Lost kingdom
Is the poor treatment of wild cats for the sake of entertainment acceptable? Lina Mahmoud investigates feline life behind bars
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Helmi with his guard Fathi Qurany before the fateful accident that resulted in the tiger's execution; lion abuse at the Alexandria Zoo
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"I stared death in the eye," Sayed El-Helw recounted.
It was entirely unexpected. "After he finished his routine, Sayed turned his back to the tiger and sat down," recalled Ibrahim El-Helw, Sayed's relative in the renowned Helw lion taming family and a lion tamer at the Egyptian National Circus (ENC). "Then the tiger grabbed him, biting at his face. The guards came in, stabbing its back and eyes with sticks until the animal let go," he said.
Last week the tiger, Helmi, was executed by the Helw family. "We had to kill Helmi even though we bought him for LE30,000," said Ibrahim. Sayed is not the first Helw to be attacked, or Helmi the first wild cat executed. "Twenty years ago, when a circus lion killed his trainer at the ENC, Mohamed El-Helw senior, the public prosecutor issued an order to shoot the lion," Ibrahim told Al- Ahram Weekly.
Abdel-Aziz Hemeida, a member of the Local Council in Alexandria, appealed to Parliament and the public to save Helmi. "The punishment was too harsh," argued Hemeida. He pointed out that there was no law protecting animals owned by individuals, and no way to regulate their treatment. "As a result we get an incident like this, when people react quickly by killing the poor, helpless tiger."
Sayed, however, has no sympathy for Helmi. "He turned on me. He was eating me," he told the Weekly through broken teeth, his face mapped with gashes and stitches.
The incident brings to light the odious situation for wild cats and their handlers in Egypt. Boulis Magdi, a lawyer and volunteer for the Society for the Protection of Animal Rights in Egypt (SPARE), is upset not only at Helmi's execution but also at the conditions suffered by wild cats in Egypt's zoos and circuses. "For wild cats, confinement is a form of ruthless punishment they are forced to endure. They are also deprived of food or beaten if they do not follow the tamer's orders," he explained. Magdi considers the Sayed El-Helw attack as a natural reaction to the tiger's merciless treatment. "Like human beings, animals get tired and angry. And they also revolt," he said.
Fathy Qurany, a wild cat guard at the ENC for 27 years who witnessed the incident explained that "Like human beings, the cats are sometimes happy, or sometimes angry and nervous." He said the cats are uncomfortable with their cages and the heat, bored with their routines, dazed by the circus lights and frightened by the applause and tamer's whip.
The working conditions for those caring for the cats is hardly better. For example, Qurany works at a night club after he finishes his job at the ENC just to make ends meet. Loba El-Helw, daughter of famous lion tamer Mohamed El-Helw, who is currently training as a tamer expressed dissatisfaction with the conditions of the ENC. "The place is miserable. Look at the tent, the setting, the chairs; everything is poor," she lamented.
Commenting on the inhumane method used to pry the tiger off of Sayed's back, Mohamed explained that there was not enough money to even buy a tranquiliser gun. Although the government gives the ENC LE6,000 per month, it is not enough to cover the show's expenses. "We all have to work other jobs to afford costumes, props, medication and all the basic requirements of the circus," Mohamed El-Helw fumed. He said that he adds LE200 to the guard's LE100 government salary, but that still does not cover the basic necessities.
At the ENC in Cairo, scared and uneasy lions and tigers were found crammed in cages two by one and a half metres. "We are as kind as the government," said Loba. "The cages at the zoo are no better than ours."
Across town at the Giza Zoo tired guards and veterinarians were unwilling to talk about the conditions of the cats in their care. They insisted the real problem with the zoo is their low salaries. "The conditions at the Giza Zoo are quite poor," said SPARE's Magdi, "While the Egyptian zoo is one of the biggest zoos in the world the space is not used properly. Animals live in small cages while cafeterias are developed on most of the grounds," he complained. Magdi added that he receives e- mails from foreigners expressing their disquiet at the conditions in the zoo. "We feel ashamed and paralysed. Both the zoo and circus refuse any guidance, cooperation or advice," Magdi said.
At the House of Lions at the Alexandria Zoo, guards offer extra services to the public to supplement there meagre income. For 25 piasters you can feed a lion with a stick or, for the more courageous, walk right up to the cage. And for a memorable picture, the guard will pull a baby lion out of the cage for your child to sit on. One couple wanted the tiger to stand up on his hind legs and roar so that the woman "could feel the strength of the animal". For a little baksheesh, the guard gladly slid his metal stick through the bars of the cage, hitting at the animal until it performed.
The guard, who preferred anonymity, lamented "I have to act like a clown to get an extra couple of pounds a day." Although he has worked at the zoo for 10 years, his salary is no more than LE90 a month. "I have four kids and my wife doesn't work," he said. In addition to his duties at the cage, he must come in on Fridays to slaughter six donkeys and cook them for the lions. "If you want some good pictures why don't you come by when I'm covered with blood," he offered.
The guard thinks the cats are better off than he is. "They eat well. Each lion gets eight kilos of meat a day. I care for them as if they were babies." He is not afraid of the beasts though. "They know my voice and my smell. That's why they don't hurt me," he said confidently. Instead he fears "poverty and illness. I am afraid I won't be able to afford school for my kids. I am not afraid of lions or tigers. They can't be fiercer than the conditions of my life," he said.
Conditions for wild cats in the private sector look no better than those in the government's care. At the Lion Village on the Cairo-Alexandria highway, two lion cages sit at the entrance. One is full of water from an artificial waterfall that two lions share the cage with. The second cage is very small and holds an uneasy tiger that incessantly prowls back and forth in the cage. Both cages are guarded by a 13 year-old boy.
The "village" is full of lions and tigers in small cages who recoil at the sight of their teenage guards, and one of the lions is clearly injured. And, although the animals eat once a day, they are forced to fast twice a week to keep their bodies fit. Magdi believes any circus or show with wild animals should be boycotted. He argues, "while some may laugh at this, people should have mercy. It should be painful to watch animals being tormented and punished. Sometimes human beings act more savagely than the wildest beasts."
