Why are they so upset?

There, in big yellow letters, you will see these words: "BOYCOTT THAILAND! Don't go there until chimpanzee Ola has been released!"

Just below that there is a picture of Ola. Actually it's an animated (moving) picture so Ola appears to be shaking his head. Why? Because he is supposedly answering the question that appears next to the picture. The question reads: "Ola, do your really want to stay in your Thai prison?"

Obviously, this is not the kind of publicity that makes the Tourist Authority of Thailand very happy. But what exactly has happened to make people in Sweden so unhappy with Thailand? You probably already know something about Ola from the Thai media. Below is a short summary of his story as it appeared in the Bangkok Post last July. As you read, consider the following questions.

1. How did the Swedish people first get to know Ola?
2. How did Ola come to Thailand?
3. Did he come alone?
4. Why was Ola sold and what was the purpose of the new buyer in purchasing him?
5. What specifically in Ola's treatment in Thailand do the critics in Sweden and some wildlife experts object to?
6. How did the people in Sweden find out about Ola's situation in Thailand?
7. How does Ola's owner in Thailand counter the critics' charges?
8. What do you think about the situation? What do you think should be done?

Swedish group slams chimp's treatment

The caging of Ola the chimpanzee in a private Thai zoo has led to scathing criticism from a wildlife expert and a call for the country to be boycotted by a Swedish animal rights group. The Swedish Society Against Painful Experiments on Animals, which has 55,000 members and claims to be the largest animal rights group in Scandinavia, is angry that Safari World has refused to sell Ola to a Swedish group which wants to release the primate into the wild in Zambia.

Ola, 11, was in his youth a stage performer in Sweden. As the story goes, the owner of Olands Zoo in Sweden sold Ola to Safari World when he was eight, too old to be cute. Three other female chimps were sold together with him.

Now known as Sam, he spends his days in a small cage with the three female chimps for breeding purposes.

Two Swedish artists who once performed with Ola visited him earlier this year and found it depressing that Ola and the other chimps were kept in a cage measuring five square metres and 2.5m high.

On their return to Sweden they campaigned for funds to buy the chimps to send them to Zambia.

Wildlife researcher Belinda Stewart-Cox called the restricted confinement "mental torture for these highly intelligent animals... Chimpanzees and human beings are more closely related than any other primate species, sharing over 98 percent of our genes.

"How would four physically healthy humans feel being confined to (such) a cage?" Ms Stewart-Cox asked in a letter to the Bangkok Post.

Safari World's owner Pin Kiewpaisal said he had refused to sell Ola to the Swedish group to ensure the zoo was not seen as trading in wildlife. It would also force the zoo to find other chimpanzees to continue its breeding programme.

Mr Pin said it had been Swedish people who had sold the chimpanzees via a private zoo three years ago and he wondered why there was now this campaign.

"We don't want their money and are willing to send the chimps back free of charge if evidence shows that we abuse them. But we have not done that," said Mr Pin.

He said two million baht had been spent on the cage and this had met with the approval of vets and Swedish embassy staff.

Roger Lohanan, manager of the Thai Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said the present cage is acceptable, although some improvements could be made for the chimps which had been raised in captivity.

This week's story

Why do some people feel so strongly about the treatment of animals? Several weeks ago, Bangkok Post columnist Wasant Techawongtham tried to explain. As you read, notice that his commentary was prompted (caused) partly from a renewed controversy over Ola.

Animals have their rights Commentary by Wasant Techawongtham It must seem odd to a lot of people that some people will go to great lengths and spend an abnormal amount of effort to improve the life of an animal. A few months ago, a Briton offered 50,000 baht for his cat which got lost during transit at Don Muang airport. When the feline was found, the man travelled from Britain to Thailand a second time to take her back with him. Last December, an American teenage girl found a stray dog half-paralysed after a car accident in Hua Hin, took pity on her, paid for her treatment and then found her a home in California. Just this week, a Swedish couple arrived in Thailand on a mission of love to meet a chimpanzee they consider their "godchild". Ola is being kept for breeding purposes at Safari World, which obtained the chimp from its previous owner three years ago. A decade ago, Louise Tillberg and Stephan Karlsen had taken care of Ola for a year as if he were a family member. It breaks their hearts to see the chimp incarcerated in a 3- by 4-metre cage with nothing but a tyre swing on which to play. For the past year or so, they have campaigned and raised funds to try to get Ola released from Safari World and sent to a chimpanzee sanctuary in Zambia. They had been here once before last May. But they are likely to return home empty-handed, again. These are but a few extraordinary acts of love which get publicised. Elsewhere in the world, many similar acts are performed every day unrecognised. To a great number of people, however, such behaviour is incomprehensible. Animals for them are inferior beings undeserving of human affection. They are products of nature to be exploited for human benefit, entertainment and health. It may be hard to believe but acts of cruelty against animals are rampant and tolerated in this country of Buddhism. Some monks are guilty of ignorance, if not cruelty, to the plight of animals in their care. I've seen a monkey, kept in a small cage in a temple in the North, literally gone crazy. A scene which constantly tugs at my conscience involves the transport of pigs to slaughterhouses. Usually transported by pick-up trucks, each is packed in a steel cage so small it can hardly fit. Many of these trucks travel great distances under the hot sun. By the time they reach the city periphery, the animals are usually delirious and foaming at the mouth. It's true the animals will die anyway, but why must they be subjected to this kind of torture in the last moments of their lives? Even pet owners are not all sensitive to their animals' needs. In fact, many don't know how to properly care for their pets. They usually buy the animals on impulse or as live toys for their children. But once the animals grow into adulthood and lose their baby charm, the owners lose interest and some start abusing them. Animals do not belong in cages, especially ones too small for them to move around and exercise. But many pet owners are not conscious of this fact. They want to keep the animals for their own pleasure and are too ignorant to care about their needs. Animals are entitled to live their lives in dignity and in their own habitats. And if they must die to serve our need for food, then they should at least be accorded compassionate handling. Unfortunately, there is no effective way to prevent animal cruelty. Laws can be passed against cruel acts but cruelty will go on. And it will not end until we realise that this world belongs to animals as much as to humans. December 4, 1998 go to great lengths to make a great effort to do something stray no longer having an owner or home godchild in Christianity, usually a child whose moral and religious upbringing is partly the responsibility of two chosen adults (godparents) other than his parents. In this case, however, the two adults just had responsibility for caring for the chimpanzee. incarcerated imprisoned; confined incomprehensible impossible to understand inferior of lower importance or quality (opposite of superior) affection love exploited used for your own advantage rampant very common tolerated accepted plight unpleasant or difficult situation tugs at my conscience causes to feel guilty or ashamed periphery edge foaming at the mouth having a large amount of bubbles coming out the mouth, usually as the result of a disease on impulse suddenly, without planning or careful thought

Now that you have read and thought about Mr Wasant's commentary, let's take a closer look at the methods he used to try to convince his audience. I have taught persuasive essays to many students in several countries and I have noticed a very common problem. Student essays are often not very persuasive because they are so general. For example, they are full of statements like "Students should respect their parents". What they lack is specific, concrete evidence to back such statements up.

Mr Wasant, too, began with a general statement in his title: "Animals have their rights". But take a look at the body of his commentary. It is full of supporting evidence. What was the main technique that he used to supply this evidence?

Clearly, he used examples - lots of them. Go through the story and make a list of the examples he used.

Next, consider what he was trying to prove with his examples. Can you see that his first set of examples was used to support the point he made in paragraph one? What about the second set of examples? Which paragraph do they support?

This brings us to the end of the commentary - the last three paragraphs. Notice that it is there that Mr Wasant makes his main points after having built up his case through examples. This is one of the many techniques available for writing a persuasive essay. Did you find it to be effective?

Teacher’s Note

You can do a lot with this lesson. First of all, it deals with animal rights - a subject many young people feel strongly about - so the lesson should provide a good basis for a discussion. Secondly, I have once again included two readings so that students can use the background gained from the first reading to apply to the second. Notice that the readings are examples of two different "text types", one a news story and the other a commentary.

You might want to point out that a news story has to be neutral - it cannot unfairly reflect the opinions of the writer. You will notice that in the news story I have chosen, the writer tries to give information on both sides of the issue. In a commentary, however, the writer is free to give his own opinions. In this example, the writer mentioned opposing arguments several times - but he then went on to refute them.

I hope you have time to do the follow-up exercise because this adds yet another dimension to the lesson - writing. Actually, the students will not have to write anything themselves, but they will learn how to analyse writing which is an important part of the learning process. Too often reading teachers forget that writers spend a lot of time crafting their material to make it understandable and convincing. Taking some time to look at their techniques can help your students become better writers and better readers as well.

•This lesson was prepared by Acharn Terry Fredrickson, BA Stanford, MA (TESL) University of Minnesota, Manager of the Educational Services Department at the Bangkok Post and general editor of this programme.