Let me start this article with some recent incidents of barbaric behavior towards animals. In September 2016, a video of a man beating a sleeping dog to death went viral. In January 2017, a man named Mamun-ur-Rashid directed a teenager to kill a puppy in a cruel manner in Savar. The puppy was tortured till death. The man filmed the act and uploaded it on his Facebook page and Youtube channel. On May 1, 2017, a panicked mob beat to death a fishing cat, locally known as “mechho bagh”, in Kushtia. On October 25, 2017, a man buried two dogs and 14 puppies alive in Rampura, Dhaka. Just tips of the iceberg as they say.When will cruelty to animals end?
A nations progress isnt only defined by economic advancement alone, it also depends on its humanity and willingness to treat other living creatures with kindness
Syed Mehdi Momin
Let me start this article with some recent incidents of barbaric behavior towards animals. In September 2016, a video of a man beating a sleeping dog to death went viral. In January 2017, a man named Mamun-ur-Rashid directed a teenager to kill a puppy in a cruel manner in Savar. The puppy was tortured till death. The man filmed the act and uploaded it on his Facebook page and Youtube channel. On May 1, 2017, a panicked mob beat to death a fishing cat, locally known as mechho bagh, in Kushtia. On October 25, 2017, a man buried two dogs and 14 puppies alive in Rampura, Dhaka. Just tips of the iceberg as they say.
The sheer apathy nay cruelty showed by many among us towards animals is nothing short of despicable. From little children to adults almost everyone has at least once kicked a sleeping dog merely for the twisted pleasure they get out of a yelping dog. What we as a nation are failing to realize is that these creatures are part of our ecosystem and as they go extinct, the human race endangers itself.
The greatness of a nation is judged by the way it treats its animals, Mahatma Gandhi. By the standard of the Mahatma we must be judged rather poorly as a nation. Cruelty towards animals is seemingly ingrained in our genes. Cruelty to animals is so common here that no one notices it. Perhaps it is be a symptom of deeper psychological malaise.
A bill titled Animal Welfare Bill 2019 was recently passed in the parliament, aiming to stop cruelty towards animals and defining the duties of their owners. The proposed law replaced the previous The Cruelty to Animals Act, 1920. This bill was a long time coming. Setting aside the legal argument against animal cruelty, harming defenseless animals is immoral and goes against every definition of what it means to be human. Despite the passing of the Animal Welfare Act, stray animals continue to face cruelty of various forms across the nation, whether it be dogs being culled en masse, or being subjected to random acts of violence on the streets. What is worse is that the perpetrators almost always seem to get away.
Defying the laws cruelty to animals will continue unless there is a change in collective mindset. Many if not most people in Bangladesh just dont understand that birds and animals have emotions and can feel pain and joy. In fact if anyone protests against these kinds of wanton cruelty they are ridiculed and harassed. Even acts of kindness towards animals are looked upon with some degree of scorn and suspicion. There is this gentleman who regularly feeds the monkeys of old Dhaka. He told this writer he had to face incredulity initially and later even hostility from the local people. We are more often than not mute witnesses to acts of animal cruelty happening all around us.
Kids throwing rocks at a stray donot to mention other despicable thingsthrowing warm water on a domestic cat, catching house sparrows and killing them, breaking beautiful nests of birds is common. Many rural teens adventure consist of drowning with water fox-caves and if any manage to escape through sheer desperation beat it to death. And can we blame them? Not really, because their fathers and grandfathers did the same thing in their childhood. Pregnant cows are killed off and the meat of both the unborn calf and the cow is sold. Bullock carts are forced to carry way more goods and people than can be reasonably expected of them. To top it they are beaten mercilessly by the riders if they slag even slightly. The farmers beating bullocks during ploughing is another common scene. The bullocks used to operated the mustard oil press face similar abuse. Greedy milkmen sell off the milk (never forgetting to adding water and other spurious elements by the way) often depriving the new born calves.
Dozens of foxes are slaughtered everyday because it is believe that fox meat is a sure-fire cure for arthritis and other pain-related ailments. Bats are massacred because their meat supposedly cures asthma and other bronchial diseases. And it would take a long list to cover all the animalssome exotic and endangeredanimals who have to die for the bogus claim of them having aphrodisiac properties. Sweet water dolphins have been killed of to extinction for supposedly having medicinal qualities. Same has been the fate of Pangoli or Bon Ruis.
Killing an animal does not require any reason to kill animals. We often hear about exotic fish or other sea animals swept ashore only to be killed by the locals. The various animals are made to do stupid acts to thrill people. In fact these animals undergo starvation and beatings before they learn to perform an act.
Studies have shown high correlations between animal abuse and domestic violence. Many who take out their fury on defenseless animals are deeply disturbed, incapable of handling their emotions in a mature way and, often enough, capable of committing violence against other people. Public safety officials should look for a way to create some sort of program for those convicted of animal abuse that helps them understand their rage and violent impulses and gives them the tools to correct their behavior.
Thankfully the number of snake charmers, monkey and bear displayers are fading out. But they are disappearing for economic reasons rather than moral ones. The circuses continue to be popular. The circuses display a mockery of the magnificence of animals like the lion or the elephant. A nations progress isnt only defined by economic advancement alone, it also depends on its humanity and willingness to treat other living creatures with kindness.
Human beings and animals have been co-existing since the earliest days. The interaction between human and non-human animals fascinates everyone from anthropologists to the average pet owner. It even has a name anthrozoology. for humans to consistently live with and nurture animals is a most unusual trait in nature. So a strong, fact-based discussion of how and why we do this and its effects should be eye-opening, engaging and thought-provoking. In egalitarian, hunter-gatherer societies, animals could be brought into the family and kept temporarily before being eaten or sacrificed, or perhaps kept more permanently. As these societies gave way to stratified, agricultural societies, the animals that were kept depended on their benefit to the household at that time. During this period, keeping domesticated animals became a status symbol leading to the rise of pets. Part of their appeal, says Bradshaw (on little evidence), is an atavistic liking of stroking and grooming the fur of another, which he believes played a role in our ancestral, furry past (we lost most of it some 1.6 million years ago) as it does now among non-human primates. There will always be disagreements on where to draw the line between justifiable use of animals and unconscionable exploitation.
Many people respond to any animal rights debate by saying that this country does not provide basic human rights and animal rights is the last thing which should be on anyones mind. However, what most of them fail to realize is that without animals, there might not be any humans left in the not so distant future.
It can be argued that the common man here does not have the awareness and education to think about the above mentioned factors. However, isnt it all the more reason to start thinking about such matters and teach our children at a young age? The general public needs to be made aware of the hazards of animal cruelty. It is not only the responsibility of only media houses to ensure this but also the duty of each and every individual of our society.
The writer is Senior Assistant Editor of The Independent
