Friday 5 July 2019

How inhumane can humans get? - Animal cruelty in india

For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love. - Pythagorus 


While growing up I have always been a person excessively emotionally attached to dogs. As I grew up, I realized it’s a cruel world out there. Humans don’t care about humans; forget other species. I saw pets getting abused, I saw street dogs and animals getting maimed around me and on social media; for no reason at all. The web is filled with videos of people abusing street dogs, beating them, teasing them just for amusement and mere views. One of the most common forms of animal cruelty is the abandonment of pets and domestic animals. As pet owners fail to understand and control the behaviour of their pets when they go around chewing shoes and furniture, barking or urinating in the wrong places. They give up hope and abandon them.

Well, it is our responsibility to spend some time with them and train them. It will take some patience and a lot of love. But remember, just like we learn as we grow old, animals also learn as they grow.  Apart from pet abuse, every day, countless cats, dogs and other animals suffer and die at the hands of the very people who are supposed to care for and protect them. Physical violence, emotional abuse and life-threatening neglect are daily realities for many animals. Their only hope is that a kind person will speak up before it’s too late.

People who abuse animals are cowards, they take their issues out on the most defenceless victims available and their cruelty often crosses species lines. Research in psychology and criminology shows that animal abusers tend to repeat their crimes as well as commit similar offences against members of their own species. This phenomenon is known to law-enforcement and humane professionals as "the link". People who hurt animals don’t stop with animals. There is an established link between cruelty to animals and violence towards humans. Studies have shown that violent and aggressive criminals are more likely to have abused animals as children than criminals who are considered non-aggressive. A survey of psychiatric patients who had repeatedly tortured dogs and cats found that all of them had high levels of aggression toward people as well.

The shocking number of animal cruelty cases reported every day is just the tip of the iceberg. Most cases are never reported. Unlike violent crimes against people, cases of animal abuse are not compiled by state or central agencies, making it difficult to calculate just how common they are. There’s no question that social media has benefited animal advocacy in remarkable ways over the last decade. Activists and sometimes people like us are using platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to organize protests, promote veganism, distribute online petitions, announce campaign updates, post news about animals ready for adoption, share animal rights documentaries, and much more.

Here are some cases shared on social media, where people didn't even consider animals to be living beings.
- A pregnant goat was gang-raped by 8 men in Haryana.
29 July 2018: A pregnant goat that went missing and was later found dead by the owner was stolen and abused by the accused at a deserted house, following which the animal died. One of the accused even met the owner of the goat and admitted that he had raped her and said that he had a nice time.
- A female street dog was raped by a man inside his home in Kolkata.
17 July 2018: A 35-year-old man was arrested for allegedly having sex with a dog. The accused lured the dog into his house and tied its mouth with a rope. A couple of men passing by saw the accused luring the dog and sensed something wrong. After following him to his house, they broke open a window and caught the man having sex with the dog.
- A man had unnatural sex with three cows in Vadodara.
17 January 2018: A man in Vadodara who worked as a labourer at a cow shed allegedly indulged in unnatural sex with three cows. Later in the morning, the owner found that the legs of three cows were tied with rope and one was lying dead.
- Eleven langurs were brutally killed and dumped near a highway in Rajasthan.
12 January 2018: Eleven monkeys were found killed near the National Highway-8, about 66 km from Jaipur, in Rajasthan. Forest officials said they were beaten with sticks and then splashed with an abrasive chemical, probably an acid.
- A cow was run over by a police vehicle in Chhattisgarh.
26 July 2018: A police patrol vehicle crushed a cow that was crossing the road. According to the eyewitnesses, the cow's leg got stuck under its wheel. People gathered to save her but the cops seemed determined to kill her. They ran over her again and again.
- A street dog was left to die when workers poured hot tar on it while it was sleeping.
15 June 2018: A street dog was sleeping on the road when the construction workers poured hot burning tar on it while they were fixing the Fatehabad road at Phool Sayed crossing in Agra. It caused half of its body to be buried alive and was then left to die.
- Telangana municipality allegedly poisoned 100 street dogs.
24 June 2019: In Siddipet, Telangana, reportedly about 100 dogs were killed by poisoning over two days, some found dumped in a landfill. The act was allegedly carried out on the orders of Siddipet municipality to bring the growing population of street dogs under control.

Some steps taken in the right direction
-    The Indian Government is also considering a proposal to enhance the penalty structure under the Prevention to Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 in a bid to revamp the animal welfare laws. The Indian Government may direct its environment ministry, a ministry currently overlooking animal welfare and prevention of cruelty to animals, to prepare a draft amendment to the 1960 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act with a provision to increase the current penalty set at mere Rs 50 (less than a dollar) to inflation-adjusted amounts up to Rs 6,000 ($84).
According to the current provisions, the Section 11 of the Act states that a penalty of up to Rs 50 is to be levied against any person or group of persons engaging in any act of cruelty to animals. The definition of cruelty includes animal beating, torturing, mutilating, kicking or starving. Activists believe that the up to Rs 6000 penalty in the offing will serve as a credible deterrent against acts of cruelty meted to animals by humans.
-    A German circus has stopped using real-life animals in its performances and changed to holograms instead. Circus Roncalli, which was founded in 1976, uses 3D holographic images to fill the whole arena which is 32 meters (105ft) wide and 5 meters (16ft) deep. Clever special effects produced by 11 different projectors mean the whole audience can see elephants, horses and even a goldfish. The circus started out using real animals but gradually phased them out, replacing them with the futuristic technology instead. Founder Bernhard Paul, invested more than £400,000 to perfect the light show. The decision to do so has been widely praised on social media.

Animals and birds have legal rights, just as humans, declared the Punjab and Haryana High Court in an exceptional judgement. It further declared citizens as the “guardians of the animal kingdom” with a duty to ensure their welfare and protection. Justice Rajiv Sharma, in his order, said, “All the animals have honour and dignity. Every species has an inherent right to live and is required to be protected by law. The rights and privacy of animals are to be respected and protected from unlawful attacks. The Corporations, Hindu idols, holy scriptures, rivers have been declared legal entities, and thus, to protect and promote greater welfare of animals including avian and aquatic, animals are required to be conferred with the status of legal entity/legal person. The animals should be healthy, comfortable, well-nourished, safe, able to express innate behaviour without pain, fear and distress. They are entitled to justice. The animals cannot be treated as objects or property.”

Communities must recognize that abuse to any living being is unacceptable and endangers everyone. Teaching children to empathize with other living beings from an early age, both in schools and by leading through example, is hugely important. Kind parents who go out of their way to help animals in need can inspire future generations to make compassionate choices, and educational establishments also play an important role.

It’s easy to feel despair when we hear about people who deliberately maim, torture or kill animals. But just as cruelty and cowardice are the causes of such behaviour, so courage and kindness are needed to combat it. It takes courage to speak out if you suspect that an animal is being harmed. If you believe an animal is in imminent danger, please contact your local police and/or immediately. When the police are investigating incidents of cruelty, PETA often offers a reward to encourage people to come forward with information.

One of the ways we can help and lend our voices to good causes is by signing petitions. Such petitions are sent to people in powerful positions that can make a change, especially when they see just how many people stand behind the cause. We can demand change, justice, and stop tragedies by speaking up and doing our part. I would like to end this blog with the message next time you think about mistreating an animal, remember animals can’t even communicate with us to complain. Don’t keep the animals forcefully captive.
                                                            Love them and they will love us back. 

4 comments:

  1. This is hard to read, but somewhere this is all happening around us. Penalty of Rs 50 is noting but just a joke in the name of law! This is utterly shameful how some sexually frustrated men are even doing this inhuman activities. And the biggest irony of hinduism is " Gaye hamari mata hai" ! This is INCREDIBLE INDIA.

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