?Two years ago, the Carnival band Tribe was pulled up by the public for the use of live snakes in its Tuesday portrayal.
Two years before that, people were outraged when white doves were released in the middle of the night at the Queen's Park Savannah to accompany a contestant's performance for the title of Calypso Monarch. This year, why haven't Trinidadians yet learnt to respect and value animals? On Tuesday I witnessed the cruel use of a toad in a section of a band entitled The Princess and the Frog. The band member, dressed as a white devil, was holding a toad captive in his hands, despite the animal's frantic attempts to escape. He then mimed dialling on the toad's underbelly and put the animal to his ears, pretending to have a conversation through a cell phone. When a sadistic cameraman approached for a close-up of this inhumanity, the masquerader started tossing the toad into the air. The television commentators also seemed to find this amusing. What kind of behaviour is this and what kind of society does this portray?
Apart from being one of the few nations in the world that appears to be quite content with having outdated animal welfare legislation, it seems that little is being done by the National Carnival Commission (NCC) to stop the use of live animals at the Carnival displays. Why else am I seeing this for the third time? Toads are generally nocturnal, and God alone knows how long this particular animal was forced to stay awake, confined in the sweaty, smelly hands of this man on a blisteringly hot day. I seriously doubt he spared a thought to offer the animal any food or water at all and I am certain he knew nothing about the consequences of salt sensitivity and dehydration in toads. For future reference, cutaneous carbon dioxide excretion is reduced as the skin dries, causing hyperventilation in an animal already stressed from being handled. They become less able to regulate blood pH, resulting in a severe respiratory acidosis.
What about the volume of sound this animal was subjected to all day? Sounds for toads have a neural basis and travel through air, through water and through substrate. Sound is localised by the time difference when the sound reaches the ear. The "vibration spot" near the lungs also vibrates in response to sound. This poor creature did nothing to deserve being forcibly restrained in an environment where it would become confused, disoriented and violated. I wonder if the "devil" knew that when stressed, toads can let a poison seep through their skin that when swallowed can kill a large dog. Let's just hope he washed his hands. I appeal to the NCC to put standards in place for animal welfare for future generations.
?Kristel-Marie Ramnath
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