Tibetan community honoured with Venu Menon National Animal Award
Wednesday, 20 February 2008, 3:12 p.m.
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Dharamshala: Tibetan Community
has been awarded the 10th Venu Menon National Animal Award for coming
out strongly against wildlife crime and its pro-wildlife approach, at a
function held yesterday in New Delhi.
The Venu Menon National Animal Awards commemorates excellence in animal welfare and was started in 1999.
Other recipients of the award included six individuals and two
organizations for making a difference to the lives of animals by acts
of kindness and extraordinary courage.
Kalon Tempa Tsering, representative of His Holiness the Dalai
Lama, based in New Delhi, accepted the award on behalf of the
community.
In the wake of His Holiness the Dalai Lamaïž’s appeal, Tibetan
people across the globe, especially in Tibet have shunned the practice
of using animal skins such as tiger, leopard or otter skins to trim
their clothes.
Such initiatives from the people in Tibet have received huge
appreciation and acknowledgement from international wildlife
conservation organisations.
Today there are only few Tibetans in Tibet most of whom are
government cadres still using animal skin. They are in fact being
forced by the Chinese authorities to do so if they wish to keep their
jobs. Most consumers in Tibet today are Chinese tourists buying skins
to decorate their houses or as a gifts to their friends.