Dumb friends deserve a better deal

At the height of civilisation man and animals seem to have changed their roles. While animals mind their own business, man is killing his dumb friends as if the world belongs only to him. Man does not hesitate to kill certain animals and eat their flesh. Sometimes, innocent goats and fowls are sacrificed en masse to appease gods. Others are killed for sport. The present situation seems to suggest that man is exhibiting his beastly behaviour while animals look on helplessly.

In the days of yore, man treated animals with respect. He killed certain animals only for his survival. He feared wild beasts such as the buffalo, rhino and elephant because they were superior to man in physical strength. Man probably believed that animals too had a soul. Therefore, after killing animals and consuming their flesh, hunters drew the pictures of their victims on the cave walls. Anthropologists believe that this was done to preserve the souls of dead animals.

At the early stages, killing of wild animals was an arduous task. Man had to run after the animals with crude weapons. After consuming the flesh, the horns, skulls and bones were used as implements. The early cave dweller did not kill animals indiscriminately. Meanwhile, ancient Egyptians worshipped the cat believing that it was the embodiment of Bastet - the Goddess of the Moon.

After many centuries, man adopted a different attitude towards animals. He dismissed the idea that animals had a soul and felt superior to them. This gave him a licence to kill animals for food or sport.

With the rapid advance of civilisation man began to use animals for entertainment. Circuses began to use tame tigers, bears and elephants to perform degrading stunts. In the 1950s carnivals were a popular mode of entertainment here and abroad. With the advent of television and the internet, carnivals have virtually disappeared.

Animals in safari parks are said to be constantly disturbed by the sound and fumes of vehicles

Although most animals are stronger than man, they are not gifted with intelligence. In fact, the Greek philosopher Aristotle said, "Man is a rational animal." As a result, man began to feel superior to animals. He justified killing animals or subjecting them to cruel treatment. Although major religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism preach ahimsa, man pays only lip service to such teachings.

In every phase of civilisation, man found new methods to torture animals. He herded wild animals into a zoo and began to exhibit them to please viewers. He turned a deaf ear to animals that suffered physically and mentally.

Desmond Morris tells us that an enormous zoo, with not less than 600 animal keepers, was discovered by Spanish explorers in the ancient empire of the Aztecs. From ancient times zoos satisfied the curiosity of civilised man. By using his superior intelligence man devised various other methods to subdue animals.

Zoo keepers may argue that wild animals are displayed because many people do not get a chance to see them in their natural habitat. If animals could speak, they would say that they cannot expect justice because zoo owners are also rational animals.

Not being satisfied with the concept of the zoo, man devised another device to torture animals. The new device was the safari park where wild animals could move about freely. No doubt, safari parks were better than the zoo. However, even a safari park is an enclosed area of land where wild animals are kept, so that people can drive around and look at them. Animal activists say that animals in safari parks are constantly disturbed by the sound of vehicles and the noxious fumes emitted by them.

With the population explosion, governments in all parts of the world have been compelled to build more roads, factories and houses. As a result, the jungles where wild animals roam freely are being cleared without giving any serious thought to animals.

When jungles are destroyed, wild animals invade villages, killing people and demolishing their houses. The biggest threat is posed by elephants that need more food and water than other animals.

The conflict between man and elephant usually ends with the untimely death of the latter. With all his superior intelligence man has still not come up with a solution to this problem.

Many developed countries such as the United States,France and Germany have understood the folly of destroying wildlife indiscriminately. Animal activists too have launched a relentless struggle to save their dumb friends from possible extinction.

If animals turn against man, you cannot blame them. As Romain Rolland said, "Animals reflect their surroundings: their faces grow refined or stupid according to the people with whom they live. A domestic animal will become good or bad, frank or sly, sensitive or stupid, not only according to what its master teaches it, but according to what its master is."