An elderly elephant named Mali is the star at Manila’s zoo, but also the focus of a campaign alleging animal cruelty that has united the Philippines’ powerful bishops, global pop stars and a Nobel laureate.
Mali, who is 38, spends her days picking peanuts from children’s hands and being squirted with water in a concrete-floored enclosure that animal rights groups say is far too small for any elephant to enjoy living in.
They also say that, after being shipped from Sri Lanka when she was three years old, Mali is suffering profound loneliness after living her entire adult life without another elephant.
Photo: AFP
“She is definitely unwell. As much as her physical suffering ... there is also psychological suffering,” Rochelle Rigodon, campaign manager for Manila-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), told reporters.
PETA began campaigning for Mali to be removed from the zoo seven years ago, and its efforts to have the elephant spend the rest of her life at a sanctuary in Thailand have brought together a strikingly diverse group of people.
British pop star Morrissey, 2003 Nobel laureate in literature J.M. Coetzee and famous animal welfare campaigner Jane Goodall have all written letters to the Philippine government asking for Mali to be transferred.
Archbishop Jose Palma, president of the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, has also written a letter calling for Mali to be shifted to Thailand.
He has formed an unlikely union with local fashion models and actresses, such as Isabel Roces and Chin-Chin Gutierrez, who have posted messages expressing concern about Mali’s plight to their masses of Twitter followers.
Their campaign has had some success, with Philippine President Benigno Aquino III ordering the Philippine Bureau of Animal Industry in May to evaluate if Mali should be transferred to Thailand. So far, no decision has been announced.
Activists say the problems at the zoo are not limited to Mali.
The zoo, owned by the City of Manila and built in 1959, is a far cry from its glory days in the early 1960s, when it boasted a huge menagerie of lions, tigers, bears, leopards, giraffes, chimpanzees and bison.
Many of the animals reside in half-century-old cages made of wire and bars, with the zoo operating on a budget of just US$1.4 million a year — small for its size, as it holds 717 animals from 102 species.
Philippine Animal Welfare Society executive director Anna Cabrera accused the zoo’s veterinarians and administrators of “gross incompetence.”
However, chief veterinarian Donald Manalastas insisted Mali and the other animals were treated well.
“We could do better but their [the animals’] care is never compromised,” Manalastas said.
He pointed to the advanced ages of Mali and another 38-year-old star of the zoo, Berta the hippopotamus, as proof that the animals were being looked after.
Manalastas also talked enthusiastically about the zoo’s success in breeding the Philippine freshwater crocodile, or Crocodylus mindorensis, which is critically endangered.
From an original four, these reptiles reproduced rapidly until there were 20 last year, Manalastas said. He added that they were able to trade eight to an overseas overseas zoo for a camel that will hopefully arrive next year.
The zoo undoubtedly remains a popular attraction, with 950,000 visitors a year, many of whom come from poor communities in and around Manila.
The Philippines has a dire poverty problem, with roughly one-quarter of the population of 100 million people living on US$1 dollar a day or less. The entrance fee for the zoo is set deliberately low at 40 pesos (US$0.95) for adults and 20 pesos for children to give the poorer citizens of Manila the opportunity to see wildlife and have a fun day out.
“This place is a social service, not a profit-oriented organization,” Manila City’s Parks and Recreations chief Deogracias Manimbo told reporters.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia