Showing posts with label camel racing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label camel racing. Show all posts

Friday, May 19, 2023

S.O.S. please help the animals in Sudan and Sara Abdalla, director of zoo at Khartoum University

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: Well done Samy for reporting on animals in need. I hope the report is followed up on with news of how the animals in Khartoum are surviving. Are they being cared for? Does anyone care?  


At the start of the Sudan crisis I donated to the British Red Cross to help the people of Sudan and South Sudan. I wish Red Cross could help animals too.


Report from Chronograph.com

By SAMY MAGDY, Associated Press

Wednesday 10 May 2023

Updated: May 10, 2023 4:06 a.m.


Fears over scores of zoo animals caught in Sudan crossfire


ASWAN, Egypt (AP) — Dozens of zoo animals in Sudan's capital — including an elderly crocodile, parrots and giant lizards — are feared dead after street battles between the country's rival forces made the location unreachable.


At least 100 animals, all kept inside enclosures, will have gone more than three weeks without food or water, said Sara Abdalla, the head zoologist at the zoo, which is part of the Sudan Natural History Museum.


Millions of people in Sudan have endured shortages of food, water and medicines after the conflict halted the most basic services. But as the sounds of explosions ring across the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, Abdalla has been wracked with worry over her animal charges, particularly those that are increasingly rare to find in their natural habitats in Sudan. 


“I feel a great deal of misery and sadness, as well as helplessness,” she said in a telephone interview from Khartoum. “I have assumed that we lost the birds and mammals.”


The zoo is home to species including an African grey parrot, a vervet monkey, giant lizards known as Nile monitors, a desert tortoise, a horned viper snake and a Nubian spitting cobra. Prior to the fighting, these were all fed twice a day. But the last time they received their meals and for some, medications, was on April 14, the day before fighting broke out, according to Abdalla.


The conflict, which capped months of tensions between Sudan’s rival generals, pits the Sudanese military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, who is the head of the ruling sovereign council, against the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The RSF is commanded by Burhan’s deputy on the council, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. Abdalla said neither has heeded appeals to allow access to the zoo.


The conflict has turned much of Khartoum and the adjacent city of Omdurman into a battlefield, with both sides using heavy weapons, including artillery and airstrikes, inside urban areas. The urban combat has badly damaged infrastructure and properties and poses great risk to civilians trying to move in the city streets.


Residents fleeing the capital have described seeing bodies littering sidewalks and central squares, particularly in areas not far from the museum. Roughly 500 civilians have been killed in the fighting so far, according to Sudan's doctors' syndicate, though the true number of dead is believed to be higher.


The zoo, which is housed inside the University of Khartoum, is one of the oldest in Sudan. The facility was established about a century ago as part of Gordon Memorial College, an educational institution built in the early 1900s when Sudan was a part of the British empire. It was annexed to the University of Khartoum two years after Sudan won independence in 1956.


Its current location is close to the military’s headquarters, where fighting has been heavy, preventing access to the museum.


Abdalla, who teaches zoology at the University of Khartoum, began working at the museum in 2006, and was appointed director of the facility in 2020. It was a job she had dreamed of since she visited the museum as a child. Now, trapped at her home in southern Khartoum with her husband and their two children — 9-year-old Yara, and 4-year-old Mohamed — she worries about the animals that have already survived years of unrest, economic collapse and pandemic lockdowns.


Neither the military nor the RSF responded to requests for comment on the plight of the animals and their caretakers.


“Unless someone released the animals early on when the clashes started, I don’t see how any would or could have survived for over two weeks with no care,” said Kamal M. Ibrahim, a biology professor at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale in an email. He is familiar with the museum and its work, having graduated from the University of Khartoum and spending a sabbatical there.


The museum documents the wildlife of Sudan and its neighbor South Sudan. The facility serves both scientists and the general public. It also contains hundreds of valuable preserved animal specimens, some of which are now extinct, according to Abdalla.


Both Ibrahim and Abdalla are particularly worried about a Nile crocodile, raised from an egg at the facility since 1971. Abdalla said the crocodile was on a regimen of medicine and vitamins due advanced age. The crocodiles are increasingly rare to find in the Blue and White Nile rivers that cut their way through the country.


“It could have fared better if released from its enclosure,” Ibrahim said.

In this undated photo released by Sara Abdalla, director of the zoological park at the University of Khartoum, a vervet monkey is pictured inside its enclosure in Khartoum, Sudan. The animal is one of dozens feared dead or missing inside the park in Sudan's capital after intense fighting made the location unreachable. (Sara Abdalla via AP AP

In this undated photo released by Sara Abdalla, director of the zoological park at the University of Khartoum, a Nile crocodile is pictured inside its enclosure in Khartoum, Sudan. The 50-year-old reptile was raised in captivity from an egg, and is one of dozens feared dead or missing inside the park in Sudan's capital after intense fighting made the location unreachable. (Sara Abdalla via AP) AP

In this undated photo released by Sara Abdalla, director of the zoological park at the University of Khartoum, a Nubian spitting cobra is pictured inside its enclosure in Khartoum, Sudan. The animal is one of dozens feared dead or missing inside the park in Sudan's capital after intense fighting made the location unreachable. (Sara Abdalla via AP) AP

In this undated photo released by Sara Abdalla, director of the zoological park at the University of Khartoum, a carpet viper is pictured inside its enclosure in Khartoum, Sudan. The animal is one of dozens feared dead or missing inside the park in Sudan's capital after intense fighting made the location unreachable. (Sara Abdalla via AP) AP

In this undated photo released by Sara Abdalla, director of the zoological park at the University of Khartoum, a Nile monitor lizard is pictured inside its enclosure in Khartoum, Sudan. The animal is one of dozens feared dead or missing inside the park in Sudan's capital after intense fighting made the location unreachable. (Sara Abdalla via AP) AP


View original: https://www.chron.com/news/world/article/fears-over-scores-of-zoo-animals-caught-in-sudan-18090097.php


[Ends]

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Sudan: Disgusting! Barbaric camel herders! This is animal cruelty! Why is this allowed to happen??

Published: 13 July 2019 13:18
1k shares. 62 comments

Sudan's camel trade industry has remained steady part despite the nation's recent political upheaval that saw Omar al-Bashir ousted after three decades of ruling the country with an iron fist.

Traders from across African nation descend daily on the El Molih camel market, in the city of Omdurman, west of the capital Khartoum, to buy and sell herds of the desert animal.  

Some camels are sent to slaughter houses for meat, while superior breeds are exported to Gulf countries such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates to take part in multi-million pound races. 
Camel traders from across Sudan descend daily on the El Molih camel market, in the city of Omdurman, west of the capital Khartoum, to buy and sell herds of the desert animal. 

Transporting the animal is a difficult task for the traders who have to use a mobile crane to move them on to trucks.

Photographs for a recent market day shows camels being harnessed to a crane with its front and hind legs bound to restrict its movement.

The desert animals are then carefully lifted to the back of rigs bound for Egypt, Israel or Gulf nations. 
The camel's legs are bound together to restrict its movement while it is being lifted up by a crane that is moving it to the back of a truck
The desert animals are then carefully lifted to the back of rigs bound for Egypt, Israel or Gulf nations
The price of each camel depends on what purpose the animal is sold for. Some camels are sent to slaughter houses for meat 
A camel sold for meat can be sold between 60,000 to 90,000 Sudanese pounds (£1,058 to £1,587)

The price of each camel depends on what purpose the animal is sold for.
A camel sold for meat can be sold between 60,000 to 90,000 Sudanese pounds (£1,058 to £1,587).

But the camels destined for racing in the Gulf nations can be sold for as much as 1.5 million Sudanese pounds (£26,447) each. 
Superior camel breeds are exported to Gulf countries such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates to take part in multi-million pound races
Camels destined for racing in the Gulf nations can be sold for as much as 1.5 million Sudanese pounds (£26,447) each
In this image a herder tends to a camel with its legs bound, ready to be board to the back of a truck after being sold 
A camel is pictured sitting on its bound legs as another camel behind it growls at one of the herders as it is being lifted by the crane
Herders pictured here adjust the harness straps around a camel before it is lifted on to the back of a truck

Following al-Bashir's ousting in April, many camel traders have been oblivious to the country's biggest political upheaval in decades.

Ahmed Mohamed Ahmed, a camel seller, said: 'With or without Bashir, this country is just the same for us.' 
'All we are interested in is whether the price of livestock goes up or down,' he added.
In this image a herder (pictured in the centre) ducks for cover as a grumpy camel fights the crane lifting it up in the air, while another camel tries to buck its legs  
A herder watches on as another angry camel tries to fight the crane as it lifts it up in the air to be boarded on the back of a truck 
A camel tries to free itself despite its legs being bound

Ali Habiballah, 52, another camel trader, said: 'What protests? We have all that we need in the desert -- water, food and livestock, we don't have any demands.' 

His son added: 'We don't care about politics. I don't even go to Khartoum.'

Sudan was first rocked by a political crisis since December 19, when protests erupted against the tripling of bread prices by the then government of Bashir.
A camel trader sits on the hump of a sitting camel at El-Molih camel market
Seven camels are on show by this trader looking to sell the herd
[End of article]

THE MAJORITY OF THE FOLLOWING COMMENTS POSTED AT THE ABOVE U.K. ARTICLE ONLINE ARE FROM THE U.K.

- Feel really sorry for some of those camels, some very underweight and visible scars. It must be frustrating for them to have their legs tied up and made to stay in that position unable to escape their situation and no food or water. Then to be lifted up like that must be very frightening and stressful, poor animals.

- Horrible people. Animal abuse is sin.
- Poor creatures.

- That's cruel breaks my heart.

- Grumpy? The animals would be distressed and terrified. These people are impervious to the feelings of animals, they always have been.

- Most of those poor wretched creatures will be slaughter in the most inhumane way, camel meat is common in that part of the world.

- Dont get the hump. Thats pretty awfully considering thier horrible fate. Scummers.

- They will be slaughtered for food the ritual Halal way. ...they will suffer more fear & pain..

- This makes me so sad. We are the most horrible creatures on the planet.

- Indeed we are.

- Look at the way their legs are tied. You'd complain, too if someone all but hog tied you. Poor things.

- Trussed up like a dead turkey and then craned onto a lorry I'd be pi ssed off too!

- That's So Cruel. Those creatures are so beautiful. That picture broke my heart. It looked so painful too 

- The way we treat animals on this earth is appalling. Re: dog meat festival (story I could not read), bull fighting, rhinoceros poaching, etc.

- The way they treat human beings why would anyone expect anything different for camels?

- This awful practice and bad animal treatment in general often governs the camel trade. The animals are can be obstinate and mean spirited; theyre strong and have lots of endurance, so theyre hard to *govern.*. Theyre seen as commodities like our pickup trucks, so the cranes seem like the right thing to resort to. This is a country where male overseers use whips on women farm workers if theyre perceived to be picking too slowly. I think the camels got the better deal.

- Ever heard of a ramp? They could have walked onto the truck themselves.

- Deplorable.

- Grumpy? Might have something to do with having their legs tied. Or just being starved and tortured in general. I might be a tad grumpy myself.

- I have a feeling this animal will be extinct soon, this is cruel.
- This is barbaric! Horrific treatment, it makes me sick.
- Notice ALL THE SCARS on these animals...they have really been through it! Poor things!

- These people have ZERO respect for Animals, women and children...abusing all. It's so disgusting.

- These animals take 2 hours to die when ritually slaughtered.

- They have no feelings for animals ...if the animals can't work or be eaten they have no use for them.

- This is disgusting. Please dont use these camel rides. You are contributing to their cruelty.

- Poor poor creatures - I cannot believe the DM can make light of this with a bad pun for a headline? You should be ashamed of yourselves.

- Camels are awesome gifts from God that are a benefit to the people. 

- This is horrific and not a joking matter DM. Those poor camels. It's abuse. Change the headline. It's not funny.

- Disgusting! This is animal cruelty, plain and simple!

- Why is this allowed to happen??

- Animal cruelty alive and well all around the world. Disgusting.

- Poor camels! I'm not surprised that they look so unhappy, tied up then thrown about like rubbish. These are living creatures for god sake!! :(

- Heartbreaking. Animal cruelty makes my blood boil.

- Is this supposed to be a funny article?? Some of those animals look underfed and ab.used. The only animals in the pictures are the handlers. Too many outdated articles by the Mail in recent days. Did they pull this article from the 80s archive?

- Seen what happens to them and it's awful.

- This is horrible. PLEASE if anyone does go abroad for any reason, NEVER ride camels or elephants or any other tourist animal transport like donkeys, asses or mules etc.. These animals are rarely looked after, cruelly treated with beatings and often deprived of sufficient medical care, food and water. Just use your feet or hire something with wheels not legs. There is no excuse these days, in the age of the internet where such cruel practices can be easily be researched, to ride living transport in ignorance of the truth. Never go to other entertainments involving use of animals either (e.g, circuses, races or elephant polo etc.) or give money to anyone using an animal as a prop to beg either (e.g, snake charmers, harnessed monkeys etc.) The more you do your bit to stop fuelling this industry the more likely the locals will need to make their money differently.

- Absolutely disgusting those poor animals!

- Thats awful! Poor camel looks in great distress.

- The straps are evenly spreading the weight out. These camels are fine.

- I imagine that's rather painful & frightening to those poor camels. Get it together people!

- Send peta over there see how they do compared to protesting chicken plants If no one caught it those are going to food processing.

- Poor things.

- Mobile crane? Your lack of knowledge and good journalism astounds me. Free lesson: it's a loader with a fork attachment.

- The media celebrates this atrocious behavior.

- This is horrific. They aren't "grumpy", they are terrified!!!!
- Poor animals.

- They are not grumpy they are terrified, why report it this way? Just plain cruelty and abuse

- Feel really sorry for some of those camels, some very underweight and visible scars. It must be frustrating for them to have their legs tied up and made to stay in that position unable to escape their situation and no food or water. Then to be lifted up like that must be very frightening and stressful, poor animals.

- You'd never ever get away with treating farm animals like that here (although God knows they did long enough in UK and IRL)(live exports a total disgrace as well). Don't know why we tolerate it elsewhere in countries with whom we do biz.

- DO NOT be so nave, farm animals are treated appallingly her and everywhere else !!!

- This is awful!

- Dreadful cruelty. Poor camels!

- That's terrible poor things.

- Cruel practice.

- Camel doesn't look too happy.

- So much suffering !