Movement against cruelty to animals

By Avantika Regmi


Micheal Vick, a United States football pro, signed a 10-year, $130 million ($37 million signing bonus) contract with his United States football club in December 2004. Besides this large sum, Vick had another disgusting and cruel source of money. Across several states he was organizing and funding dog-fighting games. Pit Bulls (specifically bred and trained for dog fighting) were set loose in fighting arenas like gladiators to maul and maim each other. The loser Pit Bulls were often beaten, hanged and electrocuted to death and Vicks himself dispatched several.
A couple of months ago, I met a rescued Pit Bull with raw flesh still exposed on the entire length of its back even after three weeks of very good medical treatment. Someone had deliberately poured petrol on its back and lit it. The raw wound and the terrible pain were supposed to make the dog fiercer. This was the type of operation that Vick was organizing.

Fortunately, the American law finally caught up with him. Vick was indicted and now faces from one year to five years in prison. His multi-million dollar football contract has been cancelled, as well as all his endorsements. In short, his career is finished and his money has evaporated into thin air.

People who inflict wanton cruelty towards animals, like Vick, would not have to pay such a huge penalty for their cruelty had the United States not had any laws dealing with animal rights. Even more important is the fact that the American society is sensitized to animal rights and has a sizable number of passionate and committed army of animal rights activists to check violations.

Such medieval barbaric sports, from human gladiators to animal gladiators did not stop in a day or a year or even a decade. While the human form ended long ago, the gory animal form has nearly stopped because of almost one hundred and fifty years of struggle to enact and enforce animal rights law. In 1866 the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was organized. This was the harbinger of the anti-animal cruelty movements in the United States and since then thousands of organizations and societies have come up all over the United States.

The British passed their first law for the prevention of cruelty to animals in 1822, which is also known as the Magna Carta of animal rights law. In 1824 the first society for the prevention of cruelty to animals was launched in London. So no wonder then different states of British India had statutes enacted by the 1860s to deal with cruelty against animals.

An amendment to the Bengal Act of 1869 "Cruelty to Animals -Act No. 3" dealt with the "punishment for employing animals unfit for labor, and authorizes the local government to set up infirmaries for animals which are diseased or disabled, or which have been cruelly treated."

The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of India came in 1890. Today more than a century later hundreds of laws and acts are in place to protect the animals against human excesses. Maneka Gandhi has co-authored a 1234 page book titled "Animal Laws of India." It is a compilation of all the animal rights laws in existence and various landmark cases of animal rights movement in India. These laws cover the whole gamut of animals – wildlife, domestic, pets and all the animals who are vulnerable to abuse and cruelty.

Various states of India have laws that prohibit animal sacrifice -The Andhra Pradesh Animal and Birds Sacrifices (Prohibition) Act of 1950; The Gujarat Animal and Birds Sacrifices Act of 1972; The Karnataka Prevention of Sacrifices Act, 1953; The Kerala Animals and Birds Sacrifices Prohibition Act, 1968; The Pondicherry Animals and Birds Sacrifices Prohibition Act, 1968; The Rajasthan Animal and Birds Sacrifice Prohibition Act, 1975 and The Tamil Nadu Animal and Birds sacrifices Prohibition Act, 1958.

The Gujarat Animal Sacrifice Prohibition Act section 2a gives the definition of worship place as - "in relation to a temple includes any mandap, building and land appertaining to the temple and ordinarily used for any purpose connected with the worship in the temple or not, and the entire area of land appertaining to the temple on which jatra or fair is held."

Further, Section 3 of the Prohibition Act states –"No person shall sacrifice or cause to be sacrificed any animal or bird for the purpose, or with the intention of, propitiating any deities." Section 5 of the Act states that – "whoever contravenes section 3 will face imprisonment upto 6 months, or fine upto five hundred rupees, or both."

However, even with the law in place does not completely prevent devotees from sacrificing animals in India. Politics complicates matter. For example, in 2003 the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Jayalalitha imposed complete ban on sacrifices in temples. Yet a year later she revoked the ban for electoral gains and brought out an ordinance to annul the 1958 Act. So, success has depended on enforcement. But the fact remains that animal rights laws are present aplenty in India.

In many states of India however there are no laws to prohibit animal sacrifice like in West Bengal and Assam. But when King Gyanendra offered animal sacrifice at the famous Shakti temples in Bengal (Kali Temple) and Assam (Kamakhya Temple) he brought on the wrath of animal right activists and millions of Indians who patently detest such acts.

Bihar is another state, which does not have any animal sacrifice prohibition law but many other factors may be acting as buffer against animal sacrifice. One is the association of Buddha – The Bodhgaya Temple Act, 1949, prohibits people from performing animal sacrifice within the temple precincts.

This is the reason why hundreds of thousands of Biharis from Nepal's bordering districts land up to celebrate Bara's Gadimai Festival every four years. During the festival more than hundred thousand animals and birds including 40,000 to 50,000 buffaloes are slaughtered in a culling field. A documentary made by Forum of Environmental Journalists shows the savagery of the people – one scene shows forty–fifty thousand buffaloes in a large field with hundreds of drunken men with spears and swords moving around them– these are the people who are given a license to kill the animals. In another scene the soil is seen soaked in blood – separated heads and bodies of thousands of innocent animals scattered all over. There is no method to these killing. The men are drunk and they pierce and gore the animals slowly to their death.

A lone crusader Dr. Jagdish Arohi, a Bara resident, is the only voice against this medieval madness – he stands with his posters and banners against the sacrifices. He has been doing this for more than fifteen years.

It's almost two hundred years since the first prevention of cruelty to animals law was enacted and almost hundred and fifty years since India came out with statutes against cruelty to animals. But even in year 2007 Nepal does not have a single law that protects the animals. Why?

Is it because we are inherently cruel and barbaric?

Is it because we are ignorant?

Is it because of our acute poverty?

Is it because we remained isolated from the outside world for a long time?

Or is it because the Europeans never colonized us?

Is it because we never saw any social movements apart from political movements?

Whatever the reasons, our passion to inflict cruelty to animals, whether in the name of preserving and adhering to age-old cultural practices and beliefs, religious rituals, has no rationale in the world today. The shame and ignominy that Nepalis the world over felt when the sacrifice of goats to repair the Nepal Airways was widely reported is a case in point. If Nepal truly wants to progress on all fronts and come out of the rut of this medieval penury and squalor it also has to come out from the rut of this medieval mindset, of superstition and mindless cruelty.

I encourage my readers to think seriously about animal sacrifice if they still believe in it. You have learnt the English language to read and communicate in the global arena and yet are stuck in rituals that are patently medieval for religious or cultural matters. Others who understand the barbarism of animal sacrifices, want it to end, and yet are confused as to what to do to start their own small movements from today. We can put up fliers in temple areas. The flier doesn't need to be fancy and printed out. One can take a piece of paper and write simple messages like – "Let's celebrate a cruelty-free Dasain." It's so simple. Don't wait another day.

avantikaregmi@aim.com