A WAY OF LIFE
Rabbits blinded to test cosmetics; pigs speared for pork; tigers hunted for trophies; snakes skinned alive for bags; butterflies poison-pinned for trinkets; dogs shot for no reason; goats sacrificed for religious rituals; birds caged for amusement; elephants murdered for ivory; monkeys mutilated for research………the list can wind unto many pages-a list which doesn’t anyway prove the supremacy of the human race nor does it indicate us being civilized.
Although turtles are protected under the wildlife laws, it being a traditional food in Bengal are illegally captured from the beaches especially when they come to lay their eggs transported to the cities & clandestinely sold.
The huge, flightless, magnificent ostrich, which happens to be the largest bird on earth, is being continuously “farmed” by the industrialized world. The slaughter age for these birds, which can live unto 70 years in the wild, is at most two years, at the end of which it is marched to the slaughter pen and gassed to death. Before slaughter, t is plucked naked to the last feather while fully conscious.
Aquaria are nothing but underwater jails. Never meant to be handled by human hands, fish often suffer from careless handling. Aside from the lack of freedom, captive aquatic creatures also suffer due to artificial lighting- at hours determined by visitors convenience-which upsets their bodily rhythms and cycles.
Being one of our close ancestors- doesnot spare the monkey from being a victim of the thoughtless march of our civilization .It is being used in space voyages, nuclear radiation, testing cosmetics, being injected with the HIV virus in medical labs, this animal constantly pays the price in gruesome ways.
Varkh-the silver or gold edible foil used as decoration is made by placing small thin strips of metal between pieces of intestine of cows bound together into a book and put into a loose calf-leather pouch. An Indian family consuming 100 kg of mithai with varkh for forty years consumes silver foil produced with the intestine of 3 cows!
The pig undergoes the barbaric treatment of having one person pull out the hair from its body while in a fully conscious state. The pig has to suffer this for making the brushes to paint our walls.
Man’s best friend is also not spared from such cruelties-every year exploding fire-crackers cause the death of hundreds of dogs.
This is a way of life-is it worth living?! There can be an alternative way of life by giving up consuming turtles; raise voice against slaughtering ostrich; not keeping aquariums; foregoing having mithai with varkh; using rollers instead of brushes; not petrifying dogs with firecrackers. As Mahatma Gandhi said,”the duty of not killing animals generally and therefore protecting them must be accepted as an indisputable fact”. Live and let live should be our way of life.
posted by diya @ 4:28 AM
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