Zoo supports Indian toilet

A West Lothian zoo has created a new loo with a view to help suffering women and children in India.

West Calder’s Five Sisters Zoo teamed up with the Winton Bear Foundation ( WBF) and the Toilet Twinning charity to sponsor a toilet block at the Parsauni Baij School in Bihar, India.

Many villages in that area have no latrines and culture dictates that women have to rise before dawn or wait until dark to go outside to relieve themselves.

Now zoo owners, Brian and Shirley Curran, have twinned the toilets at their Brown Bear Cafe with those at the school. It’s all in a bid to improve hygiene, reduce the possibility of bear attacks and encourage children to attend school. And it will highlight the plight of sloth bears in rural India, with many of the animals having killed or been killed in attacks.

Shirley said :“It’ s wonderful that a simple toilet can both help the needless killing of sloth bears and make such a difference to the lives of these women. We are extremely proud to have helped and raise awareness of such projects.”

WBF and Five Sisters Zoo are splitting the £240 cost of the school latrine between them and will receive a picture of the toilet block they are sponsoring together with the google map co-ordinates of where it is.

Lesley Winton, founder of WBF, said: “The Winton Foundation for the Welfare of Bears is delighted to be teaming up with the Five Sisters Zoo and Toilet Twinning to support the building of a school latrine block. The building of the toilets will not only help reduce the chances of human-bear conflict but will also help empower women and girls and encourage children to attend school.

“We are very excited to be supporting this unique initiative to help protect wildlife and help some of the world’s poorest people.”

You can find out more about the incident that inspired WBF to get involved by visiting www. facebook. com/ Win ton Bear Foundation/ posts/1200749589940616.