We all are very well familiar with human rights. Whenever a denial of human rights occurs in society, we rebel against it, stating it’s injustice. But when it comes to animal rights, the empathy of some individuals do fade away. They care less to think about why animal rights are important and what rights should animals have. If such a why question ever emerged in your mind, lean on to your seats to read this article.
Nature is the home of 8.7 million discovered and a lot more undiscovered species. Apart from the soft and cute tiny organisms, it consists of deadly wild animals, prickly herbs, poisonous snakes, deceptive moths, and many more complicated living organisms. Among all the species in the world, humans rank the first position in terms of population. Also, from the early historical period, humans conquer the rest of the living beings, no matter how powerful they are.
Empathy is a virtue that stresses even powerful humans to care for their co-living beings. The shelter homes that give a home to abandoned humans, pensions provided to old and poor people, welfare and healthcare programs exclusively meant for the people who lie behind in the rat race organised by society, etc., are true testimonies of how empathetic human beings are.
But why is human empathy sometimes restricted to only humans, devoid of other living organisms? The night highway road scene of trucks congested with hungry and thirsty buffalos transported to make beef feast the following days in South India, the countless innocent animals killed or retarded for cosmetic experimentation, the excruciating pain many animals suffer to meet the selfish demand of humans for decoration purposes in buildings and textiles, wild animals forced to thrive in unhygienic conditions in some zoos and sanctuaries, the countless animals losing life due to hunting, etc. are live examples of how human’s empathy is blind to animals, their co-living beings. Isn’t it shocking that around ten million animals die daily suffering from the cruelty of humans? Here comes the relevance of the question, ‘why should animals have rights?’
Animals have pain, too, like humans
Just like humans, animals too have pleasure, pain etc. Ever imagined the situation of being drug injected into your eyes, the needles mercilessly going deep inside your eyeballs amidst your crying? Or think about you tied somewhere starving, when a slaughterer comes, and you witness he killed your friends, and you realise that you are the next one in the line to die? How uncomfortable would you be if you are caged in a small room and are not allowed to step outside even after you beg for it? If all these hypothetical situations give you a headache, don’t you think the animals which undergo the case likewise will feel the same pain? Though we cover it up so beautifully with ‘thank-you’ notes to animals for serving us, the pain we inflict on them for our selfishness is pain itself. If we don’t like ourselves to get treated the way some of us treat them recklessly, be empathetic to animals. They serve their right to coexist with human beings in this nature.
Mistreating animals causes ecological imbalance
Extinction and endangerment of animals will disturb the food chain and negatively affect the balance of the ecosystem. If you treat this scientific statement just the way you hear about meteor showers on another planet or life after death, you made a mistake to focus on preventing the unfortunate days of the entire human clan. In the Indian subcontinent and many other countries, different religions encouraged the worship of animals and punished anybody who hurt the animals deliberately in the past. They believed that without animals, humans couldn’t thrive in nature. Though they had to bother animals for carrying out their occupational activities, they always respected animals and prayed for forgiveness whenever they had to use animals for their needs. Now that modern men don’t want to depend upon animals the way ancient men did due to mechanised life, using animals for selfishness is a grave mistake that digs the death pit to humans. Men in ancient times were aware of the scientific fact that the merciless killing of animals will affect natural life negatively. Though we claim to be more educated than them, it’s shameful that we aren’t even concerned about our future after mistreating animals. As conservators of our ecosystem, animals deserve all rights to thrive in nature along with humans.
Animals are affectionate like humans or even more
Any bad days are bygone sometimes if you have a pet at home. When they crawl under your feet, they silently tell you, ‘It’s okay to have a bad day; I’m with you.’ The amount of dopamine injected into your brain after feeding a stray dog, or a group of pigeons, etc., is too valuable that it’s unable to be neglected. Pet animals become a part of the family by the affection they have for us, and they give us company to surpass any loneliness. Even when we feel like no humans are by our side, they will be with us as faithful companions. Don’t they think that they deserve the right to live in this world like us humans?
Any justification we raise for denying the right of animals to live in this world is unacceptable. Just because we, humans, are powerful enough to conquer animals doesn’t mean that we should make their life miserable by mistreating them. Think of a world without any animals other than humans. Do you think such a thing can happen in the future? No, because our lives in nature are highly dependent on the variety of other animals, and it would be a wise decision to have a symbiotic relationship with animals rather than humans hunting their lives and treating them poorly.
Love animals and let them love you back!
Contents by Rose 