We’ll just call this “bad news Sunday,” because nothing I’ve read has been hopeful or cheering.
I started my morning by checking the blogs on Wildlife Direct to learn that yesterday three more elephants were killed in Virunga National Park.
This brings the total killed to 17 in just two weeks. “This is unprecedented. Every single one had its ivory hacked out. The price of ivory is believed to be at around US$150 per kg on the local market. At this rate, Virunga could lose all of its elephants before the end of the year.” That money is spent on buying weapons to continue the numerous conflicts in the region. The people of Congo are sacrificing their wildlife heritage – their future – for a bloody and hopeless present. The ICCN will deploy Advance Force rangers to the area, but their personnel are already stretched thin trying to keep people from burning down the entire forest for charcoal.
What can you do? Donate to the Baraza blog. Call the DR Congo Embassy in the District at (202)234-7690 and express, politely, your concern about what’s happening in Virunga National Park. They need to know that people outside Congo care about what happens to their wildlife.
The other bad news this morning came from the Washington Post where I read the news that a horse died on the track at the Kentucky Derby. Eight Belles suffered two broken front legs and was euthanized on the spot. While she lay suffering and dying, the winners of the Kentucky Derby continued their celebrations and NBC turned the cameras away from Eight Belles.
ONE MORE TIME: Animals are not ours to use for entertainment.
The WaPo story criticizes an industry that overbreeds horses for the entertainment of human animals, spending fortunes on some horses while others are discarded and stabbed to death in Mexican slaughterhouses.
And for what? Greed, self importance, arrogance.
I know people who own horses and ride them in all sorts of events. I have not attended such events in years and I will never again support the use of horses for any human endeavor. It’s WRONG. If you want to help horses, please visit the HSUS Anti-Horse Slaughter campaign site. You’ll find a lot of information and opportunities to take action for horses.
**Update** PETA calls for an end to horse racing. Sign the petition.
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Filed under: animal rights, endangered species, Virunga National Park Rangers
Well, that is bad news indeed. I didn’t know about the horse at the derby…I try not to pay attention to the races at all because it is so frustrating. They say they take such good care of the horses, and I’m sure they’re treated better than factory farmed animals, for example, but I still don’t think their definition of “humane care” is the same that mine is. Poor things!