The winds of war - Animals Talk - effect of war on wildlife

War, as the saying goes, is not good for children and other living things. When it comes to wildlife, Wendy Williams's "Out on Maneuvers" (page 16) demonstrates that without special care, even training for war has serious negative impacts. With tensions building, the United States may well be at war with Iraq by the time this magazine reaches readers. Besides the servicemen and -women and the innocent civilians in harm's way are the often forgotten victims of war--animals.

Snow leopards prowled the Afghan mountains long before Osama bin Laden built his network of caves there. Only 3,500 of these highly endangered cats are left in the world, and no one knows for sure how many in Afghanistan survived more than two decades of bombing. The experts estimate less than 100. For thousands of migrating birds that depend on rest and feeding areas in Afghanistan, the timing of the heaviest American bombing in fall 2001 could not have been worse. The effects of drought and environmental devastation will challenge the country for years to come.

In Africa's Virunga Mountains, 15 mountain gorillas died in the past several years as a direct result of the fighting between warring factions. Despite these losses, this closely monitored population has increased its numbers since 1989. But their lowland cousins in the Democratic Repubic of Congo are taking heavy losses along with other endangered species, as soldiers hunt them for bushmeat to eat and to sell. Thousands of elephants have been slaughtered so that their meat and ivory could be used to finance the fighting.

The starving, terrified animals of the Kabul Zoo had literally been on the front lines: bullet marks riddled cage bars, a tank was posed next to the monkey house, and in the elephants house, a rocket tore a huge hole in the wall. Rescue teams sent by our international affiliate, the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), and aided by the MSPCA's contributions of veterinary supplies and funds helped alleviate the survivors' suffering.

In Kosovo, WPSA was able to assist pets injured and displaced by "ethnic cleansing" by establishing an emergency dog shelter and clinic. Sari, a dog shot while guarding his owner's farmhouse during the war, was one of WSPA's first patients. WSPA was also at work in Kuwait after Saddam Hussein deliberately dumped oil into the sea during the last Gulf conflict, killing more than 30,000 birds and destroying coral reefs and other marine animals. A new term slipped into the military lexicon: "ecocide." Such deeds, however, are not entirely original--just look back to the dumping of napalm on Vietnam's rainforests.

If humankind could learn to see animals as more than tolerable collateral damage, a commodity to be traded for arms, or experimental objects to test weapons on, then maybe we would come to respect all life and save ourselves.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group