Friday 1 November 2013

Iraq's Rare Animals Threatened by Violence


The lack of environmental awareness in Iraq and the absence of institutions that are concerned with the protection of animals, in addition to the weakness of the law, have led to the death of hundreds of living beings, especially rare ones. The use of weapons and modern hunting techniques is common, and the aggressors treat the environment violently.

Early this year, while Zamel al-Issa, a farmer, was wandering through his field on the Hillah River in the center of Babel province, he spotted a big turtle crawling between the shrubs.

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Issa said, as if he were telling a heroic story, “My eyes had never seen such a huge turtle. It crept slowly towards me, but I did not wait long before stabbing it with a metal spear in the back, which I then cracked with the shovel that I use to plough the garden.”

Issa’s behavior was only a spontaneous reaction, since he had never been taught to protect the environment and its rare species in a society where environmental education is rare and institutions that spread this education are almost nonexistent.

Confidently, Issa declared, “Strange animals have no place among us. This is what we have grown accustomed to. We should kill them immediately before we become their victims. They are harmful or possessed.”



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