Debby Ng forayed into journalism following failed attempts at
becoming a world-class equestrian. A wildlife crime investigator,
underwater photographer, dive master and founder of a marine
conservation organisation, she spends what remains of her time
writing about the environment, its wildlife, and its people.
Contact Debby
www.debbyng.net
www.pulauhantu.org
Taiwan’s annual ritual of releasing animals as a form of relieving
suffering might just be achieving the opposite.
Walk into a bird shop and it’s not difficult to feel sympathy for
the poor birds that would much rather be flying free. Those were
the same feelings I experienced as I stood outside the historic
Tong Siang Tng Buddhist temple along Singapore’s Devonshire Road. A
rusty and brittle cage full of scruffy and dehydrated Eurasian tree
sparrows lay along the sidewalk in the scorching sun, tormented by
hungry stray cats. “Fast food,” the felines must be thinking.
Catch and release: A hunters demonstrates a trapping procedure for
birds
A monk came to bless the birds with water. A
prosperous-looking gentleman apparently purchased the birds. He
believes he will earn some merits upon releasing these
pathetic-looking creatures back to Mother Nature.
After the monk finished his chanting, the man lifted the
door of the cage. But no birds flew out—they were probably too
tired. The man tried to get through the anti-climactic moment by
hitting the side of the cage, scaring the poor things out. A few
too weak to fly simply hopped out of the cage and stood there. The
stray cats made haste of the situation.
“Releasing Life” is a direct translation of the Chinese
term fang-sheng,
and specifically refers to the practice of saving beings that face
imminent death.
Although Buddha did not directly teach the practice, it is
a natural expression of the Buddhist tenets of benevolence and
protection for all forms of life
Indeed, the first of the ten negative actions to be
avoided by a Buddhist is to not intentionally take the life of any
being, human or otherwise. Furthermore, theSamannaphala
Sutra exalts
a monk as “one who has cast aside cudgel and sword and is repelled
by violence. He is moved by mercy and, living compassionately, is
kind to all creatures that have life.”
Professor Govindasamy Agoramoorthy is a biologist at the
Tajen University of Technology in Taiwan. He sheds light on
Taiwan’s ecological disposition.
“A century ago, naturalists Robert Swinhow and Alfred
Russel Wallace were impressed by the diversity of wildlife in
Taiwan, a small island 36,000 square kilometers in areas, with a
population of 23 million. Taiwan has grown from
agricultural-backwater status to global technological giant within
a few decades, with environmental disasters as a frequent
by-product.
“Sika deer, which were once common, became extinct in the
1960s as a result of intensive hunting. The Formosan flying fox and
clouded leopard were added to the extinction list in recent decades
because of hunting and habitat destruction. Despite the existence
of several protected areas, human pressure and development
intensify the strain on natural habitats. To make things worse,
large numbers of non-indigenous wildlife are released into nature
through an annual ritual known as ‘prayer animal release’ (or
PAR).”
PAR is also practised in Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia,
Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Korea. But no other country holds it on as
grand a scale as Taiwan. Animals are loaded and literally dumped by
the container load; it fuels a multi-million-dollar industry and
this single annual event is possibly the lifeblood of bird and
other animal traders in the country
In a 2004 campaign, Taiwanese animal welfare groups
condemned the religious practice of releasing wildlife, pointing
out that people in Taiwan spent nearly $6 million annually to set
free 200 million wild animals, ranging from insects to monkeys.
Taiwan’s two major religions, Taoism and Buddhism, stress
the importance of doing good deeds during one’s life, and they
dictate the return of wildlife to nature as one way to ensure good
karma and eternal life. Thus temples sponsor religious services
that feature the release of wildlife.
The market for this trade is huge, and all kinds of
animals—birds, fishes, snakes, frogs, turtles, insects, monkeys—are
being captured in the wild or smuggled into the island through
seaports to be purchased and eventually released into rivers,
mountains, forests, lakes, and reservoirs.
Prof. Agoramoorthy is concerned about the effects of this
religious practice. “Religious freeing of animals has already led
to invasions of non-native species. For example, we have recorded
75 species of exotic birds in the wild in Taiwan, which is
potentially disastrous to the island’s delicate ecosystem.
He feels the Taiwanese government must “act quickly to
educate the public about the lethal consequences of wildlife
release and come up with a policy to counter the unregulated
release of wildlife.”
margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px;
