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- Denis Giles
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Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
In the last two weeks, my team at People for Animals has been examining all the religious sites on the Net to see what kind of nonsense is being put on in the name of Hinduism. Ever since I learnt about the Hathajodi “magic Talisman”, which is just the penis of the giant monitor lizard, being sold by sites that claim it brings health, wealth and attraction, we have been looking for more rubbish being sold.
Siyar Singhi is supposedly the horn of a jackal. For one thing, the jackal is protected from killing by the Wildlife Protection Act 1972. For another, the jackal does not have a horn. The sites selling this agree that it “normally” does not have a horn. But when it “hoots” (they probably mean howls) with its head facing downwards (a technical impossibility) then suddenly a horn emerges from its forehead. If the jackal is killed and the horn is taken with a tuft of hair on it, the hair will keep growing forever and in different colours as long as it is kept in vermillion powder.
It supposedly keeps away evil spirits – if you do regular havans round it for which, of course, you have to get havan priests and spend a lot more. Otherwise it doesn’t work (of course, then it is your fault).
This nonsense about the Siyar Singhi doesn’t just extend to Hindus. It seems to be all pervasive in Muslims and Buddhists as well. In Srilanka some illiterates use it (its called narric – combo) as an amulet to win in gambling. The Tharu tribes of Nepal and India believe it will grant the men the ability to see in the dark and seduce women. In Bengal it is placed in safes (as is the hathjodi) to increase wealth. However, since this can only be done if a puja is done before the safe, the gang that passes off as priests usually take the opportunity to rob it later. Some sites have gone even further and said that the Bible has written that the jackal is the mother of the Devil and so keeping the horn of the mother will ensure that the devil stays away.
The Golden Jackal had 13 subspecies. It is now down to 7. It is a small dog-like animal that eats fruit, insects, small reptiles, birds and small rodents. The family lives together in small groups of parents and children. They are portrayed in the Jatakas and Panchatantra as intelligent creatures and to hear a jackal howl was a sign of good luck. The Jackal is associated with the goddesses Kali, Chamunda. The jackal is eaten by Koli and Vaghir tribes of Gujarat and Rajasthan and by the Narikaruravas in Tamil Nadu who eat anything from rats and squirrels and stolen pet dogs and cats from Chennai’s houses.
But the real reason for the decline is this mumbo jumbo rubbish of people wanting an imaginary bone in its head to bring them luck. According to these sites, which are now on the radar of the police and will be shut down and the owners arrested, this bone of a scavenger considered unclean by most of the shastras will now bring wealth, win law cases, help you get on with your married partner, restore health, acquire property, remove depression. If “activated” (this means a set of expensive poojas running into lakhs) it will cure autism, mental diseases, Panic Disorders, Attention-deficit or hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Eating disorders, Schizophrenia, Substance abuse etc.
You, of course, have to recite mantras that vary from site to site – and religion to religion - Mumkaraya Kuru Namah, Om Padma Shrim, Om Hariram Purva Dakshin Uttar Paschim, Adhik taral padarth sabhi janya agyakari kuru kuru nama, gidar singhi amuk mother vashayan kuru kuru sawah. None of them make any sense in Sanskrit but, depending on the site, you have to say these, ranging from 21-108 times. And even then it won’t work unless a crystal mala is bought from the same site and “charged” regularly – which costs even more money.
The Muslims are told that Allah has put a special power inside it. And buying just one is not good enough. You have to get a male and female. According to them the horn is collected only on the waning moon on a particular nakshatra which is only known to the “masters”. You must put the siyar singhi in your hand and say "I own you... my name is so and so... you have to obey me” and then put this in a silver box along with 3 cloves and 2 cardamoms. You can use this item to cause extreme pain and even death to your enemies.
In order to make it even more expensive, the sites have gone into incredible detail: The jackal is not any jackal, but a rare species called Motiya. And not any motiya either. It has to be the leader of the pack. And how will you know that he is the leader and carries the horn. Because “he dies after he hears a regular outburst of strange voices”. He cannot be old, as the singhi disappears from his head, so he has to be a young leader of a pack – which is even rarer. How does one make out the horn is real – put the singhi in mercury (the kind you get in old thermometers). The horn will eat it up!
If that wasn’t bad enough, one type of Siyar Singh, called Linga Siyar Singhi which comes from the jackal penis, is now being pushed as a sacred object. I suppose it is easier to verify than an imaginary horn.
Every site claims that every other site and shop selling this Siyar Singhi are selling fakes taken from dogs and pigs and stuck onto bones with glue. In the 21st century if you believe that a bone and a hank of hair can get you what you can’t get through work, prayer, education and ambition, then go ahead and make these fake site owners rich!
To join the animal welfare movement contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., www.peopleforanimalsindia.org
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- Denis Giles
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By Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
Scindia Girl’s School in Gwalior abutted a thick forest area. I studied there for two years. The only term in my entire school life that I got a low grade was when I discovered a tiny mandir in the forest and someone told me that, instead of doing my homework, if I prayed and went round the mandir 101 times, I would come first in class for the rest of my life. So I spent two hours there every evening. Instead of my normal 80%. I managed a low 50% and got a shouting from my parents who were appalled by my insanity.
Every day brings us a new revelation into the absurdity and unwitting cruelty of humans. A girl interning with People for Animals brought me the information that a rare herb called Hatha Jodi, supposedly from the deep jungles of Madhya Pradesh, was being sold openly on the Net by Flipkart , OLX and various so called “ religious” and “tantric puja” sites and blogs.
Her research on it turned up the fact that this is NOT a plant at all. It is the penis of the monitor lizard. Flipkart was contacted and they apologized and removed the penises "Hatha Jodi" from their website – and warned the sellers.
Flipkart may have done it out of ignorance but sites like Tantraveda, Speaking Tree, Astrovidhi kamiyasindoor, and a host of others that use the Net to find “murgas” (gullible buyers), know exactly what they are selling. They show a picture of the Hatha Jodi, then they ascribe all sorts of miraculous powers to it, give you the number to call (no addresses since they are selling all sorts of other illegal wildlife parts as well), tell you that anything can be, and has been, delivered to 40 countries and at the end finish with a rider that they do not “sell” Hathajodi, they simply tell you about it.
No, it is NOT a plant. No site can tell you the name of the rare plant that supposedly grows in the jungle and is sold by tribals. Some sites say it is a flower, others that it is a root. One site says it is a strange protrusion that grows from the side of a tree. Another says that it is the Martynia annua, a purple flower whose seeds are mango shaped and have a hook which catches the legs of animals as they pass by and transports itself to a place where it flowers again. In Bengali it is called Baghnakhi and in English Devil’s Claw. In Hindi it is Ulat Kanta or upside down thorn. One site shows you a Nepali plant called Birvah with blue and white flowers whose branches which look like arms have to be cut. Another shows a pink flower which is a native of Mexico.
The Hatha Jodi is a Bone. It is the penis of the Giant Monitor Lizard, which is a severely endangered, protected species, and each site selling it knows that so, after talking all this nonsense about it, they will write at the end of the site that it is not for sale. Then they give their phone numbers and obviously the transactions are taking place off the Net.
The dried penis looks like two long serrated arms ending in clawed hands which is why it is called Hatha Jodi.
What does the penis supposedly do? If you scrape a little bit of the penis and eat it everyday, or put it in your safe, you will win all your cases, defeat your enemies, become very rich, get rid of ghosts, overcome all obstacles, gain the ability to hypnotize, journey safely, triumph in discussions, interviews, and battles, become very attractive, win all your bets and gain status, find favour with officials.
Needless to say, the frauds selling it also say that it will only work if you spend an even larger sum on doing a tantric puja and the pujari will be nominated by them and you need to buy all sorts of other nonsense from them to “increase” its power. If it doesn’t work it is because you have done something wrong.
Some sites say you have to keep it oiled (obviously since the bone will dry up and disintegrate), wrapped in a red cloth, dipped in sindoor. Others say that you have to wrap it in elaichi or tulsi leaves, others that you have to put it in a silver box. Some sites say you have to eat it and then come back to them for more when it finishes. One site says that you should sit in your room and hold the penis while simply chanting ‘Om kili kili swaha’ or ‘Om Aim Hreem Kleem’ till something happens. I cannot see how you will become rich doing that, but perhaps the lunatic asylum will take you in at subsidized rates. Other sites have equally strange incantations. But you can say ‘abracadabra’ as well. You need to wash it with Ganges water and either put on a puja table, or in a safe, or a wallet (in this world, the wallet is the puja place!) Others state that it must be left for 40 / 41 days in the same place with a statue of Sri Hanuman and given sandal, flowers and rice every day. Some say that it should be put inside a small box with some camphor, cloves, rice and silver coins. One site says you have to buy it round Diwali and use it for gambling (how much would a lizard penis be worth on the card table?). Another that on Holi night you have to go to a well and cover it with mud.
Basically you can do with it as you like, and say what you like as long as you pay to buy it. All the sites insist you cannot use a second-hand penis (sorry, plant). It must be bought fresh.
The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau has taken the matter very seriously as there are only several hundred monitor lizards left in India. They have put a special team onto the Net to look at each site and blog and to track down any shops that are selling this. Four kinds of monitor lizards are found in India and all of them are Schedule I species under India’s Wildlife Protection Act 1972, which makes it an offence to conduct trade in the lizards or any of its body parts. The penises are sourced from Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Karnataka, and reach markets through online retailers and dealers who supply them to local shops.
So far raids, conducted by the WCCB and Wildlife Trust of India, have led to the recovery of 210 Hatha Jodis. Raids have also taken place in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan. So far sixty people have been arrested and are in jail for terms that will go upto 7 years. Some Kuldeep of Indore is selling it through his blog. Now if it was a plant, he would be less cagey. His site has no address or phone number. You have to leave your number with him and he will get back to you. Seven people who have left their numbers with him on the Facebook blog are also in danger of being arrested.
Unfortunately, as the world grows more difficult to negotiate, people tend to fall back on magic remedies like this. The penis of this poor animal didn’t help it save its own life – much less make it rich. It was hunted down, held in savage restraints, turned over and a sharp knife was used to saw off its private parts. Bleeding, mortally wounded, in dreadful pain, it will live for a few days in shock till it dies. The tribals, who supposedly kill and sell it, have not become rich either. In fact, they are poorer than poor.
The monitor lizard is being hunted to extinction in the forests of Madhya Pradesh because of its penis. There is no mention of hathajodi in tantras, shastras or puranas. No penis can make you rich or problem-free. Don’t kill a useful animal species because you are too lazy to work. If you know of any sites that are selling this, let me know and I will have them arrested.
To join the animal welfare movement contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., www.peopleforanimalsindia.org
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- Denis Giles
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By Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
A superstition is any belief or practice that is irrational, arising from ignorance, a misunderstanding of science or causality, a way of behaving that is based on fear of the unknown and faith in magic or luck.
It is not based on reason, knowledge, and the superstitious person has no care for the impact of his monstrous belief on others.
Superstitions are also convenient and within social boundaries (not the law). Not one says that if you kick your mother while leaving the house, you will have a financial windfall. Or if you sleep in your father’s bed, with him underneath the bed, you will enjoy good health, or if you starve your wife and cut off her nose, you will get a promotion. But when it comes to animals, the imagination runs riot. Many superstitions take the lives of animals.
One of the earliest ones I had to deal with many years ago was the beating and killing of foxes in Karnataka in the belief that the harvest would be good. We stopped this – and now people have forgotten that thousands of these poor animals were caught in traps, whipped and burnt by lynch mobs. The harvests continue as before.
All ritual animal sacrifice is based on superstition: the pigeon slaughter at Kamakhya, the goats killed daily in the Devi mandir in Kolkata (we have a court order that says they cannot be killed openly, so now it is done behind doors) believed to cure one of negative emotions such as fear, anger, and jealousy. In which case Kolkata should have been one of the calmest places on earth instead of the most volatile; the buffaloes killed by the Gurkhas during Dashera, the lambs thrown from mountains in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. None of this makes any sense and nor do they bring luck. The most dreadful large scale sacrifice is in Kalahandi once a year – and it remains the poorest place in India inspite of amazing natural resources including precious stones.
Superstitions kill owls: poachers catch them, cut off their feet and sell these as good luck charms. I once had a man arrested who had bought an owl from a poacher and was taking him to be killed to pour the blood onto his 4 month baby who had a hole in its heart. If owl parts bring health and good luck today, it was just a few decades ago when they were killed for bringing bad luck: there were beliefs that an owl hooting meant the death of a newborn or the presence of witches. Coming across an owl meant an accident or major misfortune that day. The hunting and ritual killing of these beautiful birds has led to their extreme rarity now.
Every time you mention China and what they do to animals, my hair stands on end. The Naoyu festival held on June 2 is a festival for peace on earth and a good harvest which, as superstition dictates, starts with the catching and killing of fish and culminates with tying a noose round a bull’s neck and hanging it till the struggling animal dies.
But do we do any better in India and Nepal? Every five years, people used to send lakhs of animals from India to the temple of Gadhimai in Bariyapur, Nepal to be slaughtered in 2 days. A team of dedicated Indian activists, a compassionate Nepali Member of Parliament and both Supreme Courts finally stepped in to stop this terrible sacrifice in 2015.
Every few minutes an animal is killed in India to appease a god: to get a male child, to get more money, to bring back a soldier alive, to get a good crop. It doesn’t matter which animal it is and what the wish is – a being has to be killed. For the most part we seem to be a society that lacks logic, sensitivity and the ability to see reason in the practices that have been handed down to us. If I told you to read by candlelight you would laugh because electricity is now the order of the day, but should I tell you that jumping on a bull and tearing its horns off will not bring a good harvest, you would think I was atheistic.
Do snakes drink milk? No. But the superstition that guides you to pour milk down the throats of poached rat snakes make sure that thousands die every year during Naga Panchami in July.
Are black cats unlucky or has this come from a British superstition? So why are you killing them? Pregnant women must give up their cats - while toxoplasmosis is a risk for foetuses, a woman is more likely to catch it from handling raw meat or digging in the garden, than from her cats.
Lizards come to rid your house of insects, but since you believe that should one fall in the milk - something that has never ever happened - it would be unlucky, so you kill them.
Amulets made of the parts of animals promise wealth, protection from evil spirits, even sexual abilities. While it is illegal to sell or buy them, these exotic charms made of the parts of the tigers (I know one member of Parliament who wears a tiger tooth), leopard, crocodile, python, the penis of monitor lizards ,deer bones, snake fangs, camel's teeth can be bought with ease. Facebook openly displays hundreds of protected animal’s parts for sale and the sellers even give their names and addresses. In Thailand amulets, which the sellers claim have been blessed by monks, feature scriptures wrapped in tiger or snake skin.
Common talismans are tiger claws, teeth and skin, elephant molars, tusks and tail hairs and bear hair. Before the government banned “dancing” bears in India, these poor animals were taken across the border and killed for their gall bladders. Their hair was plucked out and made into good luck bracelets for tourists. If you paid the dancing bear owner in Agra, you could see him actually pull out a fistful of hair, from the writhing animal, in front of you – so that you knew it was the genuine article. People hang rabbits’ paws on their car mirrors as the ultimate protector against accidents and bad luck.
What brings you luck? Is it dead animals – beings so unlucky that they were born on this planet and could not even protect themselves? Or is it kindness, compassion and love for this earth that will bring you happiness? Letting people murder in the name of superstition is almost as bad as doing it yourself. Stop animal sacrifices wherever you think they take place. If you find anyone selling animal charms on the net, let me know and we will take action.
PS: Someone I know bought a Vodaphone puppy two months ago. He keeps it in a cage during the day and lets it out to wander disconsolately alone at night. When I objected, the man, normally mild and amenable, became stupidly adamant at the thought of giving up a dog, which clearly neither he nor his family wanted. My secretary asked his local priest: it turned out that the man had had a series of scooter accidents recently and he was told that keeping a dog at home would stop them. The fact that he drinks during the day, of course, has no bearing on what happens to him on the road.
To join the animal welfare movement contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., www.peopleforanimalsindia.org
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- Denis Giles
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By Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
For years, dog breeders have been working outside the law. They breed foreign dogs in filthy conditions, mate brother to sister, father to daughter, bring hundreds of sickly diseased puppies with uncertain tempers into the world, sell them to people who buy status rather than the dog and make everyone’s life miserable for years. 95% of the thousands of dog bites in India, according to government statistics, are from owned pedigreed dogs. Many are abandoned when they prove to be too temperamental, or too hard to look after, and they die in agonising circumstances- starving, being run over or bitten to death by street dogs. Many of them are sold with distemper or parvo virus, but since the entire trade is in black, the buyer cannot return the dog or demand a refund.
Dog breeding is a business that runs into crores of rupees. Not one paisa comes to the government as it was unregulated until now. The Kennel Club exists to promote breeders and they break every rule themselves. The Government of India, five years ago, banned people from buying and bringing dogs into the country. Even now, the odd customs officer will take a bribe - specially from people coming in from Russia and Uzbekistan - and allow the dog in the duty-free bag through. The dogs coming in through this route are mainly bully dogs who are taken to Punjab where they are made to fight in private farmhouses in front of drunken rich louts who bet on them. They win, they live. They lose, they are shot.
On 23rd May 2017 the Government of India finally brought in a notification regulating the breeding and sale of dogs. Here are the main elements of the Dog Breeding and Marketing Rules 2017.
A breeder is anyone who owns dogs of specific breeds for the purpose of breeding and sale. Carriers/transporters, people who own boarding houses and people who sell dogs as a business having obtained them from breeders, are also under this Act. So are people who advertise dogs for sale: newspapers, online channels like OLX - they can't do it any more unless the dog breeder is registered with the Government of India.
No breeder shall carry on any breeding activity or own or house dogs for breeding and sale unless the breeder has obtained a certificate of registration from the State Board . Every breeder shall prominently display the certificate of registration in the establishment.
Every breeder shall keep his establishment open for inspection by a person authorised by the State Board.
The State Board will only issue a registration after inspection of the available space, facilities and manpower in the establishment. They will also fix the maximum holding capacity for each dog breeding establishment.
A certificate of registration shall be valid for a period of two years. Inspections will be done yearly. If there is any complaint, the State Board may have the breeder’s establishment inspected at any time to see whether the rules are being complied with. If the State Board finds these rules are contravened it will revoke the breeder’s registration.
Pups less than eight weeks in age cannot be sold. Dogs over six months in age cannot be sold without being sterilized, unless they are being sold to another licensed breeder. Only healthy dogs, who have been vaccinated, can be sold. Each pup sold is to be micro-chipped and a complete record of treatment and vaccination maintained. A receipt for sale is to be provided to each purchaser and a copy kept with the micro-chip number of the pup sold and name, address and phone number of the purchaser. The breeder shall give the buyer details of feeding, dates of inoculations and de-worming of the pup and the name and address of the vet attending to it.
No breeder shall sell a dog to a pet shop operating without a licence. No pups are to be displayed in public places for the purpose of immediate sale.
Every breeder shall maintain records of all animals housed in the establishment, including dogs for breeding and dogs for sale. Details include breed, name and number, micro-chip number, sex, colour and markings, date of birth, names and microchip numbers of father and mother, name of breeder from whom acquired, date of acquisition, date and place of mating, number of pups whelped, by sex colour and markings, date of sale, death or rehabilitation of each pup, name and address of purchaser, cause of death as determined by a vet and post mortem report of each dog that dies in the establishment. Every breeder shall have documented sales, lease arrangements, spaying or neutering contracts, health and medical records, vaccination record, of each dog. A report will be given to the State Board of the total number of animals sold, traded, bartered, brokered, given away, boarded or exhibited during the year.
Suitable housing in terms of construction, size, number of dogs, exercising facilities, proper temperature, lighting, ventilation and cleanliness, will be provided.
The dogs shall be supplied with wholesome food at suitable
intervals of not more than eight hours, safe and adequate fresh drinking water, a fenced area for adequate exercise or provision for exercising the dog.
Only normal, healthy, mature female dogs, that have reached their eighteenth month, shall be bred after being certified as healthy by a vet.
No female dog shall be exploited to produce litters in two consecutive breeding seasons. Only one litter shall be produced in one year and artificial or unnatural techniques, such as artificial insemination and rape stands, shall not be used to impregnate dogs. No female dog shall be exploited to give birth to more than five litters of pups during her lifespan. No male dog shall be used for breeding till he has reached his eighteenth month and shall be certified as healthy by a vet. Breeders can only mate dogs which are not at all related to one another. Female dogs shall not be mated after the age of eight years.
There shall be no tail docking, ear cropping de-barking, de-clawing, branding, dyeing, injecting substances to enhance visual appeal. Any change of appearance by artificial means is strictly forbidden. Breeding to create new breeds of dogs, or unusual looks, is strictly prohibited.
Every breeder shall have the services of a consultant veterinary practitioner and records of his visits shall be maintained. Individual health records shall be maintained of all animals. Animals which are suffering from contagious, communicable or infectious disease, or exposure to any disease, will have to be quarantined till they have recovered, or humanely euthanized and properly disposed off. A quarantine issued by the vet shall remain in effect and be provided by the vet to the State Board.
The dogs shall have been tested for genetic defects, including hip dysplasia, progressive retinal atrophy, night blindness, hypothyroidism, entropion, ectropion, overshot/undershot jaw, wry mouth, unilateral or full cryptorchid males.
Dogs shall not be euthanized just because they can no longer breed, or be sold and therefore not commercially viable, and all euthanasia of mortally wounded or injured animals, or incurably sick animals, shall be done by a vet in a manner approved by the Veterinary Council of India.
Details have been given of how the animals are to be housed, both indoor and outdoor facilities, cages, kennel sizes, floorings, storage of food and bedding, cleaning procedures, disposal of waste, provision of electricity and water, ventilation, exercise facilities for at least thirty minutes twice per day. Socialising with people for 3-5 hours per day is mandatory.
If you know any breeders, inform them of the laws, or inform me if anyone is not following them.
To join the animal welfare movement contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., www.peopleforanimalsindia.org
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- Denis Giles
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Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
I hate seeing fish in small cramped tanks in offices and homes. Their large eyes stare at me, begging me to release them into their original homes. They cannot swim, play or mate. They are simply beggars, swimming in pitiful endless circles, waiting for their next boring meal of commercial fish food. Locked in these small prisons with other species of fish chosen for their colours rather than their homogeneity, they simply wait to die. They don’t recognise owners, are no fun to interact with and do not speak. They simply adorn a cage on the wall in the same way that inanimate objects would. And when they die, which is very prematurely, they are simply replaced by the seller who looks forward to their deaths as an opportunity to make more money. They lead lives of great suffering and they bring very bad luck to the buyer as their silent sighs fill the air.
These fragile tropical fish, which were born to swim in schools in the rivers and oceans, are in agony when they are forced to spend their lives in glass tanks. Robbed of their natural habitats and denied the ability to swim freely in nature with no boundaries, they must swim around endlessly in the same few cubic inches of water.
Selling tropical fish has been an unregulated industry that earns crores for poachers and pet shops but has virtually denuded our coastal areas of their fish. Poachers get into wildlife sanctuaries where the streams and rivers are still unpolluted and full of rare fish. They pour cyanide into the water after spreading a net. Cyanide does not kill the fish. It knocks them unconscious or sends them into spasms. They are gathered up and put into glass holders. Another way is to throw low grade homemade bombs into the water. The fish come floating up. Some are dead. Those that live are taken. Corals, that are their homes and which have taken a million years to grow, are killed instantly. The fish that survive are sent to towns and sold to people who have no idea what their species are, where they came from, what they eat and how to look after them. They simply want live coloured beings in their houses to show off to visitors. In the meantime, the cyanide and bombs in the water have killed off thousands of other living beings that inhabit the waters. Cyanide also kills the coral reefs and marine biologists rank it as one of the biggest dangers in Asian waters.
Pet shop owners have no idea of their fish as well. They sell a standard fish food which is made of the ground up bodies of dead fish. For every fish they sell, they lose more than a hundred as the temperature of the tanks is unregulated, the fish in one tank are far too many, some are diseased and spread the disease. They buy these fish from poachers and middlemen at ridiculously low prices and sell them at a markup of 500%, so even if they lose thousands it doesn’t matter. In any case, since the trade is unregulated they pay no taxes except for the bribes they pay the municipal employees and police - and everybody in the market pays those.
The popularity of keeping tropical fish has created catchers and breeders, who couldn’t care less about the animals themselves and are little better than hunters and butchers. 95% of the saltwater fish come from the wild.
While corals are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), most of the fish who end up in aquariums were not. More than 20 million fish, 12 million corals, and 10 million other types of marine life—such as anemones and molluscs—are captured every year to support a $300 million worldwide “hobby.”
As a result, most fish, especially in India, are endangered species because of the aquarium industry. Removing animals from the wild can have serious consequences-both for their survival as a species and for their habitat. For instance, many fish feed on algae, an organism that could overgrow the coral if the fish didn't keep it clear. Removing them from a reef could leave corals in jeopardy of being smothered.
Approximately 90 percent of freshwater fish are raised on farms. Goldfish are bred in giant tubs in slum facilities that produce more than a million fish per year. These animals are sold to pet shops and doomed to live in plastic bags or bowls, neither of which provides the space or oxygen that goldfish need.
Some fish farms forcibly mate different species, creating fish breeds that would never occur in nature and subjecting the new breed to a lifetime of physical ailments.
Some breeders inject fluorescent dyes into the animals’ bodies to make them more attractive to buyers. Common victims of this horrifying practice are semi-transparent fish like Glassfish or light coloured fish such as white Mollies, White Skirt Tetras, albino Corydoras and Parrotfish Cichlids.
Some sell “balloon” shaped fish: Mollies, Guppies and Cichlids. These are deformed to curve the spine and compact the internal organs, resulting in fish that suffer their entire lives.
Since fish are often sold as babies, many people aren’t aware of the size they will reach as adults. Goldfish are the most common victims of this misconception. Unfortunately, once these fish get too large for the average aquarium or fish bowls they will suffer and die.
There is no safe way to return captive fish to their natural environments—which are often located in a completely different region—because of the difficulty in locating a habitat and the possibility of introducing disease to the other fish there.
Fish can recognize individuals, use tools, and maintain complex social relationships. Biologists wrote in Fish and Fisheries that fish are “steeped in social intelligence, pursuing Machiavellian strategies of manipulation, punishment and reconciliation, exhibiting stable cultural traditions, and co-operating to inspect predators and catch food.” Fish communicate with one another through a range of low-frequency sounds—from buzzes and clicks to yelps and sobs. These sounds communicate emotional states such as alarm or delight and help with courtship. They are not toys or “collectibles”.
There are now more tropical fish in aquaria across India than there are pet dogs and cats- over 30 million. Less than 1% of owners have any interest in them at all. This is not pet keeping – this is interior decoration. We export millions of fish without customs officers even asking which fish are being sent abroad. The internet has made it possible to trade in rare endangered species. Estimates from the Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association put the number of indoor pet fish in Britain alone at around 65 million, of which 50 million have been sourced from Asia. The main market is the US which imports millions. Most live for under 2 years, less than a tenth of their natural lives.
The aquarium trade is a global industry with no centralized database to track what gets bought and sold, and with no central governing body to enforce regulations.
For the first time since India became independent, the government has framed rules for fish shops and fish keepers. These were made into law by Shri Anil Madhav Dave the late Environment Minister on May 23, 2017 and are called Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Aquarium and Fish Tank Animals Shop) Rules 2017. An aquarium is an establishment where fish tank animals are displayed. Fish shop means a shop where fish tank animals are kept for the purposes of business/trade.
All shops selling fish for hobbyists will have to be registered with the State Animal Welfare Board and will have to provide a masterplan of how the fish will be kept, where they will be purchased from and what species will be sold. No other species will be allowed. Each fish shop will be regularly inspected to see that the animals being sold are healthy and unstressed. Each shop will have a vet specialized in fish care, an isolation tank for diseased or injured fish. Each shop will keep records of acquisitions, sale and deaths. No fish shop can deal in any of banned species listed in the law. Nor can any fish shop artificially colour or mutilate the fish. Non-compliance will result in the licence being taken away.
The rules have given the dimensions of the tank, the quality of water, how it is to be cleaned, the lighting, temperature control, which plants can be part of the tank, disposal systems. Forms have been made for the registration and lists have been made of fish that are banned for sale.
For the first time, we have the ability to regulate a trade that has been destroying our waters. Don’t buy fish, but if you see a shop selling fish and it is not registered, inform the police, the local municipal authorities and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau. Go to www.awbi.com and download the rules so that you can take your local shop to task.
To join the animal welfare movement contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., www.peopleforanimalsindia.org