Please send your comments and submissions by 27th December 2009 to: Olga Kumalo, fax: 012 - 320 7026 and email:  okumalo@deat.gov.za.

To view the proposed policy: http://www.info.gov.za/view/DownloadFileAction?id=113411

Picture courtesy Picturenet. Photographer Joao Silva

Opinion Piece: Michele Pickover

Since the Ukweshwama ritual it has come under the public spotlight there has been a hostile backlash by those who purport to talk on behalf of all Zulus.  What is of concern is that this response is by default contradictory and paradoxical, promoting cultural homogeneity, imposing a unitary interpretation on traditions and the concept of culture itself. This will inevitably suppress and deny the rights of other groups and individuals in South Africa.

The strategy devised to deal with the so-called “noise” of these perceived “cultural enemies” is to smear them. As if discussion around cultural practices is taboo and untouchable  and cannot be questioned or contested, as if the values of tradition and modernity cannot be put to the test to scrutinise who they serve; for what purpose and to which ends. Critics are branded as racist, as ignorant, as having a lack of respect for Zulu culture, of promoting Western hegemony and of not engaging with other forms of animal exploitation and suffering.  Not only is this inaccurate and untrue but alarmingly, but this knee-jerk response flies in the face of our constitutional democracy.

Societies are always changing and can never be static. Culture is capable of significant adaptation as circumstances change. It is dynamic, evolving, flexible and fluid by nature. Traditions are social constructions and therefore contested. Not all traditions are worthy of admiration and respect. Tradition should never be an excuse for cruelty and surely harmful practices should not be condoned just because they are cultural practices?  Cannibalism, infanticide, female circumcision, slavery, the suppression of women, exploitation of children, bullfighting, bear baiting, fox hunting, foot binding and sati are among so-called “cultural traditions” practiced by some groups - the loss of which should not be mourned.

Cultures necessarily change as contexts change, accruing and losing features over time. Indeed, the only cultures that do not change are those that are dead. Evidence has also shown that cultural identity does not have to depend upon practices that harm sentient beings. While traditional and religious practices and beliefs should be respected, this must not lead to the disregard for the interests of animals in our care. Harmful aspects of some cultural practices need to be modified. This can be done while at the same time maintaining cultural identity.  As aspects of our old cultures change, adapt, maybe disappear, we have the opportunity to create something new – drawing on the, cosmopolitan nature of modern South Africa to create something that is a unique mixture of both.

Humans are not unique in their possession of complex emotions like love, loneliness, and shame; of sophisticated behaviours and communities and globally and locally there is an increasing questioning of the ‘human exceptionalism” paradigm. We need to awaken our sensibilities and capacity for compassion, mercy and empathy toward other animals killed by the billions annually in our name (over 60 billion land-based animals are killed as food every year). Animals have a life before they turn into food, trophies, sacrifices, etc. Animals have agency and they are “subjects of their own life”.  Indeed, they have their own cultures and traditions – which also adapt to changing circumstances or environments.

Compassion for (all) living beings is a trans-cultural and meta-historical idea, shared by many different peoples, around the world, including Africans and South Africans. It represents a dissolving of the bounds of personal interest and incorporates the understanding that all life is interconnected and deserving of our respect. Our humanity and humility is at stake. There needs to be a swing to a culture of compassion and on-going conversations and unpacking of what depersonalises and devalues both humans and animals alike and makes oppression possible.

There is an inextricable link between our treatment and slaughter of animals and our treatment and slaughter of other human beings. Concern for humans and concern for other animals are not as divergent as some would think and these concerns do not take place in a social or economic vacuum or outside of political ideology.  What we need is inclusive justice, where the interests of animals and humans are considered.

Most of the suffering and death inflicted upon other animals is not a consequence of isolated cases of cruel actions, but of social attitudes rarely questioned. To try to argue that animals do not suffer pain or that it does not matter if they do is not only unfathomable and deeply flawed but simply unconscionable. So, what this debate is really about is suffering and about acknowledging suffering. And because animals have no voice does not mean we should exploit them – whether for traditional reasons or for the culture of profit.

We need to rethink what it means to be human on Earth. We need to be sensitive to vulnerability – this means a special concern for the helpless, for other animals, the poor, the young, the undefended, the marginalised and concern for future generations.  Through notions of justice, democracy, reconciliation, inclusiveness and Ubuntu we can heal ourselves and unite and intermingle in a web of commonality. There is plenty of room for engaging in dialogue with all cultures on the issue of animal exploitation. If we can listen to each other with respect and openness, our cultural needs can be met in other, less destructive and cruel ways.

_________________________________________________________

For ARA Press Release on the Ukweshwama issue:

http://www.animalrightsafrica.org/PR_22Nov09_ARA_UKWESHWAMA_Ritual.php
http://www.animalrightsafrica.org/PR_25Nov09_ARA_UKWESHWAMA_CourtAction.php
http://www.animalrightsafrica.org/PR_02Dec09_ARA_UKWESHWAMA_AboutTheBull.php
http://www.animalrightsafrica.org/PR_04Dec09_ARA_ThinkOfTheBull.php

For other articles in the press on the ukweshwama issue:

Ritual: bull takes 20 min to die: http://www.news24.com/Content/SouthAfrica/News/1059/3bb64e765525451ea44d4ba09786a672/07-12-2009-12-04/Ritual_bull_takes_20_min_to_die

Sometimes culture is a load of bull: http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/bernardallen/2009/12/02/sometimes-culture-is-a-load-of-bull/

Forward Comrades to a more glorious past :  http://www.timeslive.co.za/opinion/columnists/article221277.ece

Caught in cycle of paranoia and powerlessness :  http://www.businessday.co.za/Articles/Content.aspx?id=89235

Justice Malala: culture no excuse for cruelty : http://www.timeslive.co.za/opinion/columnists/article222462.ece

Spilling the Blood of Bulls to Preserve Zulu Tradition : http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/world/africa/09safrica.html?_r=1&ref=world

Ukweshwama: what is all this bull?  http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/sentletsediakanyo/2009/12/04/ukweshwama-what-is-all-this-bull/

Huge seizures of 1169 kgs of elephant ivory in Kenya and Ethiopia : http://www.france24.com/en/node/4937168

The dog unit was part of the team that discovered the ivory.

Photo credit KWS.

Going vegan is one of the most positive steps you can take. Celebrities, nutritionists and millions of others have gone vegan, recognising it’s kinder to their health, the planet and, of course, animals. Just about every food made from dairy products or eggs has a cruelty-free alternative, and with those products easily available in high Going vegan means opening up your kitchen to a more exciting eating experience, experimenting with world cuisines that aren't centred on meat. Vegan food is delicious, nutritious and so much easier to make than you'd imagine.

Christmas Savoury Strudel
•    3 tbsp olive oil
•    2 onions peeled and chopped
•    2-3 cloves garlic peeled and crushed
•    2 x 400g (14oz) cans tomatoes
•    1 tsp dried basil
•    90ml (3fl oz) red wine
•    225g (8oz) button mushrooms sliced
•    sea salt & fresh ground black pepper
•    275g (10oz) filo pastry
•    100g (4oz) olive oil - for brushing pastry
•    90g (3½ oz) roasted cashew nuts, roughly chopped (alternatively use pecan or pine nuts)

1.    Heat the 3 tbsp of oil in a large saucepan, add the onions, cover and cook for about 10 mins until tender but not browned. Add the garlic, tomatoes with their liquid, basil and wine. Simmer gently uncovered, stirring occasionally, until liquid has disappeared and mixture is quite thick - about 20 mins. Add the mushrooms and cook for a further 15 mins or until all liquid has boiled away. Mixture must be quite dry. Season and allow to cool.
2.    When cool assemble the strudel with defrosted filo. Use filo approx 12" x 8" which can go in the average oven tray/sheet. Set oven at mark 200c/400f/Gas 6 if cooking straight away.
3.    Brush tray with olive oil, put the first layer of filo on the tray and brush with oil, sprinkle a third of the nuts on; lay on top another sheet of filo brushed with oil and sprinkled with nuts. Repeat a third time. Add a fourth layer of filo, brush with oil and put on tomato/mushroom mixture and spread out. Roll the whole thing up like a swiss roll.
4.    Bake for approx 30 mins until golden brown.
5.    Serve with port wine sauce and your favourite Christmas veggies.

Red Wine Sauce
•    1 onion, sliced
•    1 clove of garlic, minced
•    10 button mushrooms, quartered
•    1 tsp dried basil
•    1/4 pint vegetarian stock (when you make it up, also mix in 1 tsp flour)
•    splash of vegan Worcester sauce
•    1 tbsp tomato puree
•    3/4 pint red wine
•    2 tbsp olive oil
•    black pepper to season

1.    Fry the garlic and onion until soft.
2.    Add the mushrooms and continue to fry for about a minute.
3.    Mix in all the other ingredients, stir well, bring to the boil and leave to simmer for about one hour. The longer you leave it the more flavoursome it becomes.

The Indian government has become the first in the world to end the keeping of elephants in zoos, recognising that such conditions are incapable of meeting the needs of the species.

Under the directive from the Central Zoo Authority, all elephants kept in zoos will be moved to sanctuaries, national parks and reserves, changing the future for around 150 elephants.

Animal Rights Africa welcomed the move and joined with other animal protection and conservation organisations, and leading elephant experts, to call on governments of other countries to follow this lead.

The statement backed by Animal Rights Africa is:

It has been confirmed that the Central Zoo Authority, the Government agency responsible for India's zoos, has recognised that zoos cannot provide a suitable environment for elephants and has taken the momentous step to order, through a CZA Directive, the relocation of all elephants in zoos in India to sanctuaries, national parks and reserves. The decision of the CZA reflects the growing concern expressed by many citizens, animal welfare groups and elephant experts* about the inadequacy of the zoo environment for elephants.

The Directive will have a significant and potentially positive impact on up to 150 elephants currently in Indian zoos.

Provided that certain safeguards and animal welfare measures can be guaranteed, we* welcome the decision of the CZA. Further, we call on the Indian Government to extend the decision to include elephants in circuses, which are also unable to provide a suitable environment for such complex, social and wide-ranging animals, and call upon governments in other countries to follow India’s example and end confinement of elephants in zoos and circuses.

Importantly, the CZA also confirms that there is little or no benefit to the in situ conservation of wild elephants derived from keeping elephants in zoos and the like.

ANIMAL RIGHTS AFRICA receives no government funding. We cannot do the investigations, briefings, research, lobbying and campaigning without your help. To send a donation, please go to www.animalrightsafrica.org/donations.php

You can also support Animal Rights Africa is by taking along clothing, books, bric-a-brac to

When donating please mention that the proceeds are to go to Animal Rights Africa.

You will find them on the corner of Main Road and Fourth Avenue, Melville (above Mays

Pharmacy). You can reach them on 482-6094.

Welcome to the second edition of the ANIMAL RIGHTS AFRICA NEWS.  Animal Rights Africa has an exciting fundraiser planned for October. You are invited to join us for an evening of entertainment, food and wine – all vegan of course. Renowned actor David Butler will perform his recent hit play from the National Arts Festival, 'A Teacher in the Bushveld'.  This show will be followed by 'Her dog by her side she walked 2200km from Durban to the Victoria Falls...' 'Footing with Sir Richard's Ghost' – a talk by well-know journalist and Animal Rights Activist, Patricia Glyn. The event takes place on 9 October at 6.30pm for 7.00pm at the spectacular Shepstone Gardens, 8 Hope Road, Mountain View, Johannesburg. The cost is R350 per person and all proceeds will go to Animal Rights Africa. This is an event not to be missed and an opportunity to support an organisation in need of funds on an ongoing basis! Phone 074 189 1022 to purchase a ticket. Seats are limited.

For more info on the Fundraising event and for a map to the venue click HERE.

ANIMAL RIGHTS AFRICA could not do the work it does were it not for the donations it receives from concerned citizens. Please visit our website to see how you can contribute. If you sign up for a monthly subscription of over R200 per month you will receive a copy of Michele Pickover's book 'Animal Rights in South Africa'. You can also add your email address to the Animal Rights Africa website in order to receive our RSS feeds. 

Enjoy this edition
Warm wishes
The ANIMAL RIGHTS AFRICA Communications Team

Elephant rides have an understandable appeal as they offer a unique opportunity to get close to the world's largest land animal. But a closer look reveals hidden cruelty and serious risks. Few know that methods of training usually involve the use of electric prods, ankuses, chaining, whips, sticks, axe handles, baseball bats, metal pipes, and other submission protocols. Read more for the full story of how riding elephants contributes to the ongoing abuse and debasement of these majestic creatures.

When you think of African elephants roaming the African landscape, you usually think of their majestic presence and the strength that leaves them almost invincible. You also think of their proven intelligence, their close family bonds, the lifelong friendships they form, and their comprehension of death. Then you think of the sad, broken-spirited elephants in zoos and circuses and they just don't hold the same allure. So you decide to see elephants as nature intended them to be. But be aware that your tour operator or travel agent may try and sell you the option to experience African elephants in a way you never expected, and that sounds romantic and natural – elephant back safaris!

Elephant back safaris and rides, walks with elephants, and general interaction with these animals is heavily promoted as a tourism attraction in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

The ‘elephant' industry in South Africa involves the capture, taming and training, of wild elephants. These elephant are then supplied to local and international zoos, circuses and elephant back safari operators.

Riding on an elephant's back does not represent the nature and mysteries of a majestic elephant spirit as marketers would have you believe, rather it is the result of human intervention. Young elephants are usually kidnapped by force from their families, and subjected to rigorous training. Do not be fooled into the romanticised sales pitch that the elephants enjoy being put in this position.

Industry justifications
The 'elephant industry' has used the opportunity presented by 'culling' to jump on the bandwagon and promote the growing elephant industry as a supposed alternative to 'culling'. These issues should not be confused. Taming and training elephants and then sending them to zoos, circuses and elephant back safaris is not an alternative to 'culling', nor does it impact on elephant population size.

There have been moves to suggest that 'problem' elephants be taken up into the industry. But they are more resistant to training and thus require more intensive domination. A vicious cycle develops where cruelty escalates and the animal becomes increasingly aggressive. There are at least two confirmed incidents of 'difficult to train' elephants being hunted or killed.

Cruelty behind the scenes
Cruelty that may not be evident to spectators often occurs behind the scenes in various forms, including abusive training methods used to try to control animals of this size, chaining them for many hours a day, and depriving them of social contact with other elephants.

Because of the unnatural environments in which they live, captive elephants often suffer from debilitating foot conditions, arthritis, and other ailments.

The confined life of captive elephants is in sharp contrast to that of elephants in the wild, many of which may walk 30 miles a day and establish life-long bonds.

Accidents waiting to happen
There is no predicting when elephants will respond aggressively to harsh treatment or when a seemingly innocuous incident will set them on a fearful rampage. With their large size, even a small misstep can be deadly.

The sad truth behind the sales pitch
The capture, taming, training and working of an elephant is usually cruel and reveals what goes on behind the scenes in the name of 'sustainable utilisation' in South Africa.

• The elephants used for the safari back industry are generally young elephants that have been forcibly removed from their parents and family units with the use of weapons, helicopters and violence.
• Because elephants are large, strong, and intelligent, constant control of an elephant is maintained by domination and fear.
• The fate of the elephants in this industry is determined by the business cycle of the tour operator and if these tour operators fail to succeed what happens to these elephants?
• Elephants are complex and sensitive beings, and like humans, young elephants need to stay with their families.
• Removing   young elephants from their families in the wild and taking them into captivity is a cruel and unethical practice condemned by elephant ethologists and is contrary to international norms.
• From research studies it has been shown that calves and juveniles separated from their mothers and family groups endure immeasurable suffering.
• It has been proven that, as with human children, elephant children need adult role models. Without this guidance these elephants are more likely to turn into delinquents.

Tools of the trade
At the training facilities, the methods of training usually involve the use of electric prods, ankuses, chaining and other submission protocols.

Chains - Elephants are chained by one or both front and hind legs during training sessions and during transport.  Inadequate exercise and prolonged standing in wet, unsanitary conditions may lead to foot problems such as foot rot, cracked nails, and infected cuticles.
Ropes - During the separation process, calves are kept isolated and tied with ropes at the front and back leg. Rope burns may develop as they struggle against the restraints.
Bullhooks or Ankuses- The ankus has a long handle and a sharp metal hook, and is used to discipline elephants. Although an elephant's skin is thick, it is sensitive enough for them to feel the pain of an insect bite. Trainers embed the hook into the soft tissue behind the ears and inside the mouth or tender spots under the chin and around the feet. The sharp hook is used to apply pressure to the elephant's skin and sensitive body parts. This pressure may consist of gentle jabbing, repeated and forceful puncturing, slight or full insertion, and insertion combined with twisting. Once an elephant has been trained with an ankus, the sight of it is sufficient to evoke the response desired by the trainer.
Whips - The sting of a whip causes lingering, intense pain.
Electrical shocks - Like the whip, a jolt of electrical current is painful. Circuses often use electric prods and smaller hand-held shocking devices that are easily concealed.
Sticks, axe handles, baseball bats, metal pipes - These weapons are used to hit and beat restrained animals in order to break their spirits and show them 'who's boss'.

How can you help?

• Write to travel agents and tour operators asking them not to support this industry

• Email Didi Moyle, Acting Chief Executive Officer of SA Tourism, and tell her that you do not support this form of tourism - didi@southafrica.net

• Write to Ms Buyelwa Sonjica, Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, and ask her to prohibit the industry - mthembun@dwaf.gov.za
  

So the great barn door of a South African chicken hatchery has been prised open – albeit just a chink.  Courtesy of Jan Serfontein's staff at Boskop Layer Chickens, Animal Rights Africa, the NSPCA and Carte Blanche, daily activities in this poultry Auschwitz near Potchefstroom were brought to the attention of local consumers.  And, not before time, the viewing public has had a glimpse of life (and death) on a modern factory farm.

Apparently, the nation is deeply shocked.  The programme generated hundreds of outraged emails, offers to adopt chicks and threats to boycott Boskop 'products'.  It seems there's nothing like seeing the fluffy yellow chicks of our nursery books dying of starvation, thirst and exposure in a concrete pit, to wake folk up to the realities of how an egg lands up on their breakfast plates.

All well and good.  But open the barn door a little further and many more of the system's abominations come crawling into the light – and with them, many more of its moral contradictions.  These have to do with what are deemed to be "acceptable methods of humane slaughter" by chicken and egg producers and (by virtue of their complicity), retailers, consumers and even animal welfare groups.  To my mind, these processes are also in need of urgent attention and media exposure.  

For starters, I have yet to be shown what is 'humane' about the slaughter of a healthy animal – human or non-human.  The term is inherently contradictory, but let's not waste time on that debate – nor what happens to the hens in battery and broiler farms, since I could write a whole book about those equally vile places. Let's rather focus on standard practices in the egg industry and the methods used to slaughter something like 23 million male chicks annually in South Africa.  As male chickens cannot lay eggs, and have not been genetically modified and selectively bred for meat, they are of no economic value to producers and are therefore removed from the system, optimally at one day old.

It's the methods of their 'removal' that beggar belief.  The Humane Slaughter Association of the United Kingdom holds the view that:  "although aesthetically unpleasant, instantaneous mechanical destruction (IMD) is a humane and effective disposal method for day-old chicks when used, managed and maintained correctly."  Our regulatory body, SA Poultry Producers, clearly agrees, because the method is much used here.  Live chicks are tossed by the thousand into rapidly rotating rollers which are armed either with knives or projections that crush and shred the birds into tiny bits, ready for the fertilizer or potting soil or whatever they're destined to become next.  Aesthetically   unpleasant?  What a description. It's akin to describing an open sewer as nasally - er -  challenging!
And one can't help but ask:  'What dark intelligence invents these machines in the first place?'  And how are they tested before sale?  I have images of a laboratory filled with impervious technicians, noting on their white boards how many chicks 'arrive alive' after running the gauntlet through the macerators. And, surely, even with the most perfected of mechanisms, in the most perfectly monitored hatcheries, many chickens escape a quick death because it is impossible to 'process' so many 'units' per hour without inefficiencies and exceptions.

Many hatcheries prefer to gas the male chicks with carbon dioxide, claiming that it's not only cheap and efficient but – you guessed it – 'humane'.  But as Dr Mohan Raj of the School of Clinical Veterinary Science at the University of Bristol in England will be quick to tell you, it's anything but kind.  CO2 induces breathlessness and panic in the birds as they try to expel the gas from their lungs by exhaling as fast as they can.  They die from slow, painful suffocation rather like a patient with emphysema.  Humane?  You bet ya not.

Those hatcheries that don't use these methods of dispatch either electrocute the birds,  manually dislocate the spinal column from the chicks' skulls (a process called 'cervical dislocation'), or throw the chicks into trash cans where they are buried alive under each other – something I have witnessed personally.  You see, the Boskop factory farm is not alone in choosing cheap and expedient means of getting rid of their male chicks, and unregulated activities in the industry are numerous and well documented.  Some KZN operations simply drown their chicks, or drop them at the Maritzburg and Camperdown rubbish dumps or in wheelie bins, their distress calls audible from a considerable distance.  And I would wager a (vegan) whisky that these farmers, like Jan Serfontein, are accredited members of the Southern African Poultry Association.

Now bear in mind that animal behaviourists have proven that chickens are more advanced than young children, that they form strong family ties, have good problem-solving abilities, can recognise more than a hundred other chickens and remember them, and have more than thirty types of vocalisation.  They are sensitive, inquisitive, socialised beings - not units in a callous production line, or items on a shopping list.

Something is rotten in the State of Denmark and it's up to those who professed such moral outrage at what is going on at Boskop to show South African consumers what is deemed 'normal' and 'acceptable' on an industrial chicken farm.  I challenge Carte Blanche and all those involved in 'outing' Jan Serfontein and his Boskop operation to publicise what goes on elsewhere in the industry, particularly as assurances from retailers that they won't stock his eggs or chickens might become a convenient salve to consumers' consciences who now think that goings-on elsewhere are
'humane'.

And I also challenge South Africans with a conscience to stop eating eggs from these hell-holes!
Correspondence to: patriciaglyn@wol.co.za

For some undercover footage:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ--faib7to

The photograph is of Casey, one of the hens that Animal Rights Africa has rescued. She was rescued by us from a squatter camp we had gone to on a dog rescue.  She had cotton and grass twined around both legs and couldn't walk.  She came to live with us, grew up and hatched this chick. This is what all chicks deserve.  Compare this love and protection to what the rooster chicks are subjected on egg-layer hatching farms!