RELIGION & ANIMALS
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:
Self-styled Santerian priest Rigoberto
Zamora, 58, was charged July 18 with four counts
of felony cruelty for killing 11 birds, three goats, and
a lamb in his Miami Beach apartment on June 26,
1993. Zamora, whose priestly credentials are chal-
lenged by other Santerians, staged the slaughter to
celebrate a U.S. Supreme Court ruling two weeks ear-
lier that bans on animal sacrifice per se violate the
First Amendment right to freedom of religion. The
court left intact anti-cruelty statutes, which may
affect where and how sacrifices are made, without
prohibiting them outright.
Afflicted with an inflamed stomach,
Shin, a 10-year-old Himalayan snow leopard who
lives at the San Francisco Zoo, hadn’t eaten in two
weeks as of June 10, when she was visited by 11
Tibetan monks from Gyuto Tantric University in
Tenzin Gang, India. The monks performed a five-
minute puja for her––a healing chant. Reported Jorge
Aquino of Religion News Service, who photographed
the event, “As the monks began their blessing, Shin
came down from her 15-foot perch and sat down to
face the monks. She watched and listened, apparent-
ly transfixed.” Shortly after the chant ceased, she
resumed eating her regular rations.
The 1,200-year-old wooden pagoda i n
Nara, Japan, remains sturdy, reports Korean
researcher Ahn Young-joon, because it is made from
Thujupis dolabrata cypress wood, which includes
chemicals repellant to rats, termites, and many
wood-eating microorganisms. One such chemical,
carvacrol, shows promise as a non-toxic coating to
protect electrical cables.
