AR-News: Guam: Guamanians protest Navy's slaughter of carabao

[cathy goeggel]

Thursday, August 14, 2003

100 turn out to protest carabao culling
By Katie Worth
Pacific Daily News; kworth at guampdn.com


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More than 100 people and three carabao staged a peaceful protest outside a
Navy base in Santa Rita yesterday afternoon in opposition to the military's
decision to begin shooting the lumbering beasts of burden that graze on the
Navy's property.
The Navy began culling the herds of water buffalo with sharpshooters in May,
and as of last weekend they had killed 63, according to Department of
Agriculture officials.

Navy spokeswoman Lt. Thurraya Kent has said that the gargantuan wild
carabao, which by conservative estimates numbered close to 300 before the
culling began, roam around the Naval Ordnance Magazine, presenting both
health an environmental risks, and impairing the ability of Navy personnel
on the magazine to adequately perform their mission.

The Navy has long been attempting to reduce the carabao population, but Kent
said attempts at adopting the carabao out to the community and using birth
control techniques have not been successful on their own, so the Navy
decided to add culling to the techniques used to reduce the population.

But protesters disagreed with the method. Protesters yesterday chanted "Save
the culture, save the carabao!" and carried signs reading "Stop the
Slaughter," and "Respect Guam Law!"

Sinajana resident Fanai Castro, 22, held a sign reading "Any way you shoot
it ... Genocide!" featuring a painting of a gun at point-blank range at the
head of a carabao.

"I'm here because this is about more than the carabao," she said. "It's
about our culture, and it's about the military's constant disregard of our
culture."

"There's always an alternative solution to killing," she said.

Ben Del Rosario, 45, of Mangilao said that the Navy didn't have a right to
shoot the animals.

"I know the carabao are not native to the island, but they were here long
before the Navy was," he said. "I think (the protest) will raise the
awareness level. ... Protesting has to work, there's no choice. This has got
to stop."

Kent said she supported the rights of the protesters.

"As military personnel we fight for liberties and for people to have the
right to protest as long as they see fit. We're glad it was peaceful," she
said.

She said the Navy would continue to support the carabao adoption program
organized by the Department of Agriculture's Division of Aquatic and
Wildlife Resources and the Mayors Council of Guam.

"The Navy is always in consultation with (Aquatic and Wildlife) to find the
best method of reducing the population of the carabao," Kent said. "The
population must be reduced for safety and health concerns, and that won't
change, but today's protest does remind us that people have strong views
about it."

Paul Bassler, agriculture department director, said his agency and the Navy
have differing legal opinions regarding how much say the local government
has over what the military does with the natural resources on its Guam
property.

He expressed hope that the Agriculture Department and the Mayors Council can
expand the adoption program to the point that it no longer will be necessary
to kill the animals.

"We do share their desire to get them off the base," Bassler said. "And we
would prefer that they not shoot them, but I have to say they've been
cooperative with us in terms of the adoption program."

Several senators took part in the protest as well.

"Certainly the treatment of this animal is uncivilized and very
disrespectful to the people of Guam and the heritage of the Chamorros," said
Sen. Carmen Fernandez, D-Yona.

Talofofo resident John Raymond Aguon, 43, brought two of the eight carabao
he owns to the protest. Aguon said he doesn't understand why the Navy won't
just fence the carabao out of the magazine.

"Over 70 percent of the people here are veterans, so we're not against the
military," he said. "This is just a loud knocking on the door of the Navy,
saying, 'Hey, work with us so we can work with you.'"

Aguon said he would adopt as many carabao as he was allowed to.

"The carabao has done nothing wrong," he said.


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