Stop Cruelty Towards Animals
Animals are the most precious gifts human beings had from God. They had helped the mankind from the very beginning of time in innumerable ways. The existence of human life can't be imagined without animals because both of them are interconnected to each other. When we look at the current scenario, we can see that either human beings have lost their minds or they desperately want to wipe themselves from the Earth because there seems to be no end to the extent to which people can go when it comes to cruelty to animals. It is true that in the past 50 years, there is an decrease in cruelty towards animals because of implementation of laws against animal cruelty and animal rights organisation like PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). Still this problem persists through out the world because these laws and organisations can't reach everywhere at the right time. We all can contribute in our own way to stop this inhuman practice.
Definition:
Cruelty to animals means inflicting pain, suffering, torture, and even death to animals for mere sport, fun, for their fur, and other selfish purposes. Inflicting mild physical pain on an animal for training and discipline purposes and killing an animal if it is suffering from incurable pain, does not mean cruelty to animals. Slaughtering of animals for meat by untrained professionals is definitely cruelty to animals.
Two Categories:
Cruelty towards animals can be broadly divided into two categories based on the nature of cruelty. The first one is negligent cruelty. This type of cruelty is most common and victims of this cruelty are mostly pet animals. The culprits of this cruelty are the pet owners who don't have time to look after the basic needs of their pet. Some of the examples of negligent cruelties are starving your pet, not providing water, not providing proper shelter, not bathing your pet as a result of which parasitic infestations can occur, not taking your pet to the veterinary Center when it requires medical attention and not checking the collar of your pet regularly which may end up in a deep wound around the neck because of the tightness of the collar. These cruelties can easily be avoided by the owner of the pet. If an animal is found with any of these cruelties, the owner can be punished under the animals rights laws.
Intentional Cruelty
The most inhuman and fatal cruelty towards animals is intentional cruelty. As the name signifies this cruelty is inflicted on animals intentionally for selfish purposes. This includes beating, burning, poisoning, and even stabbing animals to death. Some practices related with intentional cruelty to animals are:
1. Maniacs
Maniacs or people with psychological disorders are mainly responsible for more than 60% of animal deaths. They are mentally ill and they torture animals in several different ways before killing it. They feel a sense of ecstasy from doing such sadistic acts. It is easy to identify such persons during their adolescence and if they are provided with good counselling and medications, the chances of them becoming sadistic serial killers in the future can be avoided.
2. Puppy Mill Or Puppy Farm
Puppy Mills are large scale commercial dog breeding business which is spread all over the world. These mills are operating for the sole purpose of making profit. The animals are sheltered in cramped cages without any protection from weather and no veterinary care. There are more than thousands of dogs in India, suffering in puppy mills. There is only one solution to end this cruelty and that is shutting down of all puppy mills. If you are interested in having a puppy, then adopt one from an ethical dog breeder but never buy one from a puppy farm.
3. Dog Fighting
Dog fighting is not common in India but still this brutal blood sport is played in many rural parts of India. In the past year some people from Haryana and Punjab were questioned by the animal protection organisations regarding incidences of dog fighting in that area. This sport is a new evil which is quickly spreading to the rest of India.
4. Animal Sacrifice
Most of the religions which are practised in India have a animal sacrifice ritual. Most prominent of them is Hinduism. Animal sacrifice is the back bone of Hinduism. Animals are sacrificed to please gods in majority of Hindu festivals. People who engage in animal sacrifices have lost their minds because of blind faith. In the past year, 50,000 animals were sacrificed in the annual Chhattar festival in Orissa and this will happen this year also. These animal sacrifices will not stop because there is no cure in this world to treat blind faith but this will stop when people will realize that they have sacrificed their most precious gifts for their own destruction.
5. Bull Fighting Or Jallikattu
Jallikattu is the Indian version of Spanish bull fighting. It is traditional festival of Tamil Nadu which is celebrated annually, and because of its cruel nature it can also be called a "Celebration Of Cruelty." During this festival large groups of men try to tame bulls by throwing themselves on top of the bulls, grabbing their horns, pulling their tails, poking them with sharp sticks and at last dragging them to the ground in a morbid state. People are not raising their voices against this inhuman act because Jallikattu is considered as a tradition of Tamil Nadu. We don't need to follow such sadistic traditions which are against animal protection laws because we are living in 21st century and we are not barbarians.
6. Animal Abuse For Entertainment
Apart from using animals for blood sports, they are also brutally abused in entertainment fields like circus and film making. We had seen circuses and enjoy the comic acts performed by animals but have you ever seriously thought about the cruelty faced by these animals in cramped cages? To learn different tricks, the animals have to go through different levels of tortures which includes whips and electric batons. The wild animals like elephants, tigers, and hippopotamuses that likes to roam freely in the forest are chained for months in a cage. Animals in zoos also face similar tortures like animals in circuses.
It is a fact that animals are tortured during film making. There have been numerous instances when animals have suffered grievous injuries during the shooting of films. Apart from physical torture, some film makers even surgically remove the teeth and claws of animals. When we watch epic movies, we only see the marching of horses but we never realize that these animals had to undergo great physical tortures to appear before us on the screen.
7. Animal Testing
This intentional killing of animals is not for any blood sports or fun but they are killed in laboratories for chemical, cosmetics, drug, and food testing very year. The statistics would surprise us because more than 100 millions animals including rat, mice, cats, dogs, rabbits, and monkeys are killed in different laboratories through out the world in a year.
Steps To Be Taken To Stop Animal Cruelty
1. Report Animal Abuse
If you witness any incident of animal abuse don't walk away but report it to the nearby police station or animal welfare center. This harmless effort of yours can save the life of that animal. If you come across any negligent animal abuse, then speak up with the owner of that animal to provide better facilities to the animal and even after that if you find the animal in the same condition then report it to the nearby police station.
2. Teach Your Children To Be Kind To Animals
Be a role model for your child by showing kindness to animals. If your children are cruel to animals and if you don't teach them compassion, then the chances of them becoming cruel persons in the future are very high.
3. Join A Animal Rights Organisation
Become a member of organisations like PETA. This will increase your compassion towards animals and you will feel more confident to raise your voice against animal abuse. You can foster stray dogs in your house and can give them a new life.
Animals can't speak for themselves and we are their voice. We have to speak for them, if we want to survive on Earth. We are not going to gain anything from being silent but we can hope for a brighter future if we raise our voice against animal cruelty.
The images used in this article are taken from wikimedia.
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