FOLLOW UP

An action plan is being worked out by the Indian leather industry to prevent cruelty to animals. This has been conveyed to the US-based non-government organisation (NGO) People for Ethical Treatment to Animals (PETA). The move comes in the wake of three US retail chains having dropped the sale of Indian leather.

Wielding the rod

Killing is no answer

THERE are two reasons that killing the monkeys is not the answer to the problems of commensal monkeys (commensalism is the association between two species whereby one benefits while the other is neither harmed nor benefited). Monkeys are part of our cultural heritage and an important link of our ecosystem. There are over 500,000 Rhesus monkeys, same number of Bonnett monkeys and about 300,000 Hanuman langurs - three of the commensal species of the total 18 species of non-human primates of India.

The guinea pig debate

k satyanarayana the forcible release of 52 monkeys from the National Institute of Nutrition ( nin ), Hyderabad, into a forest by activists led by a Blue Cross functionary, Amala Akkeneni, has once again brought into sharp focus the bad blood between researchers and animal rights activists. The research has suffered a setback by about a year.

monkey business

Elephantine problems

SOUTH AFRICA

About 5,000 protestors demonstrated outside a game merchant's ranch in South Africa, demanding the release of 14 baby elephants. The owner of these elephants had been reprimanded by the court last year for cruel treatment to the animals. The protestors had gathered in response to a television programme which had flashed images of young elephants being beaten.

Dolphins in trouble

thirteen bottle-nosed dolphins were found dead on the shores of Vishakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh. According to the Vishakhapatnam Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (vspca ), the dolphins had been killed by fisherfolk. This incident has caused serious concern among conservationists.

Freedom means death

last year four lions were rescued from an Indian circus. They were so weak that they could hardly stand or chew food and three lions had gone blind. In January 1999, the Delhi High Court ordered a ban on the display of animals in the circus.

Rights for apes

Even as the authorities in Delhi are preparing a crackdown upon 5,000 monkeys frequenting the corridors of power in Lutyen's Delhi, a move is being made in New Zealand to give legally enforceable rights to apes in New Zealand.