The Ones Who Can’t Go Free

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The supreme moment, on which every hour of our work is focussed, is that time when we can take an animal far into the wild, open a carrier door, and watch it go free . . . . away to its life in the wild. We take the empty carrier back to the Sanctuary - but it is empty and out there in the wild is one more creature, alive and well, and able to live the life which is its right to have.

But some of our animals can never know that freedom.

In a spacious, three-acre enclosure, full of long grass, sunshine, and rocks and trees, lives Subira, an African lion. In a large, roofed over enclosure, again with long grasses, trees, and three high platforms to which she can climb and secretly watch the world, lives Banshee, a Eurasian Lynx. Both were deliberately bred in Canada. Deliberately bred, with the breeder knowing full well that these animals could never never know freedom. But they could bring him money. An extensive market for exotic pets does exist.

An “exotic” is an animal, which is not native to Canada - lions and tigers, lynx, monkeys - many smaller creatures. Owning them appeals to those people who like to be either different to everyone else, certainly more powerful (I own a lion!), but with no obvious awareness of all the danger to the public, and suffering to the animal, which is involved.

We are aware of the problem because we are often asked to take such creatures - but we can’t. We can barely afford to feed Subira and Banshee. It was when we were pressed for resources to release all the bear cubs (49) which had come to us over the winter, that we became aware of the work and concerns of the International Federation for Animal Welfare. Aware that no government aid exists for our work, they stepped in and financed the entire release - helping us find the good relocation areas, and transporting and releasing the cubs. For that we - and the cubs, if they could understand - are deeply grateful.

What else does IFAW do? It works around the world - has successfully relieved some of the suffering of animals in the wartorn areas of Asia and Africa and the Far East - is working for the horribly exploited bears in China. And, in Canada, is working to stop the exploitation of Exotic Animals. Working, with other organizations, to get Bill C-22 through parliament. Several times the Bill has been almost through - and the recession of parliament for the summer, or an election, has ended the progress.

And people have continued to breed lions and tigers and lynx and monkeys, to sell into lives of squalor and captivity, so some humans can make money.

Subira was bought at an auction sale, by a seventeen-year-old girl, for fifty dollars. Banshee was given a temporary home by a young couple who rescued her from a TV company who
had made a documentary and were finished with her so they were going to destroy her. She had been bred in Toronto. All perfectly legal. Sanctioned by we, the public.

But parliamentarians had a good holiday. Bill C-22 did not make it through.

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