Faith and Ecology Knowledge Centre

Prayer animal release is the mainly Buddhist and Taoist practice of releasing animals as a religious observance. It can be practiced by individuals or in larger temple organized events which may involve the release of hundreds or thousands of animals at one time. Practitioners usually hope to gain merit or good “karma” in return for their compassionate freeing of captive animals. Merit can take many forms including health and long life for practitioners and their families, favour for deceased relatives, or success in gaining wealth or buying new assets such as a house or car. Practitioners believe that the animals themselves and the ecosystems into which they are released also benefit. It has several different names reflecting the various local and regional traditions, mercy release, merit release and religious release being just a few of these. It is most common in Asia, but is practiced all over the world including the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the USA. Globally, the practice of prayer animal release contributes to the capture and release of millions of animals and involves the turnover of millions of dollars in revenue.

Prayer animal release has numerous actual and potential negative effects that are at odds with the intended compassion. Animals intended for release are often captured from the wild, obtained from live animal markets or sometimes ordered from specialist suppliers. They can be kept for a long time in poor conditions until an auspicious time for release. This can cause a huge amount of suffering for animals and many animals die during capture and holding. Moreover, limited oversight means this may contribute to the illegal wildlife trade, and endangered species are often captured and released, threatening already precarious native populations. Many release animals are invasive species which themselves have many harmful impacts potentially further threatening vulnerable animal populations and ecosystems. Animals may also be released into unsuitable environments, such as wild animals released into urban situations or marine fish released into fresh water, so many die even after release. Overall, the negative impacts of prayer release far outweigh any perceived benefits.

Magellan (2019) details what is currently known about prayer animal release, particularly from an aquatic and invasive species perspective. Agoranoorthy & Hsu (2005) also focus on the problems of invasive species being released. Shui & Stokes (2008) provides a clear account of the history of, and motivation for, prayer animal release. Two policy briefs (Awoyemi et al 2012, 2016), produced by the Religion and Conservation Biology Working Group for the Society of Conservation Biology, show how our understanding of prayer animal release is evolving and provide recommendations for changing the practice and potential alternatives to be more aligned with conservation aims.

Lui et al (2012, 2013) detail two comprehensive studies of invasive species released via prayer animal release in China and conclude that ecological education is the best way to prevent environmental impacts. Finally, and especially relevant during a global pandemic, Gutiérrez et al (2011) demonstrate the potential impacts to human health through prayer animal release.