|
SALVA
LA SELVA
SAVE THE RAINFOREST
RECYCLE OUR BATTERIES!
|
|
What about the animals?
Please take some time to read this
|
|
Anyone who visits Iquitos will notice that not much priority is
given to the well-being of animals. Thousands of stray dogs roam the
streets, some are in terrible condition. They are often mistreated and live
in constant fear of the humans that surround them. It’s a fact of
life in South-America.
It is a very noticeable cultural difference with visitors from
North-America or Europe. Local people don’t seem to regard animals as
living, breathing beings with feelings and emotions, but rather as objects
they can use in any way they see fit.
Animal rights awareness is practically non-existent and even
preservation laws, aimed at saving a number of endangered species, are
widely ignored and hardly ever enforced.
|
|
|
As visitors and gringo residents, it isn’t our place to
criticize or to lecture. It doesn’t change anything and it
isn’t appreciated. All we can do is talk about how people in other
countries regard the issue of animal rights and well-being and hope that it
will make people start to think.
Meanwhile, be prepared to encounter animals in chilling conditions,
being kept in sad and cruel circumstances. Be prepared to witness how the
locals hunt an eat endangered species like; paiche, one of the largest
sweet-water fish in the world; river turtle, even when they still carry
their eggs; caiman, turtle eggs and any other jungle animal they can get
their hands on.
Parrots and monkeys are often kept as pets. Parrots’ wings and
tails are clipped; monkeys are tied down with pieces of string around their
waist, without much room to move around. To catch young monkeys to sell as
pets, the hunters usually kill the mothers. Once removed from the jungle,
traumatized and abused, monkeys can never go back.
Visiting Iquitos, you will encounter people who sell live jungle
animals on the streets or at the market. Anything from monkeys to
tarantulas, turtles and birds is on offer. Many Westerners feel tempted to
buy these animals, not just as pets, but also to free them from the
miserable circumstances under which they are kept.
|
|
|
First of all; it is illegal to buy, sell, trade, own, or export
animals and the products of endangered species. For example; many souvenirs
are made with animal parts, like caiman teeth or the scales of paiche.
Secondly, local experts like zoologists Gudrun Sperrer of Pilpintuwasi and
Roxanne Kremer of PARD advise against buying animals of any kind, because
it just perpetuates the market. So please, even if it’s hard to resist,
don’t buy any live animals, or products made with animal parts.
It’s the law, but mostly, it’s the right thing to do.
Jungle animals aren’t pets. They aren’t things to use,
abuse and throw around like an old hat. Many street artists use live animals
for their shows. Dance groups at
the Boulevard and the Plaza de
|
|
Armas often use live anaconda-babies during their performances. It
looks exciting and exotic, but these animals usually do not survive for
very long. They are regularly replaced by new ones, because the conditions
in which they are kept and the careless way they are treated kills them.
|
|
Please don’t support the
abuse, the illegal trade and
ultimately the extinction of jungle animals with your money.
Don’t buy live animals or animal products and don’t support
street artists who use live animals with your donations. It is cold, hard
cash that perpetuates this situation. When people stop paying, the abuse of
(endangered) jungle animals will stop.
Please visit Amazon C.A.R.E.S. on
Pevas Street 184
(1st block, three blocks
from the Plaza de Armas)
and make a donation, or visit their
website at www.amazoncares.org
You can also visit and support
Butterfly Farm and Animal Orphanage PILPINTUWASI
|
|
|
|
|
