The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. As a proud citizen of this country, if I can live or anyone in this country can live their desired life then why can’t these poor animals.
Surah Al-Anam – 38 has categorically stated “All living beings roaming the earth and winged birds soaring in the sky are communities like yourselves.1 We have left nothing out of the Record. Then to their Lord they will be gathered all together.”
This itself shows how important these other creatures are and not just it is the human being who are to return back but the rest others as well. Furthermore, I would also stress upon one of the leading Judgment of the Lahore High Court’s, Justice Muhammad Amir Malik (PLD 1994 Lahore 521) who beautifully observed that as per Article 4 of the Constitution of 1973, every citizen has the alienable right to be treated in accordance with law and no action detrimental to life, liberty, body, reputation, or property can be taken except in accordance with law. Under Article 24 of the Constitution, no person is to be deprived of his property except in accordance with law. Equality before law and equal protection of the law is guaranteed to every citizen under Article 24. If the Constitution guarantees such protection to the citizens why not the same protection to the cattle and animals of the country? My argument here based on the Qur’anic verse and later on the reported judgment of the High Court is very simple that animals need protection and same treatment just like human beings get.
Poor animals suffering and suffering but no proper mechanism in place in order to combat this agony. A personal experience that is important to be brought into the knowledge of as much individuals as possible is that while I was coming back to Lahore from Islamabad recently I personally sadly experienced various poor animals lying dead on the side of M2 (motorway) and few found to be in worst of condition without anyone even thinking to help these poor animals or at least report to the motorway police. Unfortunately, even if someone with a kind heart would want to help those helpless animals still, they would most likely fail to do so. Why? It is simple because the Government has failed to form any animal care authority at least for the highway whom could be reported on immediate basis if any animal is found under life-threatening condition due to an accident or even found dead.
According to the study found in United States almost 10 million animals die each day on roads. However, does that mean there aren’t proper wildlife authorities to be reported? Absolutely Not. Once these authorities are reported there is an immediate response. If we shift towards Turkey where there are no ‘stray’ animals as such, as the Government takes care of all the cats and dogs on the streets and makes sure that they are well fed and not tortured or harassed, and that they have been vaccinated. This is just an example in terms of streets, how would they be acting on the highways for the protection of these animals would definitely be phenomenal. However, as I said earlier as well from my own personal experience that there were a lot of poor animals lying most of them dead and few found to be in worst condition on the M2 motorway but very sadly nothing was done to protect or to prevent these dead animals from the motorway therefore, in view of the same I would discuss here Marc Bekoff, the author of The Emotional Lives of Animals, where the case of prairie dogs, which are a kind of large rodent, like a mongoose are important to be taken into the account. One day while cycling in Colorado, Bekoff saw a telling interaction. A large black-tailed prairie dog was trying to retrieve the carcass of her young one. The baby had just been killed on the road, likely owing to an accident. Bekoff saw the mother try five or six times to drag the carcass off the road, perhaps so that it would not be further crushed by cars.
This example is just to indicate that if a prairie dog removed the body of her own baby from the road so that the baby doesn’t get crushed further then why cannot the police authority for M2 motorway do it. What I’m tilting towards is that the Government needs to take serious initiatives to protect these poor animals on the highway. The very first thing that the Government needs to execute is that directions need to be given to National Highway Authority (NHA) to install proper fences in the outskirts of the highway where there are greater chances of these poor animals to come. Furthermore, proper signboards of caution ‘drive slowly, animal protection’ to be installed so that every driver is vigilant on the highway specially those travelling in night. Lastly, most importantly, a proper animal protection authority needs to be formed specifically for the highways so that these poor animals are completely protected and do live their best life just like human being’s do.
All this is to press home the point that animals do feel the cruelties that are inflicted upon them. They are also capable of experiencing fun and joy, as with pets would know. I believe there are few NGOs in Pakistan for animal protection and rescue but what I suggest and would love to see is that a separate animal protection authority be formed specifically for the highways so that these poor animals can be protected and rescued. I would pen down this article by one final quote; that being a good human being requires speaking up when helpless and voiceless animals are being abused.