(Lower pic added by B.S. Report)
(CNN) — As many as 10,000 albinos are in hiding in east Africa over fears that they will be dismembered and their body parts sold to witchdoctors, the Red Cross said in a recent report.
The killings of albinos in Burundi and Tanzania, who are targeted because their body parts are believed to have special powers, have sparked fears among the population in the two countries, the report said.
Body parts of albinos are sought in some regions of Africa because they are believed to bring wealth and good luck. Attackers chop off limbs and pluck out organs to sell to dealers, who in turn sell them to witchdoctors.
Scores of albinos have fled to Tanzanian schools for the disabled or in emergency shelters set up by police in Burundi to avoid attacks, according to the report. (Read more.)
Being considered "lucky" isn't all that it's cracked up to be...
B.S. Report–Albino parts bring good luck? Their parts haven’t necessarily brought good luck to albinos. They’re prone to vision problems and susceptible to skin cancer. And depending upon which third-world area they happen to be in, they are thought of as either evil or magical.
It’s really a drag when those who worship you want to murder you so they can use you in a witchdoctor’s potion. In other words, they are looked at similar to Rhinos’ horns, elephants’ ivory, or the sexual organs of many animals as cure-alls for all sorts of maladies. Yep, being an albino is sure lucky… Leave the poor albinos alone–get a rabbit’s foot–there’s always plenty of rabbits.
Here’s a famous albino that’s done pretty well for himself…Edgar Winter. (As well as his older brother, Johnny.)
