AR-News: (Pakistan) Save your soul — Lahore’s cagey bird trade

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

By Kirran Syed and Asher John

LAHORE: Free the parrots, beseeched a birdman on the streets of bustling 
Liberty Market. Sure enough, a car pulled up and the negotiations began.

Brothers Tausif and Mansab Tariq of London agreed on two parrots at Rs 50 
each. The birdman reached into his crammed cage and held out two squirming green 
lives. The brothers cupped the tiny heads, and the birds were set free. 

This is how many birdmen in the city make their living. They take money from 
passers-by to free finches, pigeons and parrots. The men and women who pay for 
the birds’ freedom are told this act would gain them the blessings of God.

Some condemn the birdmen of Lahore as vultures operating on human guilt. Free 
the birds and you save your soul, say the birdmen. Waris Gill, who is one of 
the birdmen hawking his blessings in Gulberg’s markets, says it’s either this 
or starvation. “We don’t like it either,” Mr Gill said of his three-year-old 
vocation. “We have to earn bread for our children,” said the father of seven.




full story:

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_20-1-2004_pg7_26



"The world is a dangerous place,
not because of those who do evil,
but because of those who look on and do nothing.",
Albert Einstein

          /\  /\            
>' .' < 

Male meat-eaters have a 50% chance of dying of a heart attack. Vegetarian men 
have a 4% risk. US vegetarians have cholesterol levels 14% lower than 
meat-eaters; vegans (those who don't consume meat or dairy products) have levels 35% 
lower. JAMA, 1995;274:894











    
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