No genuine dog lover would resort to things like docking the animal’s tail (amputation), cropping its ears (surgically cutting and stitching to make them stand up), de-barking (surgically reducing vocal chord tissues), removing of dewclaw (cutting off that extra toe higher up on the inside of the forepaw used to facilitate gripping), filing or even extracting teeth (so its bite does not cause injury), subjecting pups to continuous confinement in pens (to stunt their growth), and being painfully design tattooed.

Respect and Replace

World Day for Animals

Just like St Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis is fond of animals. Pope Francis upon becoming the head of the Vatican took the name of the Saint because he believes in the Franciscan philosophy. A Vatican tradition on the last Sunday in January was to fly two doves out of the window overlooking St Peter’s Square. However, after they were attacked by a seagull and crow in 2014, the practice was discontinued in 2015 by Pope Francis who released “peace balloons” instead.

The Chinese Zodiac

Observed in China, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan, it shows great respect for 12 particular animals. Each year is represented by an animal which gets repeated every 12 years.

Distinct animal characteristics are imparted during the year governed by the animals:

Lunar Months in each year are also governed by animals and their characteristics stated above:

Instinct

Animals are far more understanding and intelligent than we imagine. Like us they feel emotions such as joy, grief and jealousy. Some of them like Germany’s Paul the octopus possessed psychic powers. He became famous after accurately predicting eight of eight winning football teams during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He died of natural causes some months later so was not available to predict for the 2014 FIFA which saw animals from many countries struggling to accurately predict international football winners. There was Australia Zoo’s Predictaroo, also known as Flopsy the kangaroo; Big Head a turtle from Praiado Forte, Brazil; and, a group of capybaras (huge rodents) from Curitiba, Brazil, able to predict if the ball would remain stuck midfield. The Germans came up with many like a turtle, armadillos, an elephant and otter; and, the British with a piranha called Pele.

Clairvoyance and telepathy come naturally to animals. That’s the reason why Germany tried to duplicate Paul’s oracle success through a cross-eyed two-and-a-half year old opossum called Heidi who was recruited by Hollywood to predict the winners of the Academy Awards 2011 on the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” show. Heidi had a choice of grapes laid in front of placards of the nominated films and although she came close in predicting accurately the actress and actor, she failed to pick the winner for the best picture.

Other animals claimed to be having psychic powers have also been projected: Mani, the parakeet from Singapore; Funtik, the pig from Kharkiv zoo in Ukraine; Manolo, the octopus and Maya, the otter, both from Sealife Benalmadena aquarium, Spain; Citta, the elephant from Krakow zoo, Poland; Shah Rukh and Shanti, two elephants from Hagenbecks Tierpark, Hamburg, Germany; Yvonne, the cow from Gut Aiderbichi animal sanctuary, Germany; and, Geeta, the cow from Faridabad that accurately picked at the German embassy in New Delhi, the winner of the all-German European League final in 2013.

In 2016 a Chennai based NGO, Indian Community Welfare Organisation that had been organising such forecasts using flowerhorn cichlid fish called Chanakya-I and Chanakya-II, let their successor Chanakya-III into a tank with two boats with fish feed bearing photographs of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, the American presidential candidates. The fish accurately picked Trump’s boat.

Dogs, cats, bees, termites, ants, deer, horses and cattle instinctively know directions as if they possess in-built magnets; cows have an innate ability of finding the North which has been proved through satellite observation. Many animals’ behaviour has proved that they were aware of tsunamis, earthquakes and thunderstorms long before they struck. In China, snakes are observed to predict earthquakes because when an earthquake is about to occur snakes move out of their nests (even in winter) and if the earthquake is big, the snakes go as far as smashing into walls while trying to escape. In Tamil Nadu minutes before the 2004 Tsunami struck, 500 blackbucks moved from the coast to a nearby hilltop. The ordinary leech is also able to predict thunderstorms. Farmers’ bulls and cows instinctively know they are due to be to be sold off for slaughter so stop eating a day earlier. Suddenly when in February 2021 the Alaknanda river had shoals of fish close to the surface near the edges of the river it was an indication or warning… 70 kms upstream within an hour or so disaster struck in the form of a glacial outburst flood. The sound or subsurface vibrations preceding the flood may have been picked up by the fish since are very sensitive.

In 2017 the RSPCA’s research animals department said that people who eat fish should be aware that they are causing the death of an animal who is sentient, who has experiences, interests. Fish are sentient animals that form friendships, experience “positive emotions” and have individual personalities. Researchers had found that zebrafish are social animals in a similar way to humans and other mammals. In short, fish should not be viewed as lesser animals.

Elephants remember people, places and things and can distinguish between a real animal and their own mirror reflection just like dolphins and apes. They are kind and sympathetic, and not just to their own species – such feelings denote elephants have souls. Apes, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans can even calculate odds as was established with them upturning cups having concealed banana pieces. Like humans, chimpanzees and bonobos throw tantrums and pout when their risk-taking decisions fail.

Monkeys can also count without being taught. Marmosets imitate others as do parrots. Orangutans are innovative. Apes snub unknown apes but show empathy to their pals especially when eating since they like to share their food with those that are close to them. They can also guess what others (humans included) are thinking. Gorillas experience an identical range of emotions as humans. Chimps can be as kind, helpful, willing to do favours, generous and sharing as human beings. In the Indonesian forest an Orangutan saw a geologist having fallen in slush and instinctively offered his hand to help him come out of it, but not trusting the monkey, the man climbed out himself. In a 2007 study undertaken at the Kyoto University, a chimpanzee put human memory to shame. It has been established that chimps and bonobos can recall movie scenes and anticipate the next move.

Researchers from the University of Bristol who studied giraffes in the Great Rift Valley region of Kenya, found that giraffes prefer to eat in the company of their friends, no different to humans. Many pairs were seen to spend time searching of food and eating together.

The bond of love for their friends is great. A dog that had fallen at the bottom of a concrete cistern in Washington state ravine was rescued after his loyal canine companion made frequent short trips for as long as a week to find human help. Similarly, there is a video on the Internet of a dog in Brazil that has for over three years braved the highway for four miles every night to carry food (given to her in a plastic bag) for her less fortunate animal friends: a dog, cat, mule and chickens.

A 2020 study by the University of Sydney found that cows tell each other how they feel through their moos. It was done by analysing their voices and establishing evidence of this trait.

A 2014 research revealed the African elephant’s power of smell (based on olfactory receptor genes) was the most powerful among 13 mammalian species examined – it turned out to be double that of dogs and five times more than humans. In fact, mothers and other chimps are known to take care of disabled infants. It is called allomothering when infants are taken care of by those other than biological mothers.

Intelligence

Dolphins are considered one of the most intelligent species because they have big generalist brains like humans which make them use manipulative abilities to their advantage and they can count without being taught. A study by researchers at the University of St Andrews in Scotland found that dolphins have “names” by which they call each other just like humans do. When a dolphin, off the Farallon Islands coast, was untangled after hours of carefully cutting the ropes which had got wrapped around her body, she was so joyous and grateful that she came back to say thank you to each and every diver who had helped set her free.

Non-vegetarians, especially children, who saw the film Babe stopped eating pigs. There was a drastic drop in consumption of pork, ham and bacon. Few know how clever and endearing pigs can be. After all, pigs are the fourth most intelligent creatures on earth.

Cockroaches have thrived for 350 million years because they instinctively know how to adapt to, and are intelligent enough to get around hazards that affect their population. Experts say that in the 1990s they switched their internal chemistry around so that glucose began tasting bitter, thus making them stop consuming sweet-tasting poison baits.

There is some thing very interesting about elephants and their tusks. The ones who do have tusks are obviously the ones that are hunted by ivory poachers, so some how the tusk gene is found to be disappearing from their populations. For example, in Sri Lanka, instead of 40 to 50 percent being tusk-less, 90 percent are no longer growing tusks: an extremely smart way of saving themselves from death.

Elephant intelligence has made some of them realise that their tusks are electricity-proof and have therefore used them to carefully snap the electric wire fencing while others use dead wood to smash through this fencing installed to keep them away in some places around the Reserves in India.

One of the defensive arguments presented by non-vegetarians in justification of their fish-eating is that “fish don’t feel pain,” being low down in the chain of evolution. In fact, all aquatic lives feel stress and pain when injured as they writhe and gasp for air. They all have complex nervous systems and there is scientific evidence that they feel pain and distress. Chased, confined, or otherwise threatened, they react as humans do to stress with an increased heart rate, breathing rate, and adrenal hormone release. Bio-chemically and structurally the central nervous systems of fish closely resemble that of humans. It has been proved that fish are as clever as mammals such as rats and show a high level of intelligence particularly when they are in danger. The African Cichlid (marine creature) determines social rank through observation which is a step on the way to logical reasoning. Fish have been observed to pick their leaders by consensus, choosing large over small, fat over thin and healthy over ill. A study by researchers has suggested that their three-second memory is actually a myth as they can remember things for up to five months. Another study by scientists of the University of Oxford (UK) and University of Queensland (Australia) has found that archerfish, a tropical aquatic creature, can distinguish between human faces and retain the memory over a long period of time ranging from a few days to two weeks. A team from the University of Queensland had earlier found that certain fish developed mucous cocoons akin to mosquito nets to avoid being bitten by parasites and to give them protection from nocturnal predators so they sleep safely.

Experts say parrots easily rival the great apes and dolphins in all-around braininess, and may be the only animals apart from humans capable of dancing to the beat. Some parrot species imitate human voices. The African Gray parrot knows colours, shapes and sizes, and grasps the concept of zero. Pigeons are famous for carrying messages since they are able to recall routes and places. In 2011 it was further proved that not only can they count (so can others including bees) but they can learn abstract rules about numbers, an ability that had been demonstrated only in primates. Crows, ravens, magpies, jays, and gulls are very intelligent and can recognise individuals. Rooks (a type of crow) are surprisingly innovative and are able to use a hooked tool to get food. And birds have been seen to support one another following contest with their rivals.

Chimpanzees display cultural preferences with their choice of tools. Depending on where a meal is served a person might use a fork and knife, chopsticks, or bare hands, similarly chimpanzees have cultural variations in nut-cracking styles. Some prefer stone tools to hammer open hard nuts, whereas others used wooden ones. Moreover, when female chimpanzees join new social groups they adopt the nut-cracking methods used by the new group.

Few mammals, with the exception of primates, use tools. Clams are smashed with rocks by sea otters. Prior to foraging on the seabed, as a form of protection, dolphins wrap sponges around their noses. Elephants use tree branches to swat insects that trouble them. Humpback whales exhale bubbles to attract fish. Grizzly bears choose rocks with barnacles to groom themselves.

A sheep can recognise fifty other sheep and ten humans. According to a study led by a University of Cambridge professor, they can even recognise photographs. Scientists have even found the fly to be able to plan ahead due to its fast-acting brain. And coming back to dogs, they understand most of what we say because their vocabulary can go up to at least three hundred and fifty words. However, a particular dog could understand 1,022 words and sort toys according to function and shape, some thing children learn at age three.

The start of the 20th Century saw a German horse called Kluger Hans (Clever Hans) solving arithmetic problems by tapping answers with his hoof. However, a psychologist observed that only when people around him knew the answer, Hans tapped out correctly: since viewers would tense as Hans approached the right number of taps, and relax when he reached it, the horse knew exactly when to stop. This in itself was a remarkable feat. He was probably no good at arithmetic as projected and believed, but his understanding of and picking up human body language was positively a great achievement. People projecting their expectations onto animals, particularly dogs, they picking up and interpreting the same correctly, is definitely commendable.

Scientists at Australia’s University of Queensland’s Brain Institute in a new study in 2012 discovered that honeybees had remarkable visual learning and discrimination abilities that extended beyond simple colours, shapes and patterns. They learnt to simultaneously discriminate between paintings of different landscape scenes, types of flowers and even human faces.

Scientists from the University of Konstanz in Germany who studied spiders’ REM (Rapid Eye Movement) during sleep found that like humans they dream. The 8 eyes of jumping spiders are fixed to their heads but they have long tubes that allow their retinas to move around at the back of their principal eyes.

Bird-hits to Aircraft

Birds do not fly into spider webs because they contain strands of silk that reflect UV light – some thing that birds can see, but not insects (that are trapped in the spider webs) or even humans. Based on this information, a glass manufacturing company used bio-mimicry to discover and now sell bird-safe glass windows thus saving the lives of thousands of birds that fly into glass on buildings and drop dead. BWC wrote to the company Arnold Glas to find out if the concept used in the manufacture of Ornilux glass could be extended to cover bird-hits to aeroplanes. Bird hits often occur – in 2017 the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) revealed that the number of bird strikes affecting aviation operations have increased over the years. Yet no effort has ever been made by Municipalities to satisfactorily clear garbage from around airports although it has been established that garbage attracts birds. And, bursting crackers and ultrasound does not effectively scare the birds. So drastically reducing the insect population (like grasshoppers, beetles and moths) at airports, in addition to spraying pesticides in shrubs and bushes, was suggested by an entomologist. However, introducing other insects that eat these at the larvae and egg stages could possibly result in an ecological imbalance leading to unknown problems.

Incidentally, following a study of the area, the Bombay Natural History Society has warned that there is a high risk of bird hits at the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport at Panvel where 2054 hecatre area has been demarcated as the airport zone.

In 2019, 1,280 wildlife strikes occurred at all airports, lower than 1,320 in 2018. In 2019, 11 bird hits every 10,000 flights were recorded to have occurred at Ahmedabad airport. Large garbage dumps and two bird sanctuaries in the vicinity are responsible: The Thol Bird Sanctuary 30 kms away and Nalsarovar Bird Sanctuary 70 kms away.

In January 2018 two planes could not land at Ahmedabad because of a cow on the runway. Security personnel took one and a half hours to clear the runway.

In February 2020 Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport began deploying a staffer wearing a bear costume to chase away langurs and it works probably because the attacks occur only once a day and at a specific time! (BWC hopes the bear fur utilised is artificial.)

Exactly a year later in February 2021 the Indian Air Force inducted 4 Modhol hounds from the Canine Research & Information Centre in Bagalkot district, Karnataka. Their work was to chase away birds and animals that strayed on airport runways and hinder the movement of flights.

This is because stray dogs have posed a threat at International Airports at Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai and Pune. Besides stray dogs, hyenas and jackals, monitor lizards and birds of prey have also strayed onto the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. A nilgai was hit by a plane when landing at Kanpur Airport. And wild animals like deer, wild boar and langurs have come on the runway of the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport at Nagpur.

In 2022 BWC wrote to the Ministry of Civil Aviation sending them an article entitled Understanding Bird Strike on Planes: How Dangerous Is it and How to Avoid - Explained. We requested them to implement some of the suggestions given, saying that the simplest and quickest would be to make it mandatory for all aeroplanes to get eyes drawn at the jet engine spinners which had proved successful in scaring off birds by the Japanese carrier ANA.

Soon after, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued a fresh set of directives for airport operators, saying that during the monsoon “potential wildlife hazards pose a serious threat to aerodrome operational safety.” Aircraft Rules prohibit the dumping of garbage and slaughter of animals that may attract wildlife within 10 kms of an airport. “At an aerodrome, the main objective is to bring about a change in wildlife behaviour so that they do not enter the critical safety zones where the aircraft operates... habitat management is probably the most important method of preventing or reducing wildlife strikes on and around an aerodrome. Modifications to the aerodrome’s habitat/environment to eliminate or exclude food, water, and shelter can limit the attractiveness of birds and other wildlife at an aerodrome.” BWC hopes its implementation is beneficial all round. Such safety measures and prohibitions around airports have existed since 1934, but...

The Aircraft Act, 1934 states:
“5. Power of Central Government to make rules
(1) Subject to the provisions of section 14, the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules regulating the manufacture, possession, use, operation, sale, import or export of any aircraft or class of aircraft and for securing the safety of the aircraft operations.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for -
(qq) the prohibition of slaughter and flaying of animals and of depositing rubbish, filth and other polluted and obnoxious matter within ten kilometres from the aerodrome reference point;” and
“(1A) If any person contravenes any provision of any rule made under clause (qq) of sub-section (2) of section 5 prohibiting the slaughter and flaying of animals and of depositing rubbish, filth and other polluted and obnoxious matters within a radius of ten kilometres from the aerodrome reference point, he shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to three years, or with fine which may extend to ten lakh rupees, or with both.”

According to the DGCA the number of aircraft bird-hits incidents in India increased by 62.29% year-on-year to 1,149 in the first half of 2023 although the number of scheduled flights only rose by 14.56%. Incidents of strikes by other animals also rose to 20 in the first half of 2023 from 14 during the corresponding period, January to June last year. Earlier from 2021 to 2022 bird hits to commercial aircraft had risen by 52%, i.e. from 1,430 to 2,174; and animals hit had also risen from 23 to 36.

DGGA has asked the state governments to comply with Rule 91 of The Aircraft Rules, 1937 which states:
“Prohibition of slaughtering and flaying of animals, depositing of rubbish and other polluted or obnoxious matter in the vicinity of aerodrome.”

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) claims to be continuously taking various measures like maintaining grass height, removing garbage, deploying bird scarers, installing bird dispellers, using sound guns, spikes on elevated lights and removing termite colonies in and around airports. Unfortunately it is just not working as can be seen from the information below:

BWC feels that loud blasts and fire-crackers are not a good idea – they harm birds, animals and even humans. Keeping the area within and outside the airport totally free of garbage and not making it attractive for birds would probably suffice to avoid bird-hits to aircraft.

Animal Labour

Just because animals are intelligent many think they can exploit them by turning them into slaves and using them as gimmicks. It doesn’t only happen in India and often “protectors” turn “exploiters” and justify their actions in the so-called interest of animals. For example, cute and clever dogs are made to model or act for high fees. Another example, at Kamine Zoo, Hitachi, Japan, tyres and giant rubber balls covered in denim are thrown into the animals’ enclosures. They gnaw and claw at them, following which the material is used to make designer jeans to raise funds for wild life conservation.

BWC has, to its horror, come across animal welfare persons, who, instead of working to end animal exploitation in India, have recommended the use of elephants, camels and monkeys for pulling loads in sugar and other factories!

The most commonly known animal labour is that of elephants. Wild elephants are taught to work at elephant camps (making them go to ‘school’) in India, and more so in Thailand, Sumatra, and Indonesia. Thailand’s Maesa Elephant Camp has elephants using their trunks to paint, and they are also made to play football and basketball, i.e. perform like circus animals.

Elephants domesticated for logging operations in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, are astonishingly considered State Government servants, and are made to work from dawn to dusk. It is obvious that they do not like to do so because they often simply stand still without moving. They are then goaded with a stick.

In 2012, the Kerala Animal Husbandry department due to shortage of tree climbers, and to make it cost effective put forward a proposal to engage (read exploit) monkeys, in place of humans, to pluck coconuts – the monkeys would be captured from the wild and trained – because monkeys are used for this purpose in Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Luckily for the monkeys, the drawback of this proposal was that they would not be able to decide which coconuts are ready for plucking and which ones should remain on the trees for ripening.

However a year later, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) disgracefully began exploring the possibility of starting a unique course to train monkeys in plucking coconuts and in fact submitted a project proposal to the Kerala government. They also planned on teaching parrots to talk!

Seeing it as nothing short of slavery of wild life, strongly worded objections that it was illegal to capture animals and birds (monkeys and parrots) from the wild and worse to tame and train them, were immediately sent off by BWC to the government and the TISS. Teaching monkeys and parrots meant making them typically learn by being subjected to hunger, torture and fear in order to work or perform. And, should the monkeys pluck coconuts that were not ripe they would surely suffer punishment as would the parrots for repeating inappropriate words. There was no doubt that the project attracted the provisions of the Wild Life (Protection) Act on grounds of hunting which was banned in 1991, and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act on grounds of infliction of suffering.

Attention was also drawn to the Ministry's Notification under which monkeys were not allowed to be trained. These monkeys would obviously suffer much the same fate as those that were kept in circuses for performances that were banned due to cruelty involved. It was also possible that they could later, when they grew old and could no longer climb coconut palms, be used for performing tricks or so-called research and testing which were also banned.

Although TISS replied they were “concerned about animal welfare and nothing will be done to the contrary” BWC hoped that immediate steps to ensure that the proposal was cancelled would be taken by government and that monkeys and parrots would never be turned into slaves. Delayed or no action in this serious matter would certainly encourage illegal hunting/capturing and exploitation of wild life.

Moreover, if allowed, it wouldn’t be long before monkeys could also be taught to serve the coconuts they bring down from the palms, to people in restaurants thus further expanding animal slavery and violating the Notification which forbids monkeys being trained to perform. For example, many have rightly felt it was cruel for two macaques to have been taught to serve customers hot towels and drinks at a tavern in Japan.

Similar to the “anti-pigeon” hawk employed by Wimbledon (UK) on the tennis tournament days covering a fortnight, to fly over the courts twice a day and clear the skies of pigeons, in 2010 a langur was employed by pooling in Rs 7,000 per month by 20 Members of Parliament in New Delhi so that the rhesus monkey menace would be controlled on Mahadev Road! Even the Commonwealth Games in the city had a monkey police doing rounds. By 2011 the capital had people hiring many more trained langurs whose keepers (the madaris of yore) brought them on a bicycle to work at the places (government buildings and houses) where the rhesus monkeys invaded. Paid Rs 250/- per day, the langur-wallahs continue to ensure that their monkeys chase away the others during the day. But as evening falls, the langur-wallahs leave and the rogue rhesus monkeys return to remain till they are chased away again the next morning by the langurs!

The Punjab Government’s plan to spend Rs 1 crore on a “resource-cum-rehabilitation centre” at Patiala seemed quite ridiculous. In July 2009 they sought clearance from the Central Zoo Authority to set up an ultra-modern school to tame, train, rehabilitate and teach manners to rogue monkeys. The name of the facility did not indicate it was a circus but the monkeys housed would suffer much the same fate as those that were kept in circuses for performances that were banned due to the cruelty involved. BWC protested and was told such training would not take place – we sincerely hope so.

In contrast the residents of a town in Punjab called Lehragaga never hurt a monkey. When in the late 1980s a monkey was shot, prior to cremating it, people paraded its corpse through the town, following which a temple was built in its memory. Lehragaga is near the Punjab-Haryana border, 40 km from Sangrur, and is the abode of two groups of monkeys – one group lives inside the town while the other group near the canal, outside the town. Legend says that several centuries back the town folk had to plead with the monkeys to return because after they had been shooed away to live in the forest, famine occurred in Lehragaga. They therefore continue to fear the wrath of the monkeys and have learnt to live with them.

Misuse of work animals is fairly common and we should at least, if within our power, stop animals and birds being utilised as gimmicks for political rallies, protests and functions, as live mascots (e.g. Appu the baby elephant used for the Asian Games in New Delhi in 1982), for advertising company merchandise like elephants made to parade through congested streets carrying banners advertising items ranging from sarees to soaps.

Surprisingly, the 2008 Olympic Bronze medallist wrestler, Sushil Kumar (all Indian wrestlers are vegetarians) was also made by the Ministry of Sports to ride an elephant and parade through Delhi as part of his facilitations. On the riverbank of the Yamuna is an ‘elephant colony’ comprising of 14 animals which are rented by people of the capital, particularly politicians, for Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 a day. However, some owners of the pachyderms have refused to supply animals for political rallies because they have been made to work non-stop, given no rest or fodder, and people have started sitting upon them despite agreeing not to do so and only use them for display at particular spots. Moreover, children conferred with bravery awards were not made to ride bejewelled elephants at the 2009 Republic Day parade in Delhi because during the previous year berserk behaviour was claimed to have been observed.

Unfortunately, camels from Rajasthan were taken to different states like Jharkhand and used extensively as “campaign vehicles” for the 2009 elections. They were draped in banners and made to move around the city for Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 per day. Some others used horses for campaigning and it was sad to know that no concern was shown for the animals’ injuries. During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections pigeons were exploited for campaigning by two political parties. Their party symbols were tied round their necks and they were made to fly to particular areas.

In this connection BWC approached the Election Commission and was pleased that the use of animals like donkeys, bulls, elephants and cows in campaigns were banned and had asked politicians not to refer to their rivals as animals. Despite the ban in place during the 2017 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh politicians did not hesitate to use words such as gadha (donkey), bhains (buffalo), kabootar (pigeon), magarmachh (crocodile), machhli (fish), sher (lion), etc.

That’s not all, some times celebrations in honour of politicians have resulted cruelty and death to animals and birds. For example, in October 2015 pigeons were scorched in a celebration in Andhra Pradesh. The supporters stuffed live pigeons into rocket cones and fired them as display. Some fell dead while others wings and feet were scorched. They had even stupidly tied party flags to the necks of the birds with “welcome” written on them.

Name calling, like a man being called a mule, monkey or swine, or a woman a bitch (we forget kutta wafadar janwar hai), or girls catty, insults humans and degrades animals. (English and India’s languages have hundreds of such words and there is no point in listing them.) Since thought precedes speech, we need to recondition our thinking, which has been based on species-ism and sexism for generations. Upon realising that the root cause is out mistaken, arrogant, human belief in our superiority to non-human species, we may cease using animal epithets like gadha (stupid as an ass) and ulloo ka pattha (son of a foolish owl). Incidentally, in 2012 BWC wrote to Airtel protesting the use of kutte kameene (scoundrel hound) in the lyrics of their Har Ek Friend Zaroori Hota Hai advertisement.

Ironically in August 2016 for the inauguration of the All India Peace & Humanity Campaign students were made to release a few doves at the Freedom Park in Bengaluru. No different to releasing caged birds by dramatically flinging open cage doors and urging terrified and confused birds to fly away into the wild forests. It does not help them – in fact, harms them.

We should not say “dumb animal” either. Gone are the days when people believed that animals were dumb creatures with no feelings – not even “mute creatures” because it has been established that although they have the ability to communicate, most humans do not understand and are unable to pick up their language. We now have behaviourists and ethologists who have proved beyond doubt that all species are intelligent and have feelings. It is common to find eyes full of fear in animals that are subjected to torture in research labs, killing in slaughter houses, captivity in zoos, and humiliation in circuses.

Animals are basically trusting and can not imagine being harmed by humans. They never attack unless they are harmed, disturbed, or perceive being hurt. It is almost always in defence, not aggression, because they believe in unconditional love. That’s why they have been taken undue advantage of, e.g. in 2013 India intercepted a dhow that was transporting goats, tobacco and mobile phone parts to Sri Lanka. Upon X-raying the goats it was discovered that 24 of the 32 had been fed contraband in small plastic pouches which were subsequently passed out but had perforated. To make animals trustingly eat such stuff shows gross misuse of innocent creatures for selfish, monetary gain. Incidentally, a 2014 study by researchers of the Queen Mary University of London found that goats can easily learn complex physical cognition tasks and have an excellent long term memory which explains why they can adapt to harsh environments.

There is a story of how a whale said thank you! In 2011, a humpback whale got entangled in a fishing-net. Upon being freed, it swam around the boat and leaped into the air about 40 times thus displaying gratitude to the people who had helped.

BWC wondered how in December 2018 Japan could announce that it was after 30 years withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission (established in 1946 with 89 member governments to conserve whales) and would resume commercial whaling in its coastal waters even though the country hunted whales in the name of research (so-called scientific whaling) and the whale meat ended up in restaurants where due to a falling demand was diverted to schools and hospitals.

In 2024 in a bid to protect whales, Polynesian indigenous groups granted them ‘personhood’. Tohora as Maori call whales had guided their ancestors across the Pacific Ocean so they consider themselves to be their guardians. Indigenous leaders of New Zealand, Tahiti and the Cook Islands signed a historic treaty in order to obtain greater protection for whales from governments by recognising them as legal persons.

Animal gratitude in the form of extreme devotion is clearly seen in the true story film Hachiko – the dog waits the rest of his life at a railway station for his “master” who died and did not return home. Similarly, a cat in Italy daily visited the cemetery where the person who adopted him was buried, and even placed items such as paper towels and plastic cups on the grave.

Family dogs, cats and parrots have in their own unique (loyal and clever) ways helped the Police (in different parts of the world) to pin down criminals. Whereas, trained sniffer dogs regularly assist the Police in search and seizure operations, even in detecting illegal wildlife items. In 2014 the New Delhi Municipal Council sent a proposal to the Delhi Police to train stray dogs to help them in security work.

Some thing more outrageous occurred in 2013: Meat Products of India Ltd obtained sanction from the Kerala government and sold 100 lambs @ Rs 1000/- to students of the St Thomas High School, promising to re-purchase the adult goats for slaughter. A couple of months later, a similar diabolical scheme was started for schools in Palakkad under which 5 chickens were distributed free of cost to 100 students. The government is teaching children to be butchers by encouraging schemes that make them rear animals and birds as companions and then sell them for slaughter. It is a great wrong because these students will grow up having no respect for life – not even for their own parents and family members. BWC wrote along these lines to the Chief Minister, Kerala, twice but received no response and the schemes have not been abandoned. BWC wrote to the Chief Minister twice but received no response. The diabolical Kootinoru Kunjadu scheme was eventually withdrawn by the state government in June 2014 after DAYA and BWC took them to Court over it and the chickens.

Keeping animals in captivity, zoos, and aquariums, claiming educational benefits, or for conservation of endangered species, actually does neither. A neuroscience professor and researcher at the Colorado College, USA, has found that large mammals particularly cetaceans and elephants suffer brain damage due to the ill-effects of captivity. This has reconfirmed earlier observations that the captive elephants of Amer fort in Jaipur suffer from such brain damage. Other notable scientists have also proved that captivity leads to severe behavioural and physical aberrations in cetaceans. Captive elephants suffer severely in confined spaces and their physical and behavioural needs are severely compromised in zoos. A study of elephants published in 2019 indicates that participating in religious activities, processions, forest department activities, etc. has resulted in high levels of stress for captive elephants. They display severe signs of stereotypy including swaying, head bobbing, and repetitive pacing which results in brain damage. Sanctuaries can easily take care of those captive animals that can not be set free in the wild.

The most commonly heard of retaliation by an animal in India is the temple elephant. Tortured and humiliated, he attacks and kills his mahout. According to the Heritage Animal task Force, between 2007 and February 2013 as many as 215 mahouts were killed in Kerala. But we must not forget that as many as 425 elephants died due to ill-treatment inflicted upon them by their mahouts.

However, there is an uncommon incident that occurred in Bengal during 2002 involving a female elephant who had seen its calf shot dead by villagers. In rage and as retaliation she killed 13 persons and even consumed human flesh to avenge the death of her calf.

Similarly during 2013 in Odisha a sloth bear killed 7 persons in 24 hours after villagers burnt her cubs alive.

A TV documentary series entitled “When Animals Attack” reveals in every case covered how due to human provocation animals have attacked. It puts man in his place… human attitudes towards other creatures needs to be drastically corrected.

There have been instances when animals have justifiably hit back at humans in retaliation. For example, an Italian woman landed in Hospital after she was attacked by a chicken she was preparing to kill for dinner. The bird kicked out as she approached it with a knife to cut its head off. She reeled backwards and fell into a pot of boiling water she was going to cook the chicken in.

In 2011, a hunter who was participating in a deer reduction hunt in Indiana, USA, died after an encounter with the deer he shot. After shooting the deer from a tree stand, as is the norm, he attempted to field dress (remove internal organs) the animal and discovered it was still alive. He then scuffled with the wounded deer before killing it with a knife. The deer obviously kicked the hunter who was later found unconscious near by and could not be revived. The autopsy showed lacerations on his liver that were in line with the bruising.

At Midnapore (West Bengal) in 2010 a rooster killed a man – the very man who had trained it to fight other cocks – an illegal, gambling “sport”. The cock struck back when he was pushed to fight yet another cock. He had already won four fights by killing his opponents. So when he was forced into the arena yet again, he turned back and attacked the man by jumping upon him, cackling and flapping its wings while the razor blades tied to its feet sliced the man’s jugular vein and he bled to death as no first aid was available.

Talking of roosters, in September 2019 a French rooster emerged victorious from a legal battle with neighbours over his early morning crowing. The court upheld the bird’s right to sing. (Incidentally the Rooster is France’s emblem.)

When some villagers in Maharashtra beat a leopard cub, the mother visited the village and in retaliation attacked the children of the village.

In Africa a herd of elephants came down heavily on a village where a baby elephant had been killed. Although the baby’s carcass was no longer there, they ‘knew’ exactly where it had been killed and circled, trampled and destroyed the area. Together they then mourned the death while the mother elephant was consoled by other elephants of the herd.

In another instance, an American who in trying to kill a mouse ended up having his house burnt down because the mouse he set on fire and threw out, ran back inside and through the rooms igniting all its contents.

And, another person nearly killed herself in trying to gas a mouse she had caught in a sticky trap which she put in a paper bag then put the paper bag over the exhaust pipe of her car and turned on the engine. A couple of hours later (she forgot her crime) she started getting a headache and then nearly collapsed because of the fumes.

Yet another incident a woman tried to kill a snake by dousing it in gasoline and setting it on fire. The flaming snake slithered under the house, set it on fire and burnt it down.

In 2012, a 32-year old American died but won a python valued at $850, at a Florida reptile house contest requiring people to eat the most bugs in 4 minutes. After consuming several dozen cockroaches and worms he vomited and although picked up by an ambulance, was pronounced dead.

In 2015 a swordfish killed a Hawaiian fisherman who speared it. The swordfish that measured 3 feet and had a bill that extended another 3 feet, struck the man in the chest after being speared.

Around the same time in China an incident took place in which a Chinese dog meat vendor died after hitting himself accidentally with a poisoned dart. He was demonstrating how to use the toxic dart to kill dogs when the crossbow went off and hit him in the leg.

In October 2015 an Australian hunter, in pursuit of a camel got lost in the Great Victorian Desert. He was found in a dehydrated, disoriented and delusional condition six days later. He would not have survived much longer in the heat. BWC hopes it taught him a lesson and he won’t go hunting again.

In 2017 a man from Texas tried to shoot an armadillo (considered a pest) in his garden, but the bullet bounced off its hard shell and hit him in his jaw resulting hospitalisation. Earlier in the year another man’s mother-in-law who was nearby got shot in her back when the man shot at another armadillo and his bullet deflected.

Tigers snatching humans in the Sunderbans is not at all uncommon or unheard of. People venture in boats into prohibited areas where tigers attack and kill them at the rate of almost one a month.

Every one has also heard of people venturing into animal enclosures at zoos, being attacked and even killed – some times the animal is shot dead so the human can be rescued. No animal likes its freedom taken away, so how can we, who are responsible for the basic provocation of keeping wild life in captivity, blame them for attacking us, humans, if and when they get a chance to do so? In the Middle East more and more people keep “luxury pets” such as $10,000/- cheetahs with potentially disastrous consequences for the endangered species – and themselves – because it is impossible to bring them up like domestic cats in houses.

In most such cases the creature does not hit back consciously but hit back it does! Or, it may even happen without the creature actually retaliating as was the case when a poacher fell in his own trap and got electrocuted to death. He and his accomplice had lost their way in the forest at night while returning to Bhivapur village in Chamorshi tehsil of Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra, after having laid a trap in the nearby forest.

In 2016 a one-year old child swallowed a live fish which was being rubbed against its lips by his parents who believed that by doing so he would stop drooling. The child swallowed the fish which got stuck in his pharynx and he had to be rushed to hospital where it was removed just in time to save his life in an emergency procedure after being sedated.

We can not forget Jallikattu (the so-called sport of vaulting the bull, banned by the Government in 2011 and upheld by the Supreme Court in 2014 and again in 2016) but unfortunately legalised by the Tamil Nadu state government in January 2017 which results in injuries and even death by bulls to humans. Bulls with sharpened horns are goaded to fury and let loose on crowds for men to chase and grab their horns. (Similar to Running of the Bulls in Spain where people are also gored and many have died.)

In November 2020 a hunter/poacher died while trying to kill a hare (wild rabbit). He was chasing it in the dark on the Kamthadi-Karandi Road within Bhor forest when he fell down and his rifle went off with the bullet accidentally going through his chest. Although he died, the Rajgad police booked the deceased for accidental death and poaching. In fact, illegal capturing, killing, poisoning, snaring and trapping of wild animals is unfortunately rampant in the forests of Bhor, Bhimashankar, Sinhagad, and Mulshi of Maharashtra.

Delete, Don’t Share

Trivia interests and entertains people on social media like WhatsApp and Facebook.

Animals often feature in the videos we watch, like, and unwittingly share with friends immediately! For example, there is a video titled “I want a dog like this one – useful dog tricks” that shows a small dog doing house chores. It is but obvious to the discerning mind that the poor dog must have been put through vigorous training.

There is a distinct difference in a film that shows an animal doing some thing cute spontaneously, and some thing that it has been taught to do and for which the animal has been subjected to cruelty behind the scenes.

Some may argue such videos are computer generated. But, how can we be sure? And, how can we be sure that no one will cruelly train an animal to do the very same tricks? Others may say the animal is willingly and happily doing what it is. But initially it must have definitely been forced to perform so it is far from funny or fun for the animals.

Many videos depict animals like dogs and cats doing some thing extraordinary. No different to circus animals trained through torture, fear and hunger. Pets are taught by intimidation too although tempered with kindness.

People thought it was fun to view horses kicking a football. BWC thought otherwise and complained to the Government of Maharashtra and the Digvijay Pratishthan, Pune for making their horses play football to promote the FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) U-17 World Cup India at Kolkata in October 2017.

Respect for All Living Forms

Computer games and films that exploit or kill animals can have an adverse impact upon children. On screen violence does not make young boys manly or girls tough. The kids simply lose having respect for living beings – animal, then human. It can begin with some thing as unsuspecting as wanting to visit a circus, followed by a desire to hunt wild life. Crime against animals precedes crime against humans. A 2015 study at the Brigham Young University in USA found that exposure to violence could make people less ethical and is strongly linked to an increase in cheating for monetary gain. In 2017 the Texas shooter who killed 26 persons inside a church had bought and used animals particularly dogs as target practice.

In April 2024 The New York Declaration on Animal consciousness was signed by dozens of scientists. It says that there is “a realistic possibility for elements of consciousness in insects, reptiles and molluscs” and other animals that have not always been considered to have inner lives, and “strong scientific support” for aspects of consciousness in birds and mammals. The definition of consciousness is complex, but what is focused on is an aspect of consciousness called sentience, often defined as the capacity to have subjective experiences. For an animal such experiences would include smelling, tasting, hearing or touching the world around itself, as well as feeling fear, pleasure or pain.