Ever since the human civilization has started to bloom, in every civilization animals have been treated with due care, respect and love as fellow living beings. Some of them used to be worshipped even-like cow, goat, buffalo, some species of birds, dog etc.
And even if they were started to be domesticated, they were used to be look after sincerely. Animals have always provided humans with much needed companionship.
Every living being, whether big or small was created to serve a specific purpose in this natural ecology, called Earth. And, in olden days we used to respect and follow these rules of nature without a fail.
But, now we have started thinking that all the space and resources nature has provided us with, belongs to humans only. And infected with this misconception, we started abusing animals to the extreme sufferings.
But, we can’t undermine the fact that pushing them to extreme abuse and cruelty sometimes can turn them offensive for their self defense. And this is harmful for both; the animals as well as the humans.
Table of Contents
Beginning, Definition & Forms Of Animal Abuse
Since the time immemorial, animals have been inseparable part of human cultures across the world. And their existence has greatly helped and shaped our cultures to evolve.
Over the ages, we kept on developing and improving our living standards and getting attracted strongly towards material things. But, simultaneously we became more and drier of emotional feelings not just towards each other, but also towards the animals. The feelings of love, compassion, empathy towards them has been slowly fading.
And this indifference and dryness of feelings towards animals took form of animal abuse. The pressure & stress exerted by modern day challenges in our life has made us cruel and apathetic towards these innocent beings. And, we started treating them as badly as we could. Despite knowing that, they can’t even complain against all this.
Animal abuse can be defined as treating animals improperly and with cruelty. It may also take form of using them for wrong and bad purposes.
Following are the most common form of Animal Abuse
- Killing animals for food, skin and other parts of their body.
- Training them to serve our needs or for the purpose of entertainment like organizing animal fights which left them severely injured.
- Capturing them from their wild habitat, and selling as pets in exotic pet trade.
- Using them as apparatus for scientific/clinical experiments in laboratories.
- Keeping them in suffocated, unhygienic and extremely small enclosures, for the
Purpose of breeding or transportation, where they often die of suffocation.
- Beating them mercilessly, ill-feeding or sometimes starving them to death.
- Keeping them as captives and neglecting their needs and sensitivities.
Besides these there are also other treatments to animals at various places which qualify as Animal Abuse. Like tying the elephants with heavy iron chains at the temples of south India to display them at Mysore Dussehra festival during celebrations, exposing them to the torturous sounds of firecrackers during Diwali celebrations, torturing them to learn various acrobatics, castrating them, separating a new born calf from his/her mother to be sold, leaving the old age non milchy cows roaming on the streets and eating garbage or selling them to the slaughter houses, and many more other such apathetic acts.
Peta & Other Organisations Making Effort
Though these dumb and vulnerable creatures can’t complain against the plight we inflict on them, but they do have rights. They have right to life, to live freely, and to be treated well as humans have. Considering this fact, several organizations and individuals have started raising their voices against such abusive treatment towards the animals.
One such very active and highly praised organization is PETA—“People for Ethical Treatment of Animals”, based in Norfolk, Virginia U.S.A. this and other such organizations make efforts to encourage people to be vegan i.e. vegetarian, minimize their use of accessories made of animal fur, skins or other body parts, discourage peoples to captivate them, providing efficient veterinary services to the animals in need etc.
They organize various programs, plays, Nukkad Nataks displaying plight of these animals. Various orientation lectures and drives are also organized in schools, colleges and other educational institutions to make children aware and sensitive towards the feelings of these creatures. People are encouraged through various means to take initiatives in these directions for saving animals from cruelty and abuse.
Though there is no lack of protective laws worldwide for animals, but what lacks is the will to implement them. We need stringent punishment for those who treat animals abusively.
These organizations also help governments and animal welfare institutions by way of bringing to their notice various loopholes in these laws. And help them making these laws more binding, powerful and effective.
Conclusion
The Mother Nature created ecology and rules of life on the Earth, to be followed by all the living beings. These rules were made to allow all of them lead a life of their choice with full liberty, but in harmony with each other.
But, we the humans, being considered most gifted and advanced species on Earth, started treating them badly for our narrow selfish interests. We have been inflicting torture on them through abusive treatment, from decades. And still we don’t even bother to realize their plight.
But, now it’s high time that we realize our ethical responsibility sincerely and start treating the animals as living beings instead of lifeless commodities. We need to be compassionate and kind to them, as they also have feelings and sensitivities like, we do. We are supposed to be the voice of these speechless creatures instead of suppressing it.
Although several serious efforts are being made in this direction to ensure just and dignified treatment towards animals, but we haven’t achieved anything substantial so far.
For making world a better place to live in, we must ensure that our fellow living beings and our companions for ages are treated well. We need to upgrade and diversify our efforts in this direction as soon as possible.
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