Guest guest Posted April 3, 2002 Report Share Posted April 3, 2002 > The Associated Press > The materials in the AP file were compiled by The Associated Press. These > materials may not be republished without the express written consent of > The Associated Press. > > April 2, 2002, Tuesday, BC cycle > SECTION: International News > > LENGTH: 930 words > > HEADLINE: Cairo zoo's director is content, but are his animals? Foreign > experts are critical > > BYLINE: By JASPER MORTIMER, Associated Press Writer > > DATELINE: CAIRO, Egypt > > BODY: > The director calls Cairo's Giza Zoo the best in the world. Foreign experts > think it's close to the worst. > > A clue to what the animals think comes from a lioness pacing at the back > of her cage. > > She strides past her tiny cub, which is crying weakly from a dark cell and > trying to wriggle through an iron gate. The keeper says he can let the cub > join her mother to suckle only twice a day, because he has no chicken wire > to stop the cub from squeezing between the cage's bars. But, a short walk > away, chicken wire lines the cage of two pumas. Egypt's principal zoo > encapsulates the situation of zoos across the developing world. Built in > an age when wild animals were objects of entertainment, these zoos now > lack the money to modernize and train staff. > > In some places, such as Kabul, Afghanistan, or Kinshasa, Congo, years of > war and government neglect have made matters worse for zoo animals. At > Giza, " it's a lack of vision, " said Richard Hoath, a Cairo-based nature > writer and fellow of the London Zoological Society. > > The zoo's director, Moustafa Awad, rejects the charge, saying the zoo is > " No. 1 in the world. " > > A former civil servant in the Agriculture Ministry, Awad has made > improvements since he took over the zoo in 1996. The lions now have an > open area - a paddock of grass and trees where one pride at a time can > take a break from the small cages. > > The zoo boasts 16 hippo, creatures that have long been hunted out of the > nearby Nile, and it has desert antelope such as addax and scimitar-horned > oryx that are almost extinct in the wild. > > Yet in an interview Awad appeared unaware of some problems. > > Awad said all the lions have access to water throughout the day. But the > lioness that recently gave birth was licking rainwater from a cavity in > the cage's cracked concrete floor because there was no water in her basin. > > > The keeper said he would not give her water until she had eaten for fear > she might vomit. British veterinarian John Knight, who has studied Giza > Zoo, said there is no reason to deprive lions of water. > > Awad said the zoo's African elephant is free to roam its enclosure. But > two of the three times The Associated Press visited, the elephant had one > leg chained to the railings. Keeper Abdel Moneim said he regularly > shackled the elephant because otherwise " he will not come out (of its > house) for the visitors. " > > While Moneim spoke, the elephant's trunk fiddled with the shackle and > explored Moneim's uniform, looking for the slices of sweet potato he keeps > in his pocket. In exchange for a tip, Moneim gives the slices to visitors > to feed the elephant. > > The two Indian elephants are invariably shackled, spending the whole day > anchored to the same spot. " This is inhuman, " said Hoath, but Awad said > the pair must be tethered to protect visitors. > > Elsewhere, the adult oryx and Barbary sheep walk like big-footed circus > clowns, their overgrown hooves curling up like Turkish slippers. Awad said > the zoo is short of the anesthesia needed to sedate the animals while > their hooves are trimmed. > > Besides the problems he sees in the treatment of animals, Hoath accused > the zoo of failing in its primary purpose: to educate. Enclosure signs > don't tell visitors about the animals, and many enclosures have no signs > at all. > > The zoo used to have a high reputation. " Giza Zoo was a leader in the > development of innovative enclosure design, " says the Encyclopedia of the > World's Zoos of the period 1891-1924. Then, the first director, Stanley > Flower of Britain, used imaginative landscaping and sunken fences to turn > the former royal gardens into paddocks for antelope and zebra. > > " It was at one point a very good zoo, " agreed Knight, " but it has not kept > up with the way zoos tend to manage their animals. " > > A regular sight is the teasing of the gibbon, a small white ape. Children > clap and chant in front of his cage until he emits a high-pitched cry. > > " We are trying to enjoy ourselves, " said Nabil Afif, 15. " The keeper said, > 'If you want to hear him scream, shout at him. " ' > > Another keeper was spotted tapping a lion's paw with his finger to make > him growl before a couple with a child. A crumpled bank note exchanged > hands. > > People tease zoo animals all over the world, Awad said. " It's not a > scandal. " > > " I find it shocking, " Virginia McKenna, the British star of the film " Born > Free " who became an animal campaigner, said in a phone interview from her > home in Dorking, England. > > The Born Free Foundation received so many letters about the zoo's > conditions that in 1997 McKenna came to meet Awad. This led to the > foundation and another London-based group, the International Fund for > Animal Welfare, paying for a review of the zoo's operation in conjunction > with the Agriculture Ministry. > > The review compiled by Knight and a zoo architect recommended that Giza > reduce its population - now at 6,000 animals and birds - to provide better > care for fewer creatures, and that it phase out cages and build larger > enclosures. > > Awad rejected the report. He refused to discuss its recommendations with > AP, saying only they were not new. " We don't need foreigners to teach us > how to handle our zoos, " he added. > > McKenna, who puts Giza " on the lower end of the scale " of world zoos, > said: " I just have a hunch that what we wanted to do there was going to be > too different, too difficult to maintain (and) upsetting an awful lot of > traditions about how they worked with the animals. " > > > > On the Net: > > Egyptian media report on zoo: > <http://web1.ahram.org.eg/weekly/1999/433/feature.htm> > > Giza Zoo: <http://www.agri.gov.eg/zoo.htm> > > GRAPHIC: APN SUNDAY ILLUSTRATIONS: Subscribers get 4 photos, NY370-373 of > > LOAD-DATE: April 3, 2002 > > > Christopher D. Bailey > Public Affairs Coordinator > 411 Main Street > Yarmouth Port, MA 02675 > Tel: (508) 744-2069 > Fax: (508) 744-2079 > > The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) works to improve the > welfare of wild and domestic animals throughout the world by reducing > commercial exploitation of animals, protecting wildlife habitats and > assisting animals in distress. IFAW seeks to motivate the public to > prevent cruelty to animals and to promote animal welfare and conservation > policies that advance the well being of both animals and people. > You can help protect our shared world! Visit www.ifaw.org for more > information on IFAW and our campaigns. > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 4, 2002 Report Share Posted April 4, 2002 I think we must start international animal rights investigation center or office.Because we are sad and shocked but it is not possible to take action ..Does any body has the adress of Cairo head of state? >This remind me of the sad stae of the private zoo run by a muslim businessmen inAhungalle Sri lanka.I didn`t know then where we could report such incidents ,Even then Born free foundation pointed out that these animals were drugged and nothing changed.Ultimately one poor school boy was killed by the lion and wild life director confiscated all the wild animals in that zoo.Sometimes it is very sad because politicians use these people`s money for election campaigns and they rule the countries according to their wishes.These things should change. >kala > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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