By Nicola Grobe

The Chinese “Herbal” market contains such things as parts from animals like shark fins for example, or rhinocerus horns, or bear gallbladder. They think that those parts enhance their sexual activity which is a completely false belief. Scientific studies have shown that those animal parts do not affect a person’s sexual performance. For this belief animals are being brutally killed and often tortured for a life time in tiny cages. The story that shattered me the most is the story of a Chinese bear mother and her child who were living in a small cage in a Chinese bear gallbladder factory where she was hooked to a catheter which continuously gathered gall fluid from her gallbladder. One day the mother could not stand it any longer, she knew that they would do this to her baby when he would have grown up. She bit through his throat to euthanize him which killed him and then she bit her own veins open and bled to death.

Thinking about this makes me devastated again, I can’t Stand thinking about this. The mother bear did something that went totally against her survival instinct because she knew in this moment of total agony and awareness of the inexorable situation that she had no other choice if she wanted to save her child from being tortured for a life time. This shows us how advanced the bear brain actually is. The bear brain is capable of enough abstract reasoning to understand this predicament.

How can humans do such horror to the animals? Only someone who is totally cut off from any kind of love, life flow, and compassion would torture someone else. Greed is often such a separation agent.

Another example is the ivory trade. Elephants are killed or sometimes even only made unconscious, then they cut off their tusks and they leave the elephant behind bleeding to death from her or his wounds.

They do the same with rhinos, they let them bleed to death after cutting their horns off.

This horror can be avoided and what each individual person can do to bring an end to this suffering is to Never buy ivory, horns, tusks, shark teeth, antlers, etc. Never buy things from a Chinese “Herbal” market because they don’t only sell herbs, they sell body parts including those from endangered species. And those body parts contain a history of extreme suffering. Never participate in any way in the process of wild life trafficking. Never work as a truck driver for a business nor the subcontractor business which has to do with wild life trafficking.

Wild Life trafficking also happens when people export exotic animals like parrots, snakes, reptiles, octopus, large cats, monkeys and many other types of animals. What each person can do about this situation is to Never buy an exotic animal from anybody. When you see an exotic animal offered notify the Humane Society, The SPCA and PETA immediately, give them all of the information necessary so that the trafficking process can be stopped and the animals are being brought back to where they belong, into the tropical forests.

Never visit a zoo, circus nor any other show where animals are used for entertainment. Never visit a show aquarium where whales, dolphins and other marine mammals are trained. They take baby animals from the wild away from their mothers and keep them in captivity. Boycott those institutions. By saying No to those entertainment businesses you make a clear statement that says “I will not go where animals are used for human entertainment”. Land animals like elephants need to roam long distances for their health. Whales, dolphins and other ocean mammals like sea lions need the vast ocean to swim long distances to stay healthy. Swimming and roaming is vital for their mental well being. They become depressed and often insane in confinement.

For people who have more time I highly recommend writing letters to legislators and judges in order to bring the animals to safety, instate justice and prevent future crimes. I also recommend to every young person to go to law school and become a lawyer. With the license to practice US law you are able to do a lot for the animals and move things into the right direction.

Underneath is a letter you can write to the Humane Society to ask them to protect a female elephant in a circus. You can write in your own words, this will make the letter more personal, always be very polite when writing to officials. Check out the link for more information on this particular case.

garyw@toledoareahumanesociety.org

For TAHS Executive Director Gary Willoughby:

A female elephant was beaten by a handler with a hook. It was witnessed by circus visitors and reported to PETA. The elephant screamed in pain. This is cruelty to animals and against the law in Ohio. Please press charges and hold the alleged perpetrator fully accountable if he is found to have violated Ohio law. We also need to do anything in our political and legal powers to stop wild life trafficking in general. Elephants should never be in zoos, circuses nor any confinement and never in a climate zone other than tropical. This needs to be enforced by the law and each person shall never buy nor participate in wild life trading of any sort whether its life animals or parts of animals.

For more info: http://www.peta2.com/achievements/help-screaming-elephant-ohio/#ixzz2eH00x7ec