The deadly Ebola virus is keeping Nigerians away from wild animals, and that’s good news for the baboons and hyenas who are kidnapped from the jungle, beaten into submission and forced to tour the country to entertain the locals.

Photo: Pieter Hugo

In 2007, Pieter Hugo, a South Africa photographer, traveled around Nigeria twice with a group of animal handlers and their performing hyenas and baboons. He said that locals, who are not socialized to consider the welfare of the animals, “flocked to watch monkeys dance in trousers or baboons mimic farmers” and that “the spectacle of the hyenas, monkeys and snakes being paraded through the streets” actually “caused traffic jams” with “everyone staring in wonder” and “showering them with money.”

Photo: Pieter Hug

But that was before Ebola. Today, people are paying heed to the government’s warning to avoid interacting with captive animals. And that is saving some animals from a life of deprivation and torment in the streets of Nigeria.

The number of monkeys and hyenas who are kidnapped from the wild and held captive for entertainment is low, but, like the elephants in circuses and killer whales at Sea World, to each of these animals, their captivity is life itself.

Photo: Pieter Hugo

The government is also advising people to abstain from bush meat. And, while Ebola has, in fact, curbed consumption, hunters expect to return to the forests soon — when the fear of hunger trumps concern about disease.

Bushmeat for sale in Nigerian market

The Bay Area Reporter, which is San Francisco’s LGBT weekly newspaper, published two of our letters in response to its story about the controversy surrounding gay rodeos. On September 11th, TheirTurn wrote a story about gay rodeos from an animal rights point of view.

If you feel strongly about certain issues, please submit letters to the editor when a media outlet reports on them. These letters provide us with an opportunity to convey the message points about animal abuse that are so often missing from the stories.

People who care about animals are especially sympathetic towards those who are abused and killed in the name of sport or entertainment. So, on the rare occasion when we see a tormented animal fighting back, it’s hard not to rejoice.

On September 13th, approximately 45,000 activists marched through the streets of Madrid and broke makeshift spears in half in a ceremony called “Rompe Una Lanza” (translated: break a sword). The activists were protesting an annual ritual called “Toro de la Vega” in which over 100 men chase down a bull and slowly spear him to death. The ritual takes place on Tuesday (9/16) in Tordesillas, a town 118 miles northwest of Madrid.

THE PROTEST

THE RITUAL

The Spanish activist group PACMA (Political Party against Mistreatment of Animals in Spain) says that, during the Toro de la Vega, “one hundred or more men harass the bull with their thrusting lances until the poor animal, who is bleeding profusely and riddled with holes, can go no further. As he collapses, someone cuts off his testicles. It is a slow form of torture, watched by a rowdy spectators, including parents who take their children.”

To learn more about “Toro de la Vega,” please visit SHARK, which translated the PACMA’s description of the barbaric ritual into English. And sign the petition.

Update as of Monday, 9/15: The elephants are, unfortunately, en route from Maine to the Carson & Barnes circus facility (Endangered Ark Foundation) in Oklahoma from which Hope Elephants leased them. The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, which is where they should be going, has stated that it is willing to collaborate with the circus to adopt and provide a real refuge for these abused circuses elephants. See below for how you can help.

On September 9th, TheirTurn reported that one of the two retired circus elephants at Hope Elephants in Maine trampled and killed the founder of the facility. According to its website, Hope intends to send Rosie and Opal back to their owners at The Endangered Ark Foundation in Oklahoma. Animal Rights Maine, on the other hand, is advocating to relocate them to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, arguing that the Ark Foundation is run by the family that manages “the cruel Carson & Barnes Circus known for violence toward elephants.”

Opal & Rosie (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Please ask the Board of Hope Elephants to work with the Carson & Barnes Circus to retire Rosie and Opal to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee (info@hopeelephants.org) instead of keeping them at their circus facility, the Ark, in Oklahoma. Hope leased these elephants from the circus and is legally obligated to return them. However, instead of hiding behind the terms of their contract with the circus, Hope should be pressuring Carson & Barnes to move Rosie and Opal to the sanctuary.

For more information, please visit Animal Rights Maine and/or contact Melissa Gates, the organization’s Founding Director: animalrightsmaine@yahoo.com