Dr. Sheikh Mohd Yaseen Jani and Dr Shweta Raghav
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”. – Mahatma Gandhi.
The Indian tradition and culture has always provided respect and a special place for animals in the society. All religions preach compassion and kindness to the animals. The world’s major religions even decree that righteous people take good care of their animals. With such a rich culture and heritage, there was no need for animal welfare organizations to exist, as each home would have been an animal welfare institution in itself. But as the times changed and with the advent of consumerism, urbanization and population explosion animals are easy prey for human greed. Irrespective of the age, animals are killed for leather, meat and tallow. Calves are kept hungry and emaciated while the cow’s milk is sold in the markets for human consumption. Animals meant for slaughter are made to walk long distance or carted in trucks/ tempos that don’t have adequate space for the animals to even stand properly, as a result lot of animals die due to sheer exhaustion and some due to suffocation. The cows and buffaloes, let loose by dairy owners after extracting the milk are seen loitering or sitting right in the middle of busy streets and eating from the garbage, which consist of plastic, paper and sometimes even pins, hooks, or battery cells. The consumption of plastic in large quantity by cows sometimes leads to impaction of the gastrointestinal tract which if not treated medicinally or surgically, unfortunately leads to death of the animal. Similarly donkeys used for carrying loads are let loose to eat from the garbage dumps.It is quite common to see community dogs or cats living in residential colonies. This is because due to very fast urbanization all the open spaces are getting used up for construction of residential complexes, and the animals like dogs and cats living on these open areas are getting displaced. The residents that occupy these residential buildings find these animals to be a nuisance and want them evicted.
A lot has been written about the issue of animal rights recently especially after the news about 13 year old Shaktiman, a Uttarakhand police horse, who lost its leg after sustaining serious injuries during protest in Dehradun on March 14, 2016 and another news came just a day after this horrible incident about a man who allegedly stabbed to death three stray dogs and a puppy outside Green Park metro station in south Delhi on March 15, 2016. Both of these incidents were filmed on camera, the latter on CCTV.
With so many animal issues and so many animals on the streets, the need of the day is to have several animal welfare societies in each community to look after all the sick and injured animals. NGOs (Non-government organizations) who are running the ABC (Animal Birth Control) centres also treat the sick, injured animals or house the abandoned animals with very meagre means and facilities. The Government of India is trying to encourage setting up of an SPCA (Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) in each district of the country, but there are few takers.
Types of animal rights
Taking into account all the sufferings inflicted upon the animals around us, we are left to wonder what can we do to stop this? It leads us to the issue of animal rights. But what exactly are animal rights? Does it mean that the animals should have a right not to be eaten or to be treated more humanely? Philosophers identify at least three categories of rights: legal rights, natural rights and moral rights. The Prevention of Cruelty Animals Act, 1960; The Performing Animal Rules, 1973; The Prevention of Cruelty to Draught and Pack Animals Rules, 1965; The Transport of Animals Rules, 1965 etc. are few of the animal rights which cover the legal aspect of “animal rights” part. But while these laws set rules and standards for how human beings may treat animals, they do not necessarily create “animal rights.” This is because, under our legal system, animals traditionally have been viewed as property and cannot themselves, under conventional wisdom be the holders of rights. Fortunately as more cases to protect animals come to court, this “property” view of animals is beginning to change. For the present. however, animal protection laws are not the basis for our assertion of “animal rights.”
The second category of rights, natural rights, is more difficult to define than the first. Natural rights, generally, are derived from personal beliefs about the nature of humanity, or from the will of a divine creator as revealed in religious writings. Therefore, while a strong case could be made that animals do have natural rights, these are not the rights we refer to when we speak of “animal rights”.
The third category of rights is moral rights. Moral rights derive from two sources: our understanding of the basic characteristics and needs of human beings; and our fundamental belief in the justness and fairness. In general, moral rights are the unstated rules of conduct humanity has developed to guide interpersonal behaviour and to assure that each person in a society will have the opportunity for a satisfying existence. Inevitably, the rights come into conflict. When they do, justness and fairness compel us to weigh one right against the other and, after due consideration decide which one is of overriding value. This is the way our system of moral rights works and it is the basis for our assertion of “animal rights”. Thus animals should be included within the same fabric of moral protection that governs our behaviour towards one another. Like human beings, animals also have intrinsic value along with essential physical and behavioural requirements which, if denied will lead to stress and suffering. Thus, legal statutes or theories of nature do not form the basis of animal rights rather it is the same system of justice and fairness which are the foundation of human moral rights.
Fundamental animal rights
* Freedom from hunger and thirst- by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour.
* Freedom from discomfort- by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area.
* Freedom from pain, injury or disease- by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment.
* Freedom from fear and distress- by ensuring condition and treatment which avoid mental suffering.
In practical terms, it means that before we make use of any animal, wild or domestic, we should ask whether our use will infringe on any of the animal’s rights. If it will, we should weigh our desires and needs against those of the animals giving equal consideration to each- to see which is of overriding value. Caring for animal welfare means providing the right food, in the right quantities, in the right way, giving animals all the time they need to eat. It also means raising them in pastures rather than in cages or crates, breeding them responsibly and providing food medical treatment- they shouldn’t be pumped full of harmones or other substances to make them bigger and therefore more profitable for the producers.
In conclusion “animal rights” is important as it helps us focus on the true needs and intrinsic value of animals. It is different, in this sense, from loving animals or being kind to them. The understanding of animal rights helps us to shift our focus away from human motivations and towards actual requirements of animals as their requirements are varied and some are more important than the others, but when we recognize them as rights, we have a moral obligation to give them fair consideration. In this way, “animal rights” helps move us beyond kindness, toward.
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com
Follow our WhatsApp channel