Animal Rights

The other day Nat geo were showing "In Cold Blood" a series on reptiles, once I got a glimpse of what was on offer I quickly flipped the channel. If they were showing something about the big cats or other 'interesting' creatures, I would have probably watched it. Its much more fun to see a tiger hunting than a pack of dogs. Sharks and Dolphins are much more attractive than lets say sea horses or squids. Eagles definitely win over bats. So I have preferences, whats the big deal everyone prefers something to other. Its natural.

My theory is that there are a certain group of animals/birds/marine life that have always fascinated us, while for a certain group mostly reptilian , there is a general aversion. I wondered how would a snake think of us, its not his fault or cause of his action that we hate him, just natural prejudice. That led me to what we call animal rights groups. Sometime back a kid was mauled to death by a pack of stray dogs in Banglore that led the Municipal authorities there to start killing stray dogs, the argument being, they have become a public health hazard. Animal rights activities were up in arms, News footage of sad looking dogs in cages, there was a lot of drama around that. Next was the bird flu incident, poultry en masse were being culled, there was absolutely no response from animal rights activists.

Will I be wrong if I deduce, our affinity/empathy/sympathy/aversion for animals is a function of their utility to us as individuals and by extension their utility for our society. Nothing wrong so far, its quite fair enough. But if you look around you will find many people being judgmental if you dont share their views. I have seen people who become judgmental based on whether you are a vegetarian or not! Thats something not quite right.

But having said that, you just cant have a field day, do whatever you like with wild life. Since you can kill an animal for your culinary delights, he can kill an insect for sanitation needs (why, should you judge based on their size !, they are all equal, all creatures of God, all product of evolution, based on which camp you belong to). I can kill any wild life for my lets say ego.. or something more stupid. This argument though logical cannot be allowed in. So where do you draw the line.

Well before that, we have to all agree to the notion that , we humans are all selfish, we look after our interests, our love for other species can be always traced back to a certain utility of theirs to us individually or to our society in general. Once we all agree to this, we stop being judgmental on this. Stop vilifying people. A poacher has to poach cause society hasnt given him a better alternative. Stop taking a moral high ground, cause everyone of us in some way or other is guilty of selectivity. I agree that some especially the noveg people like me are more, cause I dont have to eat noveg to survive, its just taste, a temptation.

The problem ought to be seen in a more humanistic way, give an alternative to a poacher, a non veg eater :). And find ways to co-exist, and animal rights activists stop pretending to be angels.