Turtle Farm not the sole focus of animal charity
(CNS Business): World Animal Protection (WAP), the international animal charity that has been critical of the Cayman Turtle Farm, doesn’t just focus on issues surrounding the CTF but deals with a range of different animal welfare issues around the world, ranging from the inhumane culling of dogs, the terrible conditions of farm animals in the UK and elsewhere, assisting with disaster management, as well as wildlife issues, such as wildlife farming here in Cayman.
Neil D’Cruze, Head of Wildlife Policy Research for WAP, told CNS Business on a recent trip to Grand Cayman that wildlife farming is an increasing problem from an animal welfare perspective. For over a decade WAP has been working towards ending the problem of bear farming in South Korea, in Vietnam and in China, where  bears are kept in cages and their gallbladders are drained on a regular basis to produce traditional Asian medicine.
“It is certainly one of the cruellest things that I have personally come across in my time working for animal welfare,†he said.
More recently, D’Cruze has been working on the problem of civet coffee, a new phenomenon which is becoming a problem in some countries in south-east Asia. He said civets are taken from the wild and kept in terrible conditions in order to produce a luxury gourmet coffee product.
He stressed that with each problem they don’t just focus on the animal welfare. WAP understands that there are wider concerns, such as economic issues, people’s livelihoods, the conservation aspect, wider environmental problems, and the political side of things.
However, D’Cruze said that 99% of the time, when you improve animal welfare it also improves the lives of the people.
Visit the World Animal Protection website
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