Thanks D x Now how much fun does that look :O)
Friday, June 1, 2012
Ya Gotta Love This Guy! How About Kuwait Adopting Some of These Extreme Measures..
Thanks D x Now how much fun does that look :O)
My 50th Jubilee Brunch with My Girlies
 |
| Tiered cake plate, flags and napkins from Lakeland in Marina Mall |
I have to say the big five-o day really wasn't quite as devestating as I'd heard it might be. In fact I had such a wonderful day with friends I believe it's got to be an omen for good things to come ;O) Thank you, thank you, thank you MUAHHHH! To my best girlies who are the most awesome bunch of ladies and friends ever, you really made my day xxx
The cake from Debs :O)
Suitably apt don't ya think ;OP
Sadly I was too busy to take more pics of the buffet brunch which included gruyere, leek and mushroom quiche (yum.. even if I do say myself), a bacon, cheese and onion quiche, foie gras with truffles (a must buy from Harrods at Heathrow duty-free on your way back from LON and kept for special occasions.. it's soooo handy), a cheese tray, a selection of fatayers, vegetables and dip, grilled chicken on skewers, humos, salad, a fantastic chocolate mint mousse terrine, a lovely lemon cheescake, vanilla cupcakes and birthday cake from Crumbs. First guest arrived at 11.30AM and last guest left at 9PM.
The Diamond Jubilee: Guide to the Long Weekend of Events
The Queen is marking her Diamond Jubilee this year and celebrations reach a peak with a four-day weekend of events, between Saturday 2 and Tuesday 5 June.
With a concert at Buckingham palace, a royal barge and pageant on the Thames, Red Arrows fly overs, 4000 beacons to be lit to celebrate 60 years of HRH's reign, a fireworks display at Buckingham Palace and street parties all over Britain. With over 9,500 road closure permits submitted for street parties it's going to be a countrywide shindig.
Guide of events in UK and the official jubilee website [link]
LWDLIK - Yay! Off to British turf for our own humdinger celebrations :O)
Queen Elizabeth II: 60 Years of Impeccable Style
In her 60 years on the throne there have been no wardrobe malfunctions, nor fashion faux pas. So what is the secret to the Queen's impeccable style?
BY JANE EASTOE | 01 APRIL 2012
The Queen in a Hardy Amies white lace ensemble on her tour of Autralia and New Zealand in 1953-1954 Photo: REX FEAUTRES
The often-repeated assertion that the Queen isn't interested in clothes was first fostered by Marion Crawford, governess to both Elizabeth and Margaret. In her book, The Little Princesses, she observes that Princess Elizabeth was not picky about her clothes: 'Lilibet never cared a fig. She wore what she was told without argument, apart from a long, drab mackintosh which she loathed.' Others maintain that the Queen is at heart one of the old school, a countrywoman who does not care about her appearance.
Related articles
Diamond Jubilee: Queen of scents
Queen's Diamond Jubilee: Top ten Royal books
Diamond Jubilee: the moment that Princess Elizabeth became Queen
The Queen: I can't wear beige because nobody would know who I am
IN PICS: Queen Elizabeth II's colourful style
But this is a myth that should be dispelled. 'The Queen is not interested in high fashion,' observes one couturier, 'but she is very interested in her clothes and is very particular. Her Majesty is acutely aware of how invasive the press are - her clothes are part of her armour. And, after a whole lifetime of wearing couture, she knows exactly what she is doing and makes it perfectly clear when things aren't quite right.'
To describe the Queen's wardrobe as expansive, and the task of her dressers as considerable, is something of an understatement; consider that on her first Commonwealth tour in 1953 the Queen took more than 100 specially made new outfits. There have been in excess of 170 Commonwealth visits since then, as well as many State visits. Yet she has worn hand-me-downs, during the war she had her mother's clothes altered to fit her, and she has worn off-the-peg outfits. But principally she has worn couture: that is, clothes designed for her, fitted precisely and in her own choice of fabric.
Right: In a lavender dress and duster coat in India, 1961, GETTY IMAGES; left: Hardy Amies' outfit for the 1955 Remembrance Service at the Albert Hall. COURTESY OF THE HARDY AIMES ARCHIVE.
At the start of her reign she favoured fairytale ball-gowns, or stiff satin frocks, shimmering with beads in patterns designed to emphasise her status. Norman Hartnell, a master with duchesse satin, created two of her most iconic dresses: her wedding dress and her Coronation gown. He specialised in fabulous evening-gowns. His first design for her was in 1935 and he continued until his death in 1979.
Hardy Amies started designing for the Queen in the early 1950s and continued until a year before his death in 2003. While he made many beautiful evening-gowns, he was credited with transforming her day wardrobe with sharp, tailored coats, dresses and jackets. 'I think Hardy always saw her as the beautiful young woman he started dressing in 1952,' notes a former colleague of his, 'and of course she had an amazing figure and a tiny waist for years.'
As a baby and toddler Princess Elizabeth was dressed exclusively in the most impractical colour - white - but as she grew up these frilly dresses were replaced with more practical garments. Despite the four years difference in their ages, when Princess Margaret was taken out of her baby whites the two princesses were dressed identically: hand-smocked and pin-tucked dresses, and velvet-collared coats for best, sensible sweaters and kilts for play. They both hated wearing hats and would snap the elastic under each other's chins to cries of 'you brute'.
As a teenager Lilibet's clothes were made by Miss Ford of Handley Seymour, who also made Queen Mary's clothes. Norman Hartnell, who was to be commissioned to create Princess Elizabeth's wedding dress, was already a favourite with both her mother and her grandmother. The simple cream dress that Elizabeth wore for her official engagement photographs could easily have belonged to her mother, so similar was the style. But fashion in the postwar days was austere, and it was a look that was to dominate until the launch of Dior's New Look in Paris in 1947.
Motherhood brought a distinct change in Princess Elizabeth's wardrobe; for the first time she stopped dressing like a mirror-image of her mother, choosing much more distinctive tailored, full-skirted suits, which emphasised her tiny waist. She dressed like some other mothers of the period in neat suits, complemented with one or two pieces of good jewellery, although perhaps her suits were rather better tailored, and her good jewellery infinitely better than most. It is perhaps at this time that the Duke of Edinburgh's young wife was at her most fashionable. In 1953 Norman Hartnell designed an elegant, slim-fitting, satin dress in black, with a white panel at the front. Nicknamed the 'magpie' dress by the press, it featured in most of the national papers and copies were made and on sale by the next day.
Left: The Queen in a gold dress in India 1961, GETTY IMAGES; right: An Amies design for a gown for the Canadian tour of 1959, COURTESY OF THE HARDY AMIES ARCHIVE
It was available in black and white, but also in a variety of colours, and within just a few days an impressive 120 copies had been sold. It was even turned into a paper pattern that cost the equivalent of 30p. Her Majesty never wore it again. She was also partial to Horrockses printed cotton dresses and whenever she was photographed in one the company would be swamped with orders.
Over the same period Princess Elizabeth also received the first criticism of her clothes. While sporting a temporarily fuller figure, as many new mothers do, she was accused by the American press of being frumpish and the French press maintained that Englishwomen could look pretty but never chic.
The Queen requires more clothes in a year than most of us do in a lifetime. Four or five changes per day are not unusual. When new clothes are required her dresser simply telephones the couturier of choice and puts in a request for designs. Further information as to precisely what functions the clothes are needed for may not be forthcoming. This practice of either supplying, or withholding, relevant detail seems dependent upon the dresser in charge.
Her faithful dresser Bobo used to brief designers, but in other instances they were left to work in the dark. 'We would receive a call from the dresser to say that the Queen would like to see some sketches - and that would be it, no more information,' observes one couturier. 'We would speak to our PR and he would contact the palace press office; they in turn would speak to the ladies-in-waiting and try to glean what was going on. Was a tour planned and if so where and what time of year? For a designer it was so frustrating, you felt you could never do your best - it would have been so much better to have been given a brief, but we were never given one.'
Fittings are a daunting process and most couturiers and milliners confirm that the first visit is terrifying. The hatmaker Frederick Fox explains that he was carefully briefed by Hardy Amies in advance: 'Don't touch the Queen, don't ask questions and don't turn your back,' he was instructed. Come the day, 'the Queen was standing at the end of a long room. I advanced, did my chat and my thing. When it was time to depart I was rooted to the spot. I thought that if I walked backwards I would fall over the furniture or one of the corgis. Her Majesty spotted my dilemma and turned her back on me to ask Bobo to fetch some specific shoes - giving me the opportunity to withdraw.'
Bobo, described in her obituary in The Guardian in September 1993 as 'the scourge of milliners and couturiers', curtailed the influence of designers, ensuring that no single couture house could exert a monopoly. She made it clear that, while they designed the dresses, accessories - shoes, handbags and hats - were commissioned elsewhere. Hardy Amies complained bitterly about ugly handbags, stating plainly that they were ruining his beautiful designs. He, along with other couturiers, adopted the practice of giving Her Majesty tastefully chosen handbags as Christmas presents in the hope they might be used.
Left: In a lemon two-piece, REX FEATURES; right: An Amies sketch for an outfit the Queen wore to make her first Christmas television broadcast, COURTESY OF THE HARDY AIMES ARCHIVE
The Queen's first foreign tour was a trip to South Africa and Rhodesia in 1947; until then she had not set foot outside the United Kingdom. Clothes rationing was still causing problems so Hartnell used some of her mother's prewar clothes as material for her dresses. Then, just four months after the Coronation, in November 1953, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh embarked on a five-and-a-half-month tour of the Commonwealth. Charles and Anne were left behind. The trip included banquets, troop inspections, parliament openings and state occasions and required a huge wardrobe on which Norman Hartnell and Hardy Amies had been commissioned to work months in advance.
The daywear was chic and discreet, evening-dresses glittered with beads and embroidery. For the human touch there were even some Horrockses ready-to-wear dresses among the couture grandeur. The weather must always be a consideration when clothes are prepared for Royal tours. The Queen wrote to Amies regarding a planned trip to south-east Asia in 1972: 'I find every time I read a programme for the Far East Tour, I get hotter and hotter at the prospect of six weeks in that climate.' It has been confirmed that dessous-de-bras, detachable underarm dress shields to absorb perspiration, are used in the royal wardrobe when appropriate. Even so, last-minute changes of outfit still occur; flimsy dresses are replaced if a sudden downpour looks likely, or a tailored coat-suit abandoned in a heat wave.
It is perhaps reassuring to note that despite everything, the Queen, like the rest of us, is still affected by the weather.To this day the Queen remains the centre of attention wherever she goes and is subject to critical assessment every time she appears in public. The pressure of such scrutiny must be phenomenal, yet in 60 years she has not put a sartorial foot wrong; there has never been a wardrobe malfunction, at least none of which the public has been aware, nor a fashion faux pas. Her impeccable style, and resistance to excess, has ensured that her place as an icon is finally being recognised by fashion commentators.
BY JANE EASTOE | 01 APRIL 2012
The Queen in a Hardy Amies white lace ensemble on her tour of Autralia and New Zealand in 1953-1954 Photo: REX FEAUTRES
The often-repeated assertion that the Queen isn't interested in clothes was first fostered by Marion Crawford, governess to both Elizabeth and Margaret. In her book, The Little Princesses, she observes that Princess Elizabeth was not picky about her clothes: 'Lilibet never cared a fig. She wore what she was told without argument, apart from a long, drab mackintosh which she loathed.' Others maintain that the Queen is at heart one of the old school, a countrywoman who does not care about her appearance.
Related articles
Diamond Jubilee: Queen of scents
Queen's Diamond Jubilee: Top ten Royal books
Diamond Jubilee: the moment that Princess Elizabeth became Queen
The Queen: I can't wear beige because nobody would know who I am
IN PICS: Queen Elizabeth II's colourful style
But this is a myth that should be dispelled. 'The Queen is not interested in high fashion,' observes one couturier, 'but she is very interested in her clothes and is very particular. Her Majesty is acutely aware of how invasive the press are - her clothes are part of her armour. And, after a whole lifetime of wearing couture, she knows exactly what she is doing and makes it perfectly clear when things aren't quite right.'
To describe the Queen's wardrobe as expansive, and the task of her dressers as considerable, is something of an understatement; consider that on her first Commonwealth tour in 1953 the Queen took more than 100 specially made new outfits. There have been in excess of 170 Commonwealth visits since then, as well as many State visits. Yet she has worn hand-me-downs, during the war she had her mother's clothes altered to fit her, and she has worn off-the-peg outfits. But principally she has worn couture: that is, clothes designed for her, fitted precisely and in her own choice of fabric.
Right: In a lavender dress and duster coat in India, 1961, GETTY IMAGES; left: Hardy Amies' outfit for the 1955 Remembrance Service at the Albert Hall. COURTESY OF THE HARDY AIMES ARCHIVE.
At the start of her reign she favoured fairytale ball-gowns, or stiff satin frocks, shimmering with beads in patterns designed to emphasise her status. Norman Hartnell, a master with duchesse satin, created two of her most iconic dresses: her wedding dress and her Coronation gown. He specialised in fabulous evening-gowns. His first design for her was in 1935 and he continued until his death in 1979.
Hardy Amies started designing for the Queen in the early 1950s and continued until a year before his death in 2003. While he made many beautiful evening-gowns, he was credited with transforming her day wardrobe with sharp, tailored coats, dresses and jackets. 'I think Hardy always saw her as the beautiful young woman he started dressing in 1952,' notes a former colleague of his, 'and of course she had an amazing figure and a tiny waist for years.'
As a baby and toddler Princess Elizabeth was dressed exclusively in the most impractical colour - white - but as she grew up these frilly dresses were replaced with more practical garments. Despite the four years difference in their ages, when Princess Margaret was taken out of her baby whites the two princesses were dressed identically: hand-smocked and pin-tucked dresses, and velvet-collared coats for best, sensible sweaters and kilts for play. They both hated wearing hats and would snap the elastic under each other's chins to cries of 'you brute'.
As a teenager Lilibet's clothes were made by Miss Ford of Handley Seymour, who also made Queen Mary's clothes. Norman Hartnell, who was to be commissioned to create Princess Elizabeth's wedding dress, was already a favourite with both her mother and her grandmother. The simple cream dress that Elizabeth wore for her official engagement photographs could easily have belonged to her mother, so similar was the style. But fashion in the postwar days was austere, and it was a look that was to dominate until the launch of Dior's New Look in Paris in 1947.
Motherhood brought a distinct change in Princess Elizabeth's wardrobe; for the first time she stopped dressing like a mirror-image of her mother, choosing much more distinctive tailored, full-skirted suits, which emphasised her tiny waist. She dressed like some other mothers of the period in neat suits, complemented with one or two pieces of good jewellery, although perhaps her suits were rather better tailored, and her good jewellery infinitely better than most. It is perhaps at this time that the Duke of Edinburgh's young wife was at her most fashionable. In 1953 Norman Hartnell designed an elegant, slim-fitting, satin dress in black, with a white panel at the front. Nicknamed the 'magpie' dress by the press, it featured in most of the national papers and copies were made and on sale by the next day.
Left: The Queen in a gold dress in India 1961, GETTY IMAGES; right: An Amies design for a gown for the Canadian tour of 1959, COURTESY OF THE HARDY AMIES ARCHIVE
It was available in black and white, but also in a variety of colours, and within just a few days an impressive 120 copies had been sold. It was even turned into a paper pattern that cost the equivalent of 30p. Her Majesty never wore it again. She was also partial to Horrockses printed cotton dresses and whenever she was photographed in one the company would be swamped with orders.
Over the same period Princess Elizabeth also received the first criticism of her clothes. While sporting a temporarily fuller figure, as many new mothers do, she was accused by the American press of being frumpish and the French press maintained that Englishwomen could look pretty but never chic.
The Queen requires more clothes in a year than most of us do in a lifetime. Four or five changes per day are not unusual. When new clothes are required her dresser simply telephones the couturier of choice and puts in a request for designs. Further information as to precisely what functions the clothes are needed for may not be forthcoming. This practice of either supplying, or withholding, relevant detail seems dependent upon the dresser in charge.
Her faithful dresser Bobo used to brief designers, but in other instances they were left to work in the dark. 'We would receive a call from the dresser to say that the Queen would like to see some sketches - and that would be it, no more information,' observes one couturier. 'We would speak to our PR and he would contact the palace press office; they in turn would speak to the ladies-in-waiting and try to glean what was going on. Was a tour planned and if so where and what time of year? For a designer it was so frustrating, you felt you could never do your best - it would have been so much better to have been given a brief, but we were never given one.'
Fittings are a daunting process and most couturiers and milliners confirm that the first visit is terrifying. The hatmaker Frederick Fox explains that he was carefully briefed by Hardy Amies in advance: 'Don't touch the Queen, don't ask questions and don't turn your back,' he was instructed. Come the day, 'the Queen was standing at the end of a long room. I advanced, did my chat and my thing. When it was time to depart I was rooted to the spot. I thought that if I walked backwards I would fall over the furniture or one of the corgis. Her Majesty spotted my dilemma and turned her back on me to ask Bobo to fetch some specific shoes - giving me the opportunity to withdraw.'
Bobo, described in her obituary in The Guardian in September 1993 as 'the scourge of milliners and couturiers', curtailed the influence of designers, ensuring that no single couture house could exert a monopoly. She made it clear that, while they designed the dresses, accessories - shoes, handbags and hats - were commissioned elsewhere. Hardy Amies complained bitterly about ugly handbags, stating plainly that they were ruining his beautiful designs. He, along with other couturiers, adopted the practice of giving Her Majesty tastefully chosen handbags as Christmas presents in the hope they might be used.
Left: In a lemon two-piece, REX FEATURES; right: An Amies sketch for an outfit the Queen wore to make her first Christmas television broadcast, COURTESY OF THE HARDY AIMES ARCHIVE
The Queen's first foreign tour was a trip to South Africa and Rhodesia in 1947; until then she had not set foot outside the United Kingdom. Clothes rationing was still causing problems so Hartnell used some of her mother's prewar clothes as material for her dresses. Then, just four months after the Coronation, in November 1953, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh embarked on a five-and-a-half-month tour of the Commonwealth. Charles and Anne were left behind. The trip included banquets, troop inspections, parliament openings and state occasions and required a huge wardrobe on which Norman Hartnell and Hardy Amies had been commissioned to work months in advance.
The daywear was chic and discreet, evening-dresses glittered with beads and embroidery. For the human touch there were even some Horrockses ready-to-wear dresses among the couture grandeur. The weather must always be a consideration when clothes are prepared for Royal tours. The Queen wrote to Amies regarding a planned trip to south-east Asia in 1972: 'I find every time I read a programme for the Far East Tour, I get hotter and hotter at the prospect of six weeks in that climate.' It has been confirmed that dessous-de-bras, detachable underarm dress shields to absorb perspiration, are used in the royal wardrobe when appropriate. Even so, last-minute changes of outfit still occur; flimsy dresses are replaced if a sudden downpour looks likely, or a tailored coat-suit abandoned in a heat wave.
It is perhaps reassuring to note that despite everything, the Queen, like the rest of us, is still affected by the weather.To this day the Queen remains the centre of attention wherever she goes and is subject to critical assessment every time she appears in public. The pressure of such scrutiny must be phenomenal, yet in 60 years she has not put a sartorial foot wrong; there has never been a wardrobe malfunction, at least none of which the public has been aware, nor a fashion faux pas. Her impeccable style, and resistance to excess, has ensured that her place as an icon is finally being recognised by fashion commentators.
Dog's Eye Gouged Out by Vile Depraved Teenagers
Kuwait Times: It’s a doggone life for Kuwait’s strays
KUWAIT: The dog which had its eye gouged out by teenagers by the beach at Fahaheel Sea Club.
There’s a story behind these bleeding eyes.
PAWS (Protecting Animal Welfare Society) got a call on January 1 this year from a frantic Indian lady who saw young Kuwaiti teenagers torturing two friendly stray dogs by the beach at Fahaheel Sea Club. The boys were trying to gouge their eyes out and even managed to cut a tail off from one of the dogs. PAWS managed to save both dogs who, despite the brutality, didn’t give up their trust in humans and actually allowed themselves to be lifted into the rescue car without any growling. Now the pair, Texas and Georgia, are at the shelter recovering from their trauma.
They lucked out, but most other animals in Kuwait aren’t as lucky. PAWS, along with other animal rights organizations in Kuwait, receive at least one case of an abused animal every day, which averages at 7-10 cases per week. “These are just the cases which are reported to us; but obviously the statistics are higher as most go unreported,” revealed a member of the organization. Awareness about these animal rights’ groups has helped to generate more active participation from the public over the past few years, but the violence has been consistent.
In a majority of the cases, the dogs are left tied to a tree or fence for days together without any water or food in the desert heat – or on building roof tops with the assumption that they will guard the place. In more obvious cases of abuse, flesh or bones can be seen as a result of beatings or deliberate injuries. Death would seem a better option for those who have been set on fire on the beach, had their legs, tails or ears cut off, dumped in the desert to starve or had their eyes gouged out. Cats haven’t had it easy either, with some being bundled into fishing nets or thrown into the rubbish bin to die.
Season to abandon
Karen, one of the co-founders of PAWS and K’S PATH in Kuwait revealed the story of Maddy, a small Poodle mix, a few years ago. Maddy’s owners tied her neck to a fence with a metal wire and left her out in the sun to die. Teenagers would beat her on the way to school every day until she was found by a couple who untied her and got her immediate medical attention. The vet discovered that her skin had grown over the metal wire and she required around 75 stitches after the wire was removed from her flesh. The couple adopted Maddy and moved to Dubai, where she leads a peaceful life after her ordeal here. While Maddy lived to have a name and someone to love, a tabby cat, which had its back legs tied with a metal wire and couldn’t move or jump into any bin to scavenge for food, died nameless because of starvation.
Karen, a passionate animal lover and hardcore activist, has had 17 years of experience rescuing animals in Kuwait. She says that even though there has been a drop in cases since she’s lived here, the summer season always witnesses a rise in animal cruelty. “People travel in summer and abandon their pets on the streets or in the deserts. Why? Because it’s the easiest way to get rid of them. Someone had even dumped a horse in the desert with a bucket of water, thinking ‘Hey, he won’t be able to make it back home from here!’ This is easier than having to take the trouble of leaving it at a shelter,” she says.
Two weeks ago, a cheetah was reportedly drugged and dragged around by its tail in Abu Hassania area by “amused” teens in broad daylight. The half-conscious animal apparently tried to hide under the shade of nearby cars but to no avail. Karen says, “There’s a link between animal abuse and psychopathology; youngsters who abuse animals grow up to become serial killers.”
Karen also recently found an eagle dumped near a bin. It was clearly in a state of shock and when she realized that it was still breathing, she rushed it to the Royal Animal Hospital. It was treated for severe starvation before being handed over to K’S PATH, who made sure it was healthy before releasing it back into the wild. Rumour had it that it was dragged around near the Friday Market a day earlier. This is just one of the many stories Karen can recount in Kuwait and has seen enough abused animals to author her own book.
‘Education, education, education’
So where exactly is the problem? Is it a lack of conscience? Or a lack of rules? Karen says that it’s a bit of both: “The problem is the lack of animal rights’ laws and their enforcement.”
But there’s one thing that’s completely within reach, “Education, education, education! If children are taught empathy right from a young age and made to understand that animals feel pain, just like humans, a lot could be achieved,” she says. She added that if there were constructive things for the youngsters to do here apart from just go to the malls and shop, like if they had Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts to channel their energy into something useful, the beaches and the environment can be saved. “Nobody knows that something as mindless as throwing cigarette butts into the ocean can kill tortoises when they consume it,” Karen says.
Apart from lack of awareness, sterilization is a big problem faced by the shelters, who struggle with unsterilized strays which multiply during breeding season. “A lack of funds can be added to the list,” said an unnamed source who revealed that shelters run mostly on funds collected through charities, Open House events, and donations – which aren’t a steady flow or sustainable income. “From the minute an injured animal (or bird) is taken in, the shelter pays for its medical expenses, rehabilitation, sterilization, vaccination and food apart from other needs until it’s adopted again – which amounts to a lot per case,” he said.
An ‘evil’ called the Friday Market
The Friday Market in Kuwait might as well be rechristened ‘The Dead End’ as far as birds and animals are concerned. This place is notorious for almost having as many animals as the Kuwait Zoo: Kangaroos, monkeys, baboons, snakes, endangered tortoises and reptiles, bears, exotic spiders, parrots, macaws, coloured chicks, monitor lizards apart from many others can be seen – some with the DHL stickers still attached to their cages. The animals are housed in abominable settings and subjected to severe weather conditions with very little to eat or drink. Large dogs are stuffed into small cages to save space, and gain sympathy from visitors who might end up buying them to save them. On the other hand, tiny chicks are dyed toxic neon colours like pink, green, red, radiant yellow or blue to attract potential buyers. Many chicks die during the colouring process as they can’t withstand the wetness or the cold. The ones who survive end up with damaged internal organs because of the toxins in the dye.
Karen recalls saving a group of baby rabbits, which were trying to hide under the shade of a car to stay cool: “Unsold animals are thrown outside like garbage,” she said. Most exotic animals, like monkeys, are smuggled into Kuwait from Asian countries like Indonesia and Thailand, or even Hungary, “They are drugged and smuggled in suitcases, and many die even before reaching Kuwait because of the lack of ventilation,” she said.
In fact, the Friday Market has been such a bone of contention with animal lovers that a website called change.org, which encourages people to fight for issues they care about deeply, has more than 200 people signing a petition for its closure. A page entitled ‘Kuwait: Close down the Animal Friday Market’ reads: “Animals are kept in terrible life threatening conditions in Kuwait’s harsh climate with no AC. Puppies, wet and dirty, and most infected with parvovirus, along with cats, are all put in small bird cages with hardly any space to move. Animals there are suffering horribly before dying every day!”
Price to be paid
The violence is senseless. And sometimes there’s a quick buck to be made.
Vandana, an Indian expatriate, found an Alaskan Malamute with a belt tied around his neck, being dragged around in Mangaf. When she asked them to stop ill-treating it, they said they would – if she bought it. She paid KD 12 and brought the injured dog home to save it from them but when she walks him, she has people asking her “How much? How much?” hoping to buy it from her – and perhaps sell it again to someone else.
An Alaskan Malamute is, as the name suggests, a breed meant for the cold climates of Alaska – not a harsh desert ambiance like Kuwait. She says that she encounters difficulty walking him outside as his paws – which definitely aren’t suitable for the Middle Eastern climate – burn in the heat. “I’m also worried about what he might eat because of the poison left out in the streets to kill strays”.
Vandana pointed that some residential buildings change their policies on pets overnight and ask the tenants to either get rid of their pets or vacate within 15 days’ time. “This is very little time and forces them to abandon their pets, which they might not have chosen to do otherwise”.
Change in policy or not, nothing can possibly justify her neighbours’ act of throwing a rabbit from the roof “just to see what would happen to it”.
P.S. Some pet owners hesitated to provide pictures of their pets out of fear that the previous owners who abandoned them would track them down and want to take their pets back – now that they have received medical attention and appear in good health.
priyankasaligram@kuwaittimes.net
LWDLIK - "Virtually every serious violent offender has a history of animal abuse in their past, and since there's no way to know which animal abuser is going to continue on to commit violent human crimes, they should ALL be taken that seriously. FBI Supervisory Special Agent Allen Brantley was quoted as saying "Animal cruelty... is not a harmless venting of emotion in a healthy individual; this is a warning sign..." It should be looked at as exactly that. Its a clear indicator of psychological issues that can and often DO lead to more violent human crimes."
Read more: Abuse Connection - The Link Between Animal Cruelty and Interpersonal Violence | Pet-Abuse.Com Animal Cruelty Database http://www.pet-abuse.com/pages/abuse_connection.php#ixzz1wWMmnXbT
If this makes you spitting mad and you're wanting to do something (you are not alone) but it might be best to just make a donation to the animal shelters here who do a marvellous job of taking care of these poor abused and abandoned animals. www.kspath.org and www.paws-kuwait.org. Sorry don't mean to upset your weekend but this story needs all the coverage it can get.
There’s a story behind these bleeding eyes.
PAWS (Protecting Animal Welfare Society) got a call on January 1 this year from a frantic Indian lady who saw young Kuwaiti teenagers torturing two friendly stray dogs by the beach at Fahaheel Sea Club. The boys were trying to gouge their eyes out and even managed to cut a tail off from one of the dogs. PAWS managed to save both dogs who, despite the brutality, didn’t give up their trust in humans and actually allowed themselves to be lifted into the rescue car without any growling. Now the pair, Texas and Georgia, are at the shelter recovering from their trauma.
They lucked out, but most other animals in Kuwait aren’t as lucky. PAWS, along with other animal rights organizations in Kuwait, receive at least one case of an abused animal every day, which averages at 7-10 cases per week. “These are just the cases which are reported to us; but obviously the statistics are higher as most go unreported,” revealed a member of the organization. Awareness about these animal rights’ groups has helped to generate more active participation from the public over the past few years, but the violence has been consistent.
In a majority of the cases, the dogs are left tied to a tree or fence for days together without any water or food in the desert heat – or on building roof tops with the assumption that they will guard the place. In more obvious cases of abuse, flesh or bones can be seen as a result of beatings or deliberate injuries. Death would seem a better option for those who have been set on fire on the beach, had their legs, tails or ears cut off, dumped in the desert to starve or had their eyes gouged out. Cats haven’t had it easy either, with some being bundled into fishing nets or thrown into the rubbish bin to die.
Season to abandon
Karen, one of the co-founders of PAWS and K’S PATH in Kuwait revealed the story of Maddy, a small Poodle mix, a few years ago. Maddy’s owners tied her neck to a fence with a metal wire and left her out in the sun to die. Teenagers would beat her on the way to school every day until she was found by a couple who untied her and got her immediate medical attention. The vet discovered that her skin had grown over the metal wire and she required around 75 stitches after the wire was removed from her flesh. The couple adopted Maddy and moved to Dubai, where she leads a peaceful life after her ordeal here. While Maddy lived to have a name and someone to love, a tabby cat, which had its back legs tied with a metal wire and couldn’t move or jump into any bin to scavenge for food, died nameless because of starvation.
Karen, a passionate animal lover and hardcore activist, has had 17 years of experience rescuing animals in Kuwait. She says that even though there has been a drop in cases since she’s lived here, the summer season always witnesses a rise in animal cruelty. “People travel in summer and abandon their pets on the streets or in the deserts. Why? Because it’s the easiest way to get rid of them. Someone had even dumped a horse in the desert with a bucket of water, thinking ‘Hey, he won’t be able to make it back home from here!’ This is easier than having to take the trouble of leaving it at a shelter,” she says.
Two weeks ago, a cheetah was reportedly drugged and dragged around by its tail in Abu Hassania area by “amused” teens in broad daylight. The half-conscious animal apparently tried to hide under the shade of nearby cars but to no avail. Karen says, “There’s a link between animal abuse and psychopathology; youngsters who abuse animals grow up to become serial killers.”
Karen also recently found an eagle dumped near a bin. It was clearly in a state of shock and when she realized that it was still breathing, she rushed it to the Royal Animal Hospital. It was treated for severe starvation before being handed over to K’S PATH, who made sure it was healthy before releasing it back into the wild. Rumour had it that it was dragged around near the Friday Market a day earlier. This is just one of the many stories Karen can recount in Kuwait and has seen enough abused animals to author her own book.
‘Education, education, education’
So where exactly is the problem? Is it a lack of conscience? Or a lack of rules? Karen says that it’s a bit of both: “The problem is the lack of animal rights’ laws and their enforcement.”
But there’s one thing that’s completely within reach, “Education, education, education! If children are taught empathy right from a young age and made to understand that animals feel pain, just like humans, a lot could be achieved,” she says. She added that if there were constructive things for the youngsters to do here apart from just go to the malls and shop, like if they had Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts to channel their energy into something useful, the beaches and the environment can be saved. “Nobody knows that something as mindless as throwing cigarette butts into the ocean can kill tortoises when they consume it,” Karen says.
Apart from lack of awareness, sterilization is a big problem faced by the shelters, who struggle with unsterilized strays which multiply during breeding season. “A lack of funds can be added to the list,” said an unnamed source who revealed that shelters run mostly on funds collected through charities, Open House events, and donations – which aren’t a steady flow or sustainable income. “From the minute an injured animal (or bird) is taken in, the shelter pays for its medical expenses, rehabilitation, sterilization, vaccination and food apart from other needs until it’s adopted again – which amounts to a lot per case,” he said.
An ‘evil’ called the Friday Market
The Friday Market in Kuwait might as well be rechristened ‘The Dead End’ as far as birds and animals are concerned. This place is notorious for almost having as many animals as the Kuwait Zoo: Kangaroos, monkeys, baboons, snakes, endangered tortoises and reptiles, bears, exotic spiders, parrots, macaws, coloured chicks, monitor lizards apart from many others can be seen – some with the DHL stickers still attached to their cages. The animals are housed in abominable settings and subjected to severe weather conditions with very little to eat or drink. Large dogs are stuffed into small cages to save space, and gain sympathy from visitors who might end up buying them to save them. On the other hand, tiny chicks are dyed toxic neon colours like pink, green, red, radiant yellow or blue to attract potential buyers. Many chicks die during the colouring process as they can’t withstand the wetness or the cold. The ones who survive end up with damaged internal organs because of the toxins in the dye.
Karen recalls saving a group of baby rabbits, which were trying to hide under the shade of a car to stay cool: “Unsold animals are thrown outside like garbage,” she said. Most exotic animals, like monkeys, are smuggled into Kuwait from Asian countries like Indonesia and Thailand, or even Hungary, “They are drugged and smuggled in suitcases, and many die even before reaching Kuwait because of the lack of ventilation,” she said.
In fact, the Friday Market has been such a bone of contention with animal lovers that a website called change.org, which encourages people to fight for issues they care about deeply, has more than 200 people signing a petition for its closure. A page entitled ‘Kuwait: Close down the Animal Friday Market’ reads: “Animals are kept in terrible life threatening conditions in Kuwait’s harsh climate with no AC. Puppies, wet and dirty, and most infected with parvovirus, along with cats, are all put in small bird cages with hardly any space to move. Animals there are suffering horribly before dying every day!”
Price to be paid
The violence is senseless. And sometimes there’s a quick buck to be made.
Vandana, an Indian expatriate, found an Alaskan Malamute with a belt tied around his neck, being dragged around in Mangaf. When she asked them to stop ill-treating it, they said they would – if she bought it. She paid KD 12 and brought the injured dog home to save it from them but when she walks him, she has people asking her “How much? How much?” hoping to buy it from her – and perhaps sell it again to someone else.
An Alaskan Malamute is, as the name suggests, a breed meant for the cold climates of Alaska – not a harsh desert ambiance like Kuwait. She says that she encounters difficulty walking him outside as his paws – which definitely aren’t suitable for the Middle Eastern climate – burn in the heat. “I’m also worried about what he might eat because of the poison left out in the streets to kill strays”.
Vandana pointed that some residential buildings change their policies on pets overnight and ask the tenants to either get rid of their pets or vacate within 15 days’ time. “This is very little time and forces them to abandon their pets, which they might not have chosen to do otherwise”.
Change in policy or not, nothing can possibly justify her neighbours’ act of throwing a rabbit from the roof “just to see what would happen to it”.
P.S. Some pet owners hesitated to provide pictures of their pets out of fear that the previous owners who abandoned them would track them down and want to take their pets back – now that they have received medical attention and appear in good health.
priyankasaligram@kuwaittimes.net
LWDLIK - "Virtually every serious violent offender has a history of animal abuse in their past, and since there's no way to know which animal abuser is going to continue on to commit violent human crimes, they should ALL be taken that seriously. FBI Supervisory Special Agent Allen Brantley was quoted as saying "Animal cruelty... is not a harmless venting of emotion in a healthy individual; this is a warning sign..." It should be looked at as exactly that. Its a clear indicator of psychological issues that can and often DO lead to more violent human crimes."
Read more: Abuse Connection - The Link Between Animal Cruelty and Interpersonal Violence | Pet-Abuse.Com Animal Cruelty Database http://www.pet-abuse.com/pages/abuse_connection.php#ixzz1wWMmnXbT
If this makes you spitting mad and you're wanting to do something (you are not alone) but it might be best to just make a donation to the animal shelters here who do a marvellous job of taking care of these poor abused and abandoned animals. www.kspath.org and www.paws-kuwait.org. Sorry don't mean to upset your weekend but this story needs all the coverage it can get.
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