Abused Animals: Human Responsibility
Animals are some of the most beautiful creations of the world. They are really the assets of the universe. Animals have every right to live freely in the world. They are of infinite varieties of color and shape. They live in thick forests, jungles, deserts, in snow filled areas and in different climatic conditions. We obtain valuable costly materials from them which are of immense value. However, abused animals are today a reality as it was in the past.
Animal abuse is a term that has been explained in different ways by different people. Some consider any pain caused to animals as abuse, except in the attempt of self-defense from the attack of animals. However, we may require a practical and working explanation of the term animal abuse. Man has been harnessing animal from time immemorial for various purposes. They and their products are part of the diet of man the world over. Their help is sought in travel and carrying goods. They have been used in clinical trials in laboratory before the medicines are tried on man. In all these instances, which cannot be avoided , it is absolutely necessary that all methods within the means of man are tried to avoid the suffering caused to them or make sure that they suffer the least.
Animal abuse is often the result of commission and omission. In other words, they are willfully inflicted by others or they are the result of neglect or ignorance. In all the areas where animals are used by man abuse has occurred in the past and do occur now. It is good to examine some of the key areas of abuse.
One of the areas of animal abuse is the way in which the animals are kept as pets or domestic animals for economic gain. Many owners of pets and domestic animals are not aware of the original habitat of the animal that they keep in their house. Breeds of cattle that are exotic when transported to another country do not have the proper environmental ambience and consequently they suffer. Some times large dogs are kept in small kennels with standing room only. This imprisonment is intolerable to them. Our aquariums in which we keep the fish often turn out to be the torture chambers for the fish. Many fish need large ranging areas, special food and temperature conditions. In addition to these there is the issue of compatibility with the other fish in the tank.
Our zoos and circuses are helpful for us to see the animals at close quarters. However, many animals in the zoos and circuses are kept in tine cells. The animals which need huge ranging areas living years and years together in confined areas is a terrible experience for them. In many zoos the dietary requirements of the animals are not taken in to account. In some case the allocated food supply do not reach the animal. This warrants the need for some civil architectural modifications for our zoos and supervisory controls of the workers of the zoo. In circus many animals are made to do stunts that they find it difficult to do. A huge animal like elephant made to stand on a stool in circus or made to stand on its hind leg is enjoyable to the observer but we are not aware of the subliminal sadism behind it.
Even when we consider that slaughtering animals is necessary for man’s survival, there is no justification for the suffering of these animals while transportation and at the hands of the butcher. The way in which the chicks are transported in small cages stalked over one another through either hot or cold terrains for many hours without feeding them till they meet their fate at the hand of the butcher is too terrible to imagine. Similarly in many places cattle in herds are made to walk miles and miles or forced to travel in jam packed lorries till they reach the abattoir. Some of the slaughtering methods are too primitive and have least consideration for the suffering of animals. Even now birds are strangled and pigs and huge cattle are malleted.
The laboratories in colleges and pharma companies use animal for their research. Often there is no way of ascertaining the animal abuse. The rules are somewhat hazy in this matter. As result sometimes students perform live vivisection on their specimens and pharma companies give lethal injections on the animals which produce different types of diseases in them. The animals carry these diseases with them till they find respite from suffering by their death. Similarly military laboratories conduct trials on animal to try the effect of various poisonous gases which they are developing for the use in future warfare. Many thousand of dogs, monkeys and rabbits have died on these dangerous trials which do not have any positive application beneficial to the entire humanity.
Poaching of animals for their flesh and other valuable material is rampant today in spite of their universal ban. Many animals have died for the sheer delight of the hunt which man enjoy. If some these animals are today in the list of the endangered, it is also due to the human activity. Though elephant is a beautiful creature its attractive tusk is its great danger. The lure of the elephant tusk has resulted in the death of many thousands of them. Many of these tusks have ended up as snooker balls and sculptural artifacts in the palaces of great kings and queen and indeed in the houses of the fabulously rich.
The ritual of slaughter of animals as part of religious worship is rampant even today. In order to propitiate the deities man makes short work of God’s creation by shedding their blood on special alters of stone erected for this purpose. Many animals die in various dangerous sports like the bullfights in Spain. Similarly there are many instances in which animals are carelessly killed at the time of moviemaking. The precaution to save the life of man at shooting is not extended to the animals as result they suffer while films are made.
If man claims that he is the crown and glory of creation there are certain accompanying responsibilities. If man has some dominance over the creatures of the earth he has the duty to protect them. Abused animals are not a fairy tale and it is up to man take adequate steps to ensure their welfare.
The list of extinct animals in Africa features the animals that have become extinct on the African continent and its islands, like Madagascar, Mauritius, Rodrigues, Réunion, Seychelles, St. Helena, Cape Verde, etc.
Global Holocene Extinctions
Extinctions in the wild