Refuge
Here in the US, animal refuges perform a service for society as a whole. In our modern era it is thought cruel to abandon a dog or cat, and why not? Both dogs and cats have lived for thousands of years as partners with human beings, and they have developed a symbiotic relationship with us. From the time long ago when the first wolves dared to come a little closer to humans in their garbage dumps and were thus rewarded with some discarded scraps of food, dogs--and to a lesser extent cats--have been giving up their independence bit by bit to earn a living as our companions.
And what did we get from this growing relationship? Well, watchdogs for one thing, hunting helpers for another, and just plain enjoyable companionship. Yes, our domestic animals--our home companions--have been gaining a living in return for giving up their original antagonism to us and standoffishness from us. After a few thousand years of this developing relationship, our dog and cat friends can no longer fend for themselves in the wild. Indeed, anyone who dumps a cat in the country thinking he will be able to live on the birds and field mice he can catch is fooling himself and betraying the cat.
So it makes sense we would come to recognize our duty to our symbiotic animal friends and establish shelters, refuges, and pounds to avoid their starving to death when they become homeless for any reason. Even though many such unfortunate animals are killed (hopefully by humane methods), such an end is better than condemning them to sickness and starvation without a home. Thus nearly every community has some provision for homeless dogs and cats. It's a societal obligation and rightly so.
In Cuba, privation is ubiquitous, and there is little resource to be devoted to cats and dogs. The government tries to sweep strays from the streets in an attempt to control rabies and present a prettier environment for tourists. But such dog and cat orphans caught in those sweeps are only held for a short time and then killed, often by poisoning. It's a national shame.
I have often said the Cuban people love animals, and one way they have shown that love is that a few have stepped in to try to offer homeless animals a place to live. Rosa runs a refuge for dogs, Rebecca one for cats, and Jose for both. Across the country are good souls who take in and care for animals. They strain their own comfort and well-being to provide some for their canine and feline charges. In doing so, they provide a valuable service for society at large.
The refuge operators are motivated by their love for animals, not by any monetary rewards. Some, who know they must limit the numbers they can help, live stable, enjoyable lives. Others who don't set reasonable limits progress into what we call animal collectors. These, unfortunately, do no favors for themselves or the animals--they only spread misery and often hunger and sickness among their collections.
Still, well controlled or not, Cuba's private animal refuges try to discharge their communities' duties to our animal partners, even if their efforts seem makeshift by modern sheltering standards. Aniplant tries to help these refuges with advice, medical help, and some food rations.
Les Inglis
Friday, December 31, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Cuban Zoos
Cuban Zoos
Most animal protectionists have a low opinion of zoos. While arguably they offer some education, they subject their animals to unnatural lives of confinement and stress. Surely animals have the right to be free of such treatment. In these respects, Cuban zoos are no different from zoos anywhere else.
The first Cuban zoo I visited was the Havana City Zoo. Built before World War II, it was quite modern for its day. Most animals there were shown in relatively spacious simulated natural areas appropriate to the animals in them. Instead of bars, the animals were contained by moats and steep walls to prevent them from mingling with the general public. This was the state of the art when it was built. I can remember visiting a similar zoo in Cincinnati when I was a young boy. It was the pride of Cincinnati at that time well before we began to think about the rights of animals.
Only there is a difference between the Havana and the Cincinnati zoos. Cincinnati's is kept clean and well-maintained, while Havana's needs lots of attention. In Havana the walkways and the animals' display areas were littered with scrap paper, food wrappers and debris. Each display area has a water pond, but in Havana, most of those have no water in them. I recall thinking; I wonder of those poor bears have to wait for it to rain to get a drink of water? All in all, the Havana City Zoo was a disappointment and a reminder that many civic services are showing signs of neglect.
The other zoo in the Havana area is the National Zoo. This one, in the care of the state, is in much better condition, and occupies hundreds of acres in the far outskirts of Havana. Just as open grottos were state of the art before World War II, now the state of the art is like Lion Country Safari--having large open areas simulating various landscapes from around the world with free running animals. The observers go through the park protected in vehicles. As we did so, we saw lions, antelope and water buffalo. Certainly this provides more freedom and realism. But in an absolute sense, it is still confinement.
The director of the National Zoo is a tall, personable man very dedicated to his work. Our tour was accompanied by a discussion of each free-ranging area, and we could get very close to the animals here. And the place is well-maintained without litter or mess.
As we concluded our tour, we were shown an older part of the zoo. There iron bars defined a large collection of cubicles with too many primates. At least they were well fed and cared for. It was a reminder that nothing is perfect. Today, the government recognizes that zoos need to be improved. Very recently a commission was established by the Ministry of Agriculture to function within Aniplant to review zoos and recommend improvements. It includes vets, techs, a sociologist, and Nora Garcia, Aniplant's President. It will work with the environmental authorities in Cuba to recommend the creation of needed improvements for the benefit of animals.
Thus the 23 other municipal zoos in Cuba will be moved toward and humane practice.
Les Inglis
Most animal protectionists have a low opinion of zoos. While arguably they offer some education, they subject their animals to unnatural lives of confinement and stress. Surely animals have the right to be free of such treatment. In these respects, Cuban zoos are no different from zoos anywhere else.
The first Cuban zoo I visited was the Havana City Zoo. Built before World War II, it was quite modern for its day. Most animals there were shown in relatively spacious simulated natural areas appropriate to the animals in them. Instead of bars, the animals were contained by moats and steep walls to prevent them from mingling with the general public. This was the state of the art when it was built. I can remember visiting a similar zoo in Cincinnati when I was a young boy. It was the pride of Cincinnati at that time well before we began to think about the rights of animals.
Only there is a difference between the Havana and the Cincinnati zoos. Cincinnati's is kept clean and well-maintained, while Havana's needs lots of attention. In Havana the walkways and the animals' display areas were littered with scrap paper, food wrappers and debris. Each display area has a water pond, but in Havana, most of those have no water in them. I recall thinking; I wonder of those poor bears have to wait for it to rain to get a drink of water? All in all, the Havana City Zoo was a disappointment and a reminder that many civic services are showing signs of neglect.
The other zoo in the Havana area is the National Zoo. This one, in the care of the state, is in much better condition, and occupies hundreds of acres in the far outskirts of Havana. Just as open grottos were state of the art before World War II, now the state of the art is like Lion Country Safari--having large open areas simulating various landscapes from around the world with free running animals. The observers go through the park protected in vehicles. As we did so, we saw lions, antelope and water buffalo. Certainly this provides more freedom and realism. But in an absolute sense, it is still confinement.
The director of the National Zoo is a tall, personable man very dedicated to his work. Our tour was accompanied by a discussion of each free-ranging area, and we could get very close to the animals here. And the place is well-maintained without litter or mess.
As we concluded our tour, we were shown an older part of the zoo. There iron bars defined a large collection of cubicles with too many primates. At least they were well fed and cared for. It was a reminder that nothing is perfect. Today, the government recognizes that zoos need to be improved. Very recently a commission was established by the Ministry of Agriculture to function within Aniplant to review zoos and recommend improvements. It includes vets, techs, a sociologist, and Nora Garcia, Aniplant's President. It will work with the environmental authorities in Cuba to recommend the creation of needed improvements for the benefit of animals.
Thus the 23 other municipal zoos in Cuba will be moved toward and humane practice.
Les Inglis
Friday, December 17, 2010
Cuba the Dog, Chapter Two
Cuba the Dog, Chapter Two
As I wrote the previous chapter on Cuba the Dog, he was scheduled to fly on 12/5. Of course, nothing happens in Cuba as scheduled. It turned out Cuba had not been fed in three days before Nora picked him up. It took, therefore, three days for him to fill up and start giving fecal samples needed for worm tests. So, 12/5 was too soon, and we rescheduled his flight for Sunday, 12/12. Fill up, he did, the vet got his samples, and tests proved the deworming treatment had done its work. Cuba was certified as healthy and parasite free.
Now we needed a travel cage for a small pup. As I've said before, everything is available in Cuba if you're willing to pay the price. There wasn't time for Ashley to buy a cage and get it to Cuba, so Nora bought one for $60.00 that could be had in the US for $15 or $20. She told me she got a good price (by Cuban standards). One more hurdle jumped.
Ashley had found a charity in Canada that arranges flights to Canada from the Caribbean for dogs that tourists want to adopt. The actual flight for Cuba the dog would be from Varadero to Toronto, and it wasn't going to cost Ashley anything. But to qualify for this benefit, the flight had to be on Air Transat which flies out of Varadero, not Havana. And the way things work is you have to present the dog's paperwork one day ahead of the flight to Air Transat's cargo representative, Javier. That meant Nora had to make the 100 mile trip twice from Havana to Varadero in a car rented form a friend. So Nora met her friend, Javier on Saturday in Varadero, made the arrangements, and drove back home to Havana. Then she got up early to drive back to the Varadero airport by 8am on Sunday to check him in for his 10am flight to Toronto.
Throughout this extra week of arrangements, Ashley, as a good mother would, sent emails worrying about every detail, we translated and forwarded the email traffic both ways, and it was clear Nora had thought of everything. Nothing was going to go wrong.
And nothing did. Cuba had a comfortable 3 or 4 hours in the baggage hold of the plane (which is heated and pressurized just like the cabin), and Ashley and her partner were waiting at the Air Transat baggage facility in Toronto as Cuba debarked (strange word for a dog story) from the plane.
And, true to her word, Ashley sent us a bunch of photos of the happy pup in his new home. A couple are shown here, and my favorite is Cuba, the little pup from the tropics, having his first encounter with snow. May he always be as happy as he was that day.
Les Inglis
As I wrote the previous chapter on Cuba the Dog, he was scheduled to fly on 12/5. Of course, nothing happens in Cuba as scheduled. It turned out Cuba had not been fed in three days before Nora picked him up. It took, therefore, three days for him to fill up and start giving fecal samples needed for worm tests. So, 12/5 was too soon, and we rescheduled his flight for Sunday, 12/12. Fill up, he did, the vet got his samples, and tests proved the deworming treatment had done its work. Cuba was certified as healthy and parasite free.
Now we needed a travel cage for a small pup. As I've said before, everything is available in Cuba if you're willing to pay the price. There wasn't time for Ashley to buy a cage and get it to Cuba, so Nora bought one for $60.00 that could be had in the US for $15 or $20. She told me she got a good price (by Cuban standards). One more hurdle jumped.
Ashley had found a charity in Canada that arranges flights to Canada from the Caribbean for dogs that tourists want to adopt. The actual flight for Cuba the dog would be from Varadero to Toronto, and it wasn't going to cost Ashley anything. But to qualify for this benefit, the flight had to be on Air Transat which flies out of Varadero, not Havana. And the way things work is you have to present the dog's paperwork one day ahead of the flight to Air Transat's cargo representative, Javier. That meant Nora had to make the 100 mile trip twice from Havana to Varadero in a car rented form a friend. So Nora met her friend, Javier on Saturday in Varadero, made the arrangements, and drove back home to Havana. Then she got up early to drive back to the Varadero airport by 8am on Sunday to check him in for his 10am flight to Toronto.
Throughout this extra week of arrangements, Ashley, as a good mother would, sent emails worrying about every detail, we translated and forwarded the email traffic both ways, and it was clear Nora had thought of everything. Nothing was going to go wrong.
And nothing did. Cuba had a comfortable 3 or 4 hours in the baggage hold of the plane (which is heated and pressurized just like the cabin), and Ashley and her partner were waiting at the Air Transat baggage facility in Toronto as Cuba debarked (strange word for a dog story) from the plane.
And, true to her word, Ashley sent us a bunch of photos of the happy pup in his new home. A couple are shown here, and my favorite is Cuba, the little pup from the tropics, having his first encounter with snow. May he always be as happy as he was that day.
Les Inglis
Friday, December 10, 2010
María Alvarez Ríos
María Alvarez Ríos 1919-2010
I met María in 2005 on my first trip to Cuba. She was the adoptive mother of my friend, Nora García Pérez, the President of Aniplant. Nora and María lived together with their 13 dogs in a 10th floor apartment in Vedado with a view halfway back to Florida. On that first encounter we all sat in her living room, petting the dogs, and Nora introduced us to her famous mother. María impressed us from the beginning with her perfect English, and we found out she spoke five languages fluently. It didn't take long to get her to sit at the piano and play and sing several songs for us.
María was a nationally known entertainer in Cuba, much as Rosemary Clooney was in the US. She was the beneficiary of a formal musical education which only polished her prodigy, evident since she was five years old. In her long career she was singer, songwriter, and author. She translated several European operas into Spanish from their original languages, and to some, she was their music teacher. To children in Cuba, she was a bright, happy writer and performer of children's songs. She composed songs for José Martí's poems and for those of other famous poets. When I met her, she was in her late eighties, but her classic beauty was still quite evident.
María and her husband adopted Nora after Nora lost her parents when she was in her teens. These two women shared an intense love for animals, and the well-traveled María took Nora with her to the US and Europe. They attended animal protection conferences and built up the knowledge of the field. Finally with their participation, Aniplant, Cuba's only officially recognized animal protection organization, was formed in the 1970's. A few years later, Nora became Aniplant's President.
I found a few videos of María on the Internet (a link can be found on our website: http://theaniplantproject.org). In those videos, her lovable dogs play an entertaining part.
Cubans are grateful for her musical talent, and those of us who work for animals are so happy she always spoke out for the animals.
María, we loved you for your music and your ethic towards animals. We'll miss you, but we're glad we had you for as long as we did.
Les Inglis
I met María in 2005 on my first trip to Cuba. She was the adoptive mother of my friend, Nora García Pérez, the President of Aniplant. Nora and María lived together with their 13 dogs in a 10th floor apartment in Vedado with a view halfway back to Florida. On that first encounter we all sat in her living room, petting the dogs, and Nora introduced us to her famous mother. María impressed us from the beginning with her perfect English, and we found out she spoke five languages fluently. It didn't take long to get her to sit at the piano and play and sing several songs for us.
María was a nationally known entertainer in Cuba, much as Rosemary Clooney was in the US. She was the beneficiary of a formal musical education which only polished her prodigy, evident since she was five years old. In her long career she was singer, songwriter, and author. She translated several European operas into Spanish from their original languages, and to some, she was their music teacher. To children in Cuba, she was a bright, happy writer and performer of children's songs. She composed songs for José Martí's poems and for those of other famous poets. When I met her, she was in her late eighties, but her classic beauty was still quite evident.
María and her husband adopted Nora after Nora lost her parents when she was in her teens. These two women shared an intense love for animals, and the well-traveled María took Nora with her to the US and Europe. They attended animal protection conferences and built up the knowledge of the field. Finally with their participation, Aniplant, Cuba's only officially recognized animal protection organization, was formed in the 1970's. A few years later, Nora became Aniplant's President.
I found a few videos of María on the Internet (a link can be found on our website: http://theaniplantproject.org). In those videos, her lovable dogs play an entertaining part.
Cubans are grateful for her musical talent, and those of us who work for animals are so happy she always spoke out for the animals.
María, we loved you for your music and your ethic towards animals. We'll miss you, but we're glad we had you for as long as we did.
Les Inglis
Friday, December 3, 2010
Cuba the Dog
Cuba the Dog
Cuba the Dog was born not long ago in a little menagerie in the far eastern province of Cuba, His owner was a lady who operates a makeshift zoo right next to one of Cuba's large beach hotels near the city of Holguin. The little zoo was a few steps away from the 500 room hotel, and sooner or later, most of the hotel's guests passed by her crudely hand-lettered sign offering the zoo as a tourist attraction. There were flamingos, turtles, the dogs, and a few other animals, and the owner had trained some of them to do tricks. It was all pretty dilapidated, and the animals didn't look well fed. The cages seemed too small, but the zoo's condition was about par for citizen owned businesses in Cuba.
Ashley and her partner were Canadians spending a week on Cuba's gorgeous beaches, and they strolled into the zoo, quickly spotting the tired old mother dog and her pups. It was clear the pups could be had, and Ashley fell in love with the brown and black one that she decided to call Cuba. The woman said she didn't sell dogs, but she was willing to part with Cuba the pup. Ashley pressed $30 into her hands feeling that the woman should get something to help with feeding the animals.
Knowing there are procedures to take an animal back home from Cuba, they took Cuba to a vet, who explained what was needed. There were vaccinations and worm treatments and fleas and ticks to kill. One of the tests needed a few days for getting back results. According to the vet, they didn't have time to go through all the steps before they were scheduled to fly home.
Disappointed, they returned the pup to the zoo lady and said they'd send for him as soon as they could. They flew home leaving a part of their hearts in the rickety old zoo. With some Internet sleuthing, Ashley found The Aniplant Project, our little charity that helps Aniplant, Cuba's only animal protection organization. Nora Garcia, Aniplant's President, was eager to help, knowing the puppy would have a much better life in Canada.
Ashley, through a friend, got Air Transat to agree to fly the dog directly from Varadero to Toronto. Varadero is another tourist spot in Cuba about 8 hours driving from Holguin and 2 hours east of Havana. Nora made the drive to Holguin in a rented car. With the help of a friend, Armando, she located the zoo and negotiated the release of the puppy to her. Armando is a member of Aniplant and another good example of Nora's huge, widely distributed network of volunteers. The zoo lady denied she sold the dog (possibly illegal without a license) and maintained the $30 was a donation. Sale, donation, whatever--the deal was done, and Cuba the pup rode back to Havana with Nora.
Now Nora's vet friends got into the act, and Cuba was rescued from nearly every kind of parasite a dog can have. He'll be certified as healthy any day now. All this activity was accompanied by a flurry of emails from Toronto to Florida to Havana and back. The stop in Florida was for translation as Ashley doesn't speak Spanish and Nora doesn't speak English. A glitch occurred when Air Transat told us they serve Varadero but not Havana, but Nora took that news in stride. She even knows Air Transat's manager for such animal flights, a man named Javier. Nora knew him two ways--first from previous shipments out of Varadero, and, as it turns out, Aniplant's VP, Gladys, the head of their Varadero branch is Javier's good friend. There are 11 million people in Cuba, but Nora makes it seem like they all know each other.
Well, all's well that ends well, and this story will reach its conclusion on Sunday 12/5 as Cuba, in his new travel cage, lifts off from Varadero only to land next in Toronto and be welcomed into the rest of his life by the loving Ashley, his new best friend.
Les Inglis
Cuba the Dog was born not long ago in a little menagerie in the far eastern province of Cuba, His owner was a lady who operates a makeshift zoo right next to one of Cuba's large beach hotels near the city of Holguin. The little zoo was a few steps away from the 500 room hotel, and sooner or later, most of the hotel's guests passed by her crudely hand-lettered sign offering the zoo as a tourist attraction. There were flamingos, turtles, the dogs, and a few other animals, and the owner had trained some of them to do tricks. It was all pretty dilapidated, and the animals didn't look well fed. The cages seemed too small, but the zoo's condition was about par for citizen owned businesses in Cuba.
Ashley and her partner were Canadians spending a week on Cuba's gorgeous beaches, and they strolled into the zoo, quickly spotting the tired old mother dog and her pups. It was clear the pups could be had, and Ashley fell in love with the brown and black one that she decided to call Cuba. The woman said she didn't sell dogs, but she was willing to part with Cuba the pup. Ashley pressed $30 into her hands feeling that the woman should get something to help with feeding the animals.
Knowing there are procedures to take an animal back home from Cuba, they took Cuba to a vet, who explained what was needed. There were vaccinations and worm treatments and fleas and ticks to kill. One of the tests needed a few days for getting back results. According to the vet, they didn't have time to go through all the steps before they were scheduled to fly home.
Disappointed, they returned the pup to the zoo lady and said they'd send for him as soon as they could. They flew home leaving a part of their hearts in the rickety old zoo. With some Internet sleuthing, Ashley found The Aniplant Project, our little charity that helps Aniplant, Cuba's only animal protection organization. Nora Garcia, Aniplant's President, was eager to help, knowing the puppy would have a much better life in Canada.
Ashley, through a friend, got Air Transat to agree to fly the dog directly from Varadero to Toronto. Varadero is another tourist spot in Cuba about 8 hours driving from Holguin and 2 hours east of Havana. Nora made the drive to Holguin in a rented car. With the help of a friend, Armando, she located the zoo and negotiated the release of the puppy to her. Armando is a member of Aniplant and another good example of Nora's huge, widely distributed network of volunteers. The zoo lady denied she sold the dog (possibly illegal without a license) and maintained the $30 was a donation. Sale, donation, whatever--the deal was done, and Cuba the pup rode back to Havana with Nora.
Now Nora's vet friends got into the act, and Cuba was rescued from nearly every kind of parasite a dog can have. He'll be certified as healthy any day now. All this activity was accompanied by a flurry of emails from Toronto to Florida to Havana and back. The stop in Florida was for translation as Ashley doesn't speak Spanish and Nora doesn't speak English. A glitch occurred when Air Transat told us they serve Varadero but not Havana, but Nora took that news in stride. She even knows Air Transat's manager for such animal flights, a man named Javier. Nora knew him two ways--first from previous shipments out of Varadero, and, as it turns out, Aniplant's VP, Gladys, the head of their Varadero branch is Javier's good friend. There are 11 million people in Cuba, but Nora makes it seem like they all know each other.
Well, all's well that ends well, and this story will reach its conclusion on Sunday 12/5 as Cuba, in his new travel cage, lifts off from Varadero only to land next in Toronto and be welcomed into the rest of his life by the loving Ashley, his new best friend.
Les Inglis
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
