INTRODUCTION
As our Father of Nation, Mahatma Gandhi said, ‘The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated’, so it is imperative for us to treat our animals with humanity as it reflects our ethical progress. Animals are brilliant creations of God. God created these marvelous creatures so that they can coexist with the mankind. But due to man’s selfishness, his needs turned into greed so these naïve animals which cater to human needs are being exploited by man. These creatures are indeed magnanimous in that they help us selflessly without uttering a word in transportation, food, in farming, etc., and provide many innumerable benefits to mankind. They also have their basic rights and man should be compassionate and benevolent to them but the reverse is true in reality. They are tortured, and harmed and they suffer perpetually at the hands of man. We can aid these animals from living such an agonizing life by advocating animal welfare which means taking measures to maintain an upright state of an animal and giving humane treatment to it.
WHY IS ANIMAL WELFARE IMPORTANT?
The cruel mankind is treating animals like speechless objects whom they can even maltreat and inflict their tyranny on constantly because the mankind thinks it is superior than animals. But the man should be aware that these animals also have basic rights to live such as humans and who are we to violate these rights? It’s considered a horrendous crime in our society when we listen about day to day cases of violence, murders, killings done by man to another man but it is high time that we all raise our voices against animal violence and cruelty. It is vital that those who behave ruthlessly against animals should be punished by law because in the Indian Constitution, protection of animals is enlisted as our fundamental duty. The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act ,1960 and the Wildlife Protection Act ,1972 were passed at Central level in India which ensured protection of animals and according to Section 428 and 429 of the Indian Penal code(IPC) those who act cruelly to animals in terms of poisoning, killing and render their animals useless can be punished. Our Indian law already has these laws for animal protection so we should also take a step forward against wrongdoers and they should treat animals kindly as a human should and avoid these punishments.
HUMANE TREATMENT OF CAPTIVATED ANIMALS
It is implausible that in modern times those wild animals which were fierce and made the man scared to death earlier are captured and tamed by man in the zoos and trained in circuses for monetary gains and for entertainment purposes. The lion who was once the ‘KING OF THE JUNGLE’ who tranced freely in the lush greens of the jungles unafraid, unbothered and the most powerful creature of the jungle has now lost his power and held captive at the hands of man. These all animals deserve proper care, timely and appropriate food, should be treated with same affection by the care takers as we treat our own pets but majority of them are starved. They should be provided with suitable nutrition. We should boycott visiting these zoos and circuses and consider visiting wildlife sanctuaries to prevent the profit they get from brutality to animals.
DISCOURAGING KILLINGS AGAINST ANIMALS
Poaching refers to the illegal hunting which is going unchecked. Man should realize that hunting of any kind either for use of animals or entertainment purposes is harsh as it causes excruciating pain to the animals and creates sufferings. Mass slaughtering of cows, chickens ,pigs can only be prevented if majority of us take to veganism which means consuming non animal products. Several people are joining hands with various animal rights organizations to protect animal rights. The PETA organization (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals), the largest animal rights organization in the world advocates the theme true to its name and has more than 9million members globally.
PROTECTION OF ENDANGERED ANIMALS
Alas! Our national animal Bengal Tiger is on the verge of extinction due to poaching. We must take immediate measures beforehand losing our rich legacy of wild animals. If an animal has high risk of extinction, it should be conserved (on site) in situ in which the we save the entire forest to save the tiger. The more economical method is ex situ (off site) conservation in which animals are saved in wildlife sanctuaries and national parks in which those animals who might have gone extinct in the wild might continue to exist in these suitable environments. In India we have 565 wildlife sanctuaries and 51 national parks. It is a wonderful and appreciable attempt by Indian government.
HUMANITARIAN APPROACH IN TREATING DOMESTICATED ANIMALS
Animal husbandry aims for caring and breeding livestock such as buffaloes, cows, pigs, camels , sheep, goats, poultry farming and fisheries. By this method, the owner can care for animals as well as gain monetary benefits from them too. Under dairy farm management, the animals should be well fed, well housed, should be disease free and should be provided with appropriate quantity and quality of fodder with adequate water. Veterinary doctor should be visited for regular checkups. During recent times many cases of lumpy skin disease in cows are mounting in the cattle in Punjab in which over 2100 cattle died and it has spread and declared as national calamity due to our negligence. It is a great loss for our nation as our milk output would drop and it is pathetic to see those cows who are infected which currently has no cure but various research organizations are trying the best to eradicate it. The horses used in carts or for horse ridings deserve proper love and care too because they toil hard and labor day and night for us.
ANIMALS USED IN LABORATORIES
In the field of biotechnology, for researching on various human diseases, the DNA of animals is being manipulated turning them into transgenic animals. These animals serve as a model for human disease investigation such as cancer, cystic fibrosis, rheumatoid arthritis and Alzheimer’s. Transgenic mice are being used for testing the safety of vaccines and several others for testing drug toxicity with risking the lives of these poor animals on the other hand. To check the morality of such issues these scientific procedures have to be approved and are regulated by THE GENETIC ENGINEERING APPROVAL COMMITTEE(GEAC)by the Indian government however this goes unchecked in various colleges and institutions where there is indiscriminate dissection of animals just to teach the students which should be immediately stopped and reported to the lawful authorities.
CONCLUSION
In the omega, we shall say that man has no right to destroy what he cannot create. How about we put ourselves in other’s shoes, how about we think from these poor animals’ perspective and comprehend their pains and sufferings, how about we listen to their unsaid cries for pity and reflect upon our actions? Wouldn’t it be a better world with perfect harmony between humans and animals? The fact that animals are much kinder than scary and brutal humans is indeed a matter of shame for the whole of mankind. God made us brainer than animals so we can put in into good use but we are making an incorrect use of our brains to harm God’s creatures. It takes nothing to be kind. Animals are also living creatures so we should let them lead a peaceful life. Man should fear the Almighty to whom ultimately, he has to surrender and think about the worst ecological consequences of his misconduct against animals.