The Bible says. “A
righteous man regardeth the life of his beast,” thus making kindness and
justice to domestic animals an essential part of human virtue. Animals also
claim our love and sympathy. not only because they are dumb and helpless but
also because they are so serviceable to us. Cruelty to animals hardens our heart,
and produces anus a callous and unfeeling and unsympathetic nature which is a
great punishment to a human being.
Some animals do us
great services. The horse, the dog, the mule, the ox, the ass, and the camel
arc our faithful and hard-working servants. Even in this age of mechanical
civilization we cannot do without them. Yet how often do we come across the
ugly sight of a driver whipping the horse hard or a farmer showering blows upon
the stolid ox mercilessly, as if the latter were made of stone or wood, and not
flesh and blood.
Cruelty to animals
is immoral. How often do we fail to realize that cruelty to these innocent dumb
creatures, though it leaves us cold, makes angels weep.
“A Robin Redbreast in a
cage,
Sets all Heaven in a
rage;”
Kindness to animals
is rewarded by God. Coleridge says ——
“He prayeth best who loveth
best
Both man and bird and
beast;
For the dear God who
loveth us
Made and loveth these.”
In India the doctrine
of Ahimsa or non-violence, though often preached, is not always practised,
especially by the young.
We must practice
kindness to animals. We can show our kindness of them by providing proper
food, water and shelter to domestic and agricultural animals, by allowing
them complete rest one day in a week, by sending them to veterinary
hospitals when they’ are ill, by making them carry only so much load as
they can carry with ease, by avoiding the use of sharp goads or heavy
wooden cudgels, or leather whips to exact speedier work from them, by
supporting public institutions like pinjrapoles and societies of prevention of
cruelty to animals, by reporting the cases of cruelty to animals to the
nearest police station and thus bringing the offenders to book, by
discouraging wanton slaughter of animals for food, and by discouraging
hunting for mere sport.
It is our moral duty
to treat dumb animals with kindness and sympathy, especially when they are
helpless and wholly dependent on our care and protection.
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