Over the centuries humans have slowly become more civilized and less barbaric. But this change has been too slow with many old and barbaric practices continuing to this date. One such practice is the imprisonment of animals like dogs and cats and calling them 'pets'. In the olden days, when humans were living as savages in the wilderness, they needed to rear and train dogs as companions. But today this practice has degenerated into the imprisonment and torture of dogs. In many big cities, dogs do not know anything outside the lonely confines of their apartment and the 5 minute walk their masters take them before the masters hurry off to work. Dogs are tied to a rope during these walks, putting a lot of stress on their necks. Such confinement in cramped apartments and tying ropes drastically reduces the chances of the dog having an active life.
Moreover, almost all male dogs are forcefully castrated and prevented from having fulfilling sexual lives. The number of dogs in the US is around 70 million. Assuming no sex selection, there are close to 35 million pairs of missing dog balls in the US alone. No civilized society can allow such levels of barbarism. Dogs must be allowed to roam freely and choose their own sexual partners instead of having to hump pillows and the legs of neighbors (the second point is more prevalent than you think).
Dogs are also subjected to humiliation in the name of dog shows where they are forced to dress up and perform dangerous tricks for their human masters. It is not uncommon for dogs to get injured in these shows. Since dogs live under such stress, their acts in self defense are construed as 'bad behavior' and such dogs are 'put down' in the thousands across the US. Another barbaric practice forced upon dogs is using them as hunting companions. Hunting dogs are specifically bred to have hunting instincts and aggression, and are routinely put in harms way. Thousands of dogs die and get injured in hunting accidents each year. As the sole adhikAris of rationality, we should ask the questions: What is the need to hunt in this day and age? Is it not easy and efficient to just pick up food from the nearest supermarket? When confronted with this question, a hunting enthusiast callously said: "My grandfather used to love the outdoors. So did my father. As a kid I used to accompany them during these trips and learnt a lot about tracking animals, shooting, etc. It was just a lot of fun and a nice change from school. My son, daughter and our dogs enjoy to go with me on hunting trips during the summer. I guess it runs in the family." Apart from the sheer savagery and imparting this to the next generation, the presumptuousness in saying that his dogs enjoy hunting left me shocked.
In another corner of the world, this can be compared with the 'love' for bulls that barbaric Tamils show. They savagely wrestle with the bulls on one day each year in a pagan festival called Pongal. During the festival they thank the sun god and their cattle for their harvest, as if the sun and the poor cattle can understand their language. I spoke to a young man about why he takes part in the festival and why he trains bulls. He said: "I love my bull karuppan. He was an aggressive one right from a young age. I was told that this festival has been going on for thousands of years. I grew up listening to my grandmother's stories of brave men and strong bulls that everyone feared.". When I asked him about the torture, he obliviously said: "Torture? There may be a few people who treat bulls badly. They should be punished. But the bull is a 'sAmi' for all of us. Because our sAmi paramasivan rides on a bull, the bull is also a sAmi. That is why we do a pUjai for the bull and smear it with a holy paste before the festival. The bull is our rival on one day of the year. On other days he is our friend." This regressive superstition made me cringe. But I did not challenge him further because he could not speak English. That made him intellectually inferior to me and any further argument was pointless.
As the sole adhikAris of rationality we should also ask questions such as: What is the point of downhill skiing? You go up and come back to the same place at the risk of mortal injury. That should also be outlawed as an irrational and wasteful practice.
(Pictures taken from internet.)
