibrations through their jawbones). All of this causes great stress to these precious animals but guess what? They do not care because business comes first. Money over anything else.

If you watched the video carefully, the snake did not attack for no reason. The zookeeper threw the rabbit badly and landed in the snake’s head. Very poor handling on the part of the employee. The animal got visibly startled and attacked. According to the newspapers, the zoo keeper has been taken to the Port of Spain General Hospital having suffered major blood loss.

This is one of the many reasons WHY you should NOT keep ANY animals in a prison, particularly WILD animals. They are meant to be in the wild for a REASON. The Emperor Valley Prison Zoo has this python abducted for over ten years. Ten years of being overexposed. Ten years of being treated like an object or a toy that someone can play with or “displayed” like a vase. Ten years of distress. Ten years of living in a 4×4 glass box.

STOP ABDUCTING ANIMALS FOR ENTERTAINMENT AND MONEY PURPOSES!

PLEASE STOP SUPPORTING THE EMPEROR VALLEY PRISON ZOO. ANIMALS ARE NOT OBJECTS. THEY ARE SENTIENT BEINGS AND THEY DESERVE TO BE FREE LIKE EACH ONE OF US.

DO NOT SUPPORT AN INDUSTRY THAT PROFITS FROM THEIR SUFFERING!

Today I would like to blog about someone who has been on my mind lately. Someone who (I am quite sure) a lot of you have seen over the years. Someone whose eyes express a level of loneliness and deep sadness that no living being should ever have to experience in their lifetime.

I would like to be her voice on this blog post and share with you a little more about her and why her life matters. She is getting very old (along with her prison cell) and I don’t know how many more years or months she has left…

Her life and freedom should be as valuable as the lives of each one of us and as any other sentient being living on this planet.

There is no justification whatsoever of the vile act of taking away a being’s innate right to freedom in order to “use” them as a mere forms of  entertainment tools for spectators. And to boot, profit from it. Evil is the right word.

WHO IS SUDI?

The first time I heard about Sudi was after the news broke in 2013 that a chimpanzee escaped from her cage into the general prison zoo compound and they had to sedate her after she climbed on an overhanging tree into the area opposite her prison.

She has been a convicted prisoner of the Emperor Valley Prison Zoo condemned to life in prison without the possibility of parole for more than 35 years. Her crime? Nobody knows.

I don’t know if you are feeling exactly the way I am feeling right now while I type this because ANGRY is an understatement. Thirty five years have been taken away from this chimpanzee. Thirty five years looking around the world from a lonely, atrocious, dark and lonely CAGE.

Nel Van Kamer is the woman who brought Sudi (her real name is Suzi) to Trinidad in 1977. According to her, Sudi was adopted by a Canadian couple who lived outside of Toronto in an old farm house. As she got older and bigger, the wife was having issues handling her.

Since chimps in their natural habitat live in communities, every time the couple would leave for work, Sudi will act up and be very distressed because she didn’t know if the couple would return…The husband eventually sold Sudi to a prison zoo in Canada and even though the wife tried to get her back she was unable to do so.

HER LIFE

Sudi was raised like a human. She would use the bathroom, go for a walk, take a bath and she was even taught American Sign Language. Eventually, she was sent to our own prison zoo here in Trinidad whose director at that time also took two other chimps: Kiji and Njugo. Both of them passed away years ago leaving Sudi even lonelier.

The three of them, as babies, have been forcefully taking away from their  own mothers leaving them deeply traumatised. It is not strange then to understand why Sudi was so afraid and distressed when the Canadian couple used to leave for work…feeling abandoned and alone all over again.

Njugo was Sudi’s partner. Sudi was next to him when he passed away and they both shared the same cell for 35 years. They never had any children, making her emptiness after losing her partner, even greater.

SUDI’S DEEP SADNESS

Sometime ago, someone sent me pictures of Sudi in her new cage. Her face was resting on one side and if you could physically describe DEEP SADNESS AND DEPRESSION was in her eyes. My heart literally sank…and I thought: If I could observe this, how many more people have observed the same?

Why support an industry that mentally tortures animals so humans can be entertained and they can profit from them? Do you really feel comfortable/happy/okay that your hour or two of “entertainment” for your children causes so much pain in someone else’s life?

It is disingenuous to say that you love animals while paying a fee to see these animals in a prison. It is disingenuous to state publicly your love for animals and their welfare and yet work and lead a prison that PROFITS from them.

ANIMALS ARE NOT OBJECTS

Many years ago, I watched a video of Sudi smoking (after a visitor threw a cigarette) and when they interviewed  one of the prison zoo officials about it, he was smirking throughout the interview, apparently finding the whole incident clearly amusing. There was nothing to smirk about.

Just a couple of years ago, I read an article where a local prison zoo official talking about the case of a three-year-old boy who was dragged across a moat by a 450-pound gorilla at the Cincinnati Prison-Zoo stated that he was sad about the case because of his love for animals and how elegant a silverback could be. Love for animals? And just like he was talking about acquiring a new pair of sneakers, he stated that he would love to have a “pair of them”.

The same official stated in that article that they have firearms on the job and people trained to shoot because human life “comes first”. So you are purposely in the business of buying and selling animals and profiting from them, you imprison them for LIFE taking away their innate right to freedom (the most valuable ANY being has) and to boot, you’re ready to kill them if necessary? Speechless.

HER LAST DAYS

Sudi does not have many years left. It seems like we should all applaud the fact that she has a new cage that is bigger than the one she had before. Oh, and she got a tv. The most bizarre reason why she got a TV came from a prison zoo official who stated that as a highly intelligent animal, he saw the need for mental stimulation for Sudi, and “what better than a television where she can see movements and hear sounds.”. Yes, because when you want to mentally stimulate any being you put them in front of a television.

Anyone who has visited this prison KNOWS that Sudi’s deep sadness is beyond evident. Stating that she is happy and excited because she has a television is delusive.

Our local prison zoo is expecting 6 more victims chimps arriving anytime soon. They will become the latest prisoners in the only official Animal Prison in T&T.

And for Sudi…she will spend her last days in the only place she probably remembers…her cage. Behind bars…with her same old, deeply depressed eyes…as a lifetime prisoner.

Maybe in her dreams at night she runs wildly . Maybe in her dreams she gets to climb trees in full excitement…an excitement I never got to see…Free from cages, free from sadness and loneliness.  Free from heartless humans who made a business out of her…

One day Sudi will obtain her freedom. And it will not be because her prison-guards will let her be free. It will be the day when she passes away and her soul will be able to travel pass-through the bars of her cage…

And I am quite sure that heartbreaking day, her prison-officials will express “deep sadness” for her loss.

After all, they “love” animals, no?

If I ask you to think about the word “circus”, what comes to your mind? For most people, when they think about a circus they think about clowns, jugglers, daredevils and of course animals performing a variety of tricks: Monkeys riding bicycles, tigers hopping on rings of fire, elephants trying to balance while on top of a ball…etc.

What does not come to most people’s minds (because the audience never gets to see that side) is what really goes on inside circuses before, during and after their practice sessions. Very few people realise the hidden truth behind the “training” that takes place for these animals to perform these tricks and the abuse they are put through. Let me tell you, belly-rubbing and sweetness isn’t one of them.

BEHIND THE CIRCUS’ CURTAINS

Besides being abused and beaten daily, these animals are also forced to train with little food or water in order to keep them submissive and afraid. They are kept in very small and filthy cages where they can hardly move. And if they are lucky, they get to eat every day. They are sleep-deprived and forced to train for long hours.

They are treated as nothing more than worthless “objects” to be used in whatever way they see it fit so when you go and pay for a ticket to support a circus, you need to be fully aware that you are supporting animal cruelty. You don’t get to say that you are against animal abuse while holding one of these tickets in your hand. You can’t have it both ways.

CIRCUS COMING TO TRINIDAD

In a couple of days, one of these circuses is going to be in Trinidad for a few weeks. A few people have questioned the fact that they have animals. The circus has responded by stating that they only have one animal performance, a few dogs (like if somehow that makes it acceptable). They said that just like an “owner” teaches his/her dogs new tricks at home, the circus is doing the exact same thing.

Of course, the big elephant in the room is the fact that they are PROFITING from it. Full stop. It is called animal exploitation. I don’t know how hard it is to understand that animals are not “objects” or “puppets” so we have no rights whatsoever to exploit them for the sake of money or entertainment.

The circus that is coming to town has a past. I suppose due to the controversy surrounding their practices and their experience with the law, they have decided to get rid of all the animals except for the dogs.

 ANIMAL NEGLECT AND ABUSE

Believe it or not, this circus had 7 POLAR bears as part of their attractions back in 2002. No, I am serious. Seven POLAR bears for a Caribbean circus. While in Puerto Rico, the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service took the bears into custody, charged the circus with five violations of the Animal Welfare Act, and initiated seizure proceedings.

For 13 years, these bears were forced to walk upright while climbing stairs, dancing, and playing with balls. They endured mental and physical pain; trainers whipped the bears on the face and head, and hindquarters. They were forced to travel in extreme heat without air conditioning or water.

They had other animals in the exact same conditions.

This is real footage of how these bears were treated while in cages and during performances.

Many people might justify this and say: “Well, they no longer have these animals so I don’t see the issue”.

SUPPORTING MEANS ACCEPTING

Then let me ask you: Would you take your son/daughter to a child care centre that has been charged with child abuse in the past? What about if the centre tells you “You know what? That’s part of our past. We no longer do that. We only have a few children now. You’re invited to come”. Would you seriously take your son or daughter to such centre regardless? I dare to say that you wouldn’t.

Past or no past, my money as an ethical Vegan will not support a circus that exploits animals for profit and certainly will not support one that has a long history of animal cruelty and abuse.

Please stop supporting circuses. It is the least we can do for our animal friends; they need us because they don’t have a voice. And whether we want to hear it or not, buying a ticket condones their exploitation.