Missing Seals Pippito and Rocky
November 11, 2010
I ride my bicycle to work every day. But for some months, something is bothering me every day. A local businessman has a foundation that he uses to purchase and keep rare animals. I came aware of this 3 years ago when I saw he kept a group of flamingo’s in his backyard. I always thought this was very wrong and strange to keep flamingo’s. I accepted it because everyone seemed to do.
Last year again on my way to work I was very suprised to see the man also owned a camel now. A camel? These animals walk for miles at one day in a desert climate. And I believe camels live in a herd like horses and other hoofed animals. But not this one, this one is kept in a enclosure together with goose, ducks, peacocks and donkies. The poor camel looks miserable and very unhappy.
After this I thought I saw it all! Until the morning of the 16th of September 2010. The man had been working on a pond as big as a car and lets say 1 meter deep. That morning the pond was filled with water and 2 grown grey seals were swimming in it. I was very agitated about this. As soon as I arrived at work I called my mum to discuss this with her.
She immediatly decided to call Lenie ‘t Hart, a prominent patron and rescuer of dutch seals. She was very agitated with this news and was planning to take action. Lenie kept in touch with my mum and she started calling the man to tell him that seals don’t belong in someone`s backyard. At first he felt that he wasn’t doing anything wrong. He even advertised with those seals for his Fish Stall.
Lenie didn’t gave up and kept calling and harrasing him. He explained to Lenie that he exchanged the seals for a group of African penguins with a french zoo. He thought there were no laws against keeping seals. The Dutch media found out and the man even gave an interview on national tv.
After a week of Lenie’s calls he was sick and tired of it. He told Lenie to pick up the seals. Around the same time the AIVD (the General information and security service) was planning to seize the seals on saturday that week. One way or another he got tipped of and made sure the seals were gone.
On saturday when the AIVD started the seize, they were missing. He wasn’t willing to tell them were the seals were now.
After all of this a lot of other things came to the surface. For example, the AIVD seized more animals of the man in the past. Like deathhead monkeys also called squirrel monkeys, a cougar, a lynx and some endangered singing birds. On the moment he’s keeping kangaroo’s, a maccow parrot, otters, endangered penguins, the camel and the flamingo’s.
I hope after reading this people come forward with new information and that the seals Pippito and Rocky can start a new life with Lenie ‘t Hart or another organisation. Pippito and Rocky are only six years old and been moved around for 4 times in their young lifes. Wouldn’t it be great to see them in open water together with there own kind? I also want to ask the man to be honest and to do the right thing for all of his animals. We will not forget about Pippito and Rocky!
Yes he has to be stopped, there should be better laws for animals.
Comment by mam — November 12, 2010 @ 12:19 pm