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| Sunday, 24 October 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Asking forgiveness from animals Asking forgiveness for a wrong and granting forgiveness to wrong doers are part of human behaviour in civilised societies. In the view of the poet Alexander pope, to forgive those who do wrong to one is a divine quality "to err is human, forgive, divine". However, the most compelling utterance of forgiveness ever recorded is Jesus Christ's prayer on the cross asking forgiveness for his tormentors "Father forgive them for they know not what they do". A most uncommon plea for forgiveness, what many might even consider as outrageous was made in the 13th century in Italy by a monk said to be one of the most saintly yet humblest of men, who loved the poor and also loved animals and birds and all living creatures. In his final hours, as he lay dying he asked forgiveness from animals for the cruelty and suffering inflicted on them by his fellow men. St. Francis of Assisi was a lone voice in all Europe speaking for the compassionate treatment of animals in the medieval period. Cruelty to animals was the order of the day because of the Christian vision of the universe, which was that Man was at the top of God's creation and all other living things were meant for man's use. As a result people in European countries in medieval times, used and destroyed animals and inflicted pain on them as they pleased. In contrast in Sri Lanka people have been nurtured through centuries by a culture that recognised the right to life of all living beings. Despite centuries of domination by Western powers, commercialisation and economic downfall, the people of this country have to a great extent, retained their tolerance of animals and their dislike of killing of animals. A living example of this is the large population of dogs that live among the people of this country, fed and protected by them from being destroyed by the state authorities. Even our elephants, as well as other fauna and flora are protected to a great extent by the vigilance and concern of local communities who bring to light the illegal activities of poachers, hunters and robbers of our bio diversity, while the Wildlife Conservation authorities most often fail to act or turn a blind eye. Although Buddhist values are still preserved among the people, the same cannot be said of politicians and public administrators or the bureaucracy, who are responsible for the protection and conservation of fauna and flora and management and control of domesticated animals in this country. They merely pay lip service to Buddhist principles while in fact following a policy of callous treatment of animals. Instead of working out and implementing plans for the sustainable protection of elephants and forest cover, politicians seek their destruction by demanding guns for farmers and giving protection unofficially to poachers, illicit timber dealers and treasure hunters. As many as three to four elephants are reported killed each week, and a large number of them are mother elephants targeted to seize the baby elephant. The injured animals are left to die without veterinary attention. The sadness and hopelessness of the plight of these majestic beasts is brought out in another touching plea by a little child asking the forgiveness of an elephant blinded by the gunshots of poachers in the forest. A little boy on a visit to the Pinnawela orphanage was shown an elephant that was blinded in both eyes by gunshot injuries. He was overwhelmed by sadness and later on being led out of the elephant orphanage had run back to the elephant and said softly and pleadingly, "sorry:" What the little child did in his innocence, was to ask forgiveness from animals for the cruelty done to them by humans, as St. Francis of Assisi had done before him. Even the plight of the humble and the homeless dog is particularly tragic in this country because it is killed by the thousands supposedly to protect people from rabies. But the truth is that the correct solution is not killing but mass vaccination of dogs. These officials will not succeed in their rabies eradication programme until they recognise the community dog and the cultural background of the people. The dog had a place in the community not only in recent times but also from the very beginning of the story of our heritage. The Mahavansa records that the first living thing that Prince Vijaya saw when he embarked on our shores was a dog, a female, which led his men and finally Vijaya himself, to Kuveni. The dog has always had a respected place amongst our people and is highly tolerated by the people of this country even today. It is unacceptable to people that the community dog should be seized and brutally killed. Asking forgiveness from these wronged animals is right and proper but we must remind ourselves and be heartened that this is a country where people still show a high tolerance of animals. Peoples' pressure must be brought on politicians and the bureaucracy to act humanely and justly in the care and management of animals in this country. Sagarica Rajakarunanayake, Sathva Mithra. |
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