RELIGIOUS scriptures remind us that animals are God’s creations that need our love, compassion, and care. Mahatma Gandhi once said that the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. Come Makar Sankranti, reports appear about thousands of birds fatally injured or incapacitated for life by the glass-coated Chinese strings of kites, and several people lose their lives when they slit their necks. Forest lands have been encroached upon, depriving wild animals of their habitat and prey. They are then forced to enter human habitats, destroy crops, and kill domestic animals. Some wild elephants are tranquillized and transported to centres where they are tortured in the name of training and then auctioned. Their new owners, considering it a business investment, use them to earn money by forcing them to do hard work like carrying heavy logs.

They are often made to walk through melting tarred roads in the summer, participate in temple ceremonies that require long hours of standing without food or water and assault by harsh lights and sounds in the midst of large crowds. Some mahouts earn an extra buck by selling the long hairs on their tails to those who believe wearing rings with them will protect them from evil elements.

Not long ago, periodic visits of circus companies provided live entertainment to people. Their main attraction was the antics of animals and children. Bears and chimpanzees drove motor cycles; elephants played football or stood on stools; children rode on horses. It took a long time to train these animals by using the “stick and carrot” policy.

Now that animal rights organisations and those against child labour have forced governments to enact laws against their participation, most circuses have closed shop.

Cocks were sacrificed in certain temples to propitiate the presiding deities, but the practice has been discontinued, at least in full public view, due to stringent laws. Snake charmers used to roam the streets of villages and cities, holding snakes in closed baskets and making them swing their heads following the flute played by the charmer. The venomous snakes had their fangs removed or their mouths partly stitched. The street-corner performers now operate clandestinely, keeping an eye on policemen while collecting the coins thrown on the sheets spread before them by the audience. While nature has provided thick wool to sheep as protection against cold, greedy humans shave it off to make expensive fabrics, leaving them with no hair on their bodies. We have no qualms about forcing donkeys and oxen to carry heavy loads. Animals and birds meant for slaughter are carried in overcrowded carriers without food or water, resulting in the deaths of many. Our beaches have camels that live far away from their natural home of deserts and live their short lives offering rides to holiday makers.

In states where cow-slaughter is prohibited, cattle are released on the streets of cities by their owners, causing fatal accidents. There used to be dissection of frogs as a part of the curriculum in science schools, but it has now been stopped. Certain animals still suffer an agonising death due to mandatory trials of medicines on them before their trials on humans.