Animals, big dams and people - Part I



The other day I was reading the comments in my blog. One response to my post on American literature told me that there are no good or bad things, there are only choices. While I have no problem with that statement, I had serious problems with the examples listed.

- It's great to protect animals, but people lose out
- It's great to make space for people, but animals lose out
- Build a dam for people but tribals lose out

I have problem with all these points. I would like to write about each point separately. I'll take the first point in this piece.

I guess this comes from my own experience with PETA. PETA stands for People for Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA preaches vegetarianism. I don't. I look at non-vegetarianism and animal rights differently for my own convenience. The way animals, especially the eatable ones, are treated in this world is evident enough for some one to scream for their rights.

Let me explain this.

Well, we are going to eat that broiler chicken regardless. But what are we doing before that? That broiler chicken lives 14 most truamatic days before entering your tikka or 65 or masala. You have seen the cages they are put in. They are iron cages with sharp edges with very little space to maneur around. They can't even stand up properly. Remember that a chicken is a bird? Which basically means they like to fly. But broiler chickens are genetically modified to produce more flesh, so they grow up with disproportionately. So, every broiler chicken is born with a thyroid problem by design. And talking about transportation. Around 20 chickens are tied tightly around their legs with a jute rope and hung in the cycle with 10 each side of the wheel. They travel around 5 to 10 kilometers in that cycle. I have often witnessed the scene where so many chickens are hung in the cycle where their head and beak touch the pedal. The cyclist rides on blissfully everytime banging the pedal against their head and couple of unlucky chickens bleed their way to the shop.

Now onto cows and buffallos. They are transported to Kerala to be sold to slaughter houses. In a truck capacity of 20 cattle, 40-45 are loaded. Just so that they don't fall on each other and get killed, their legs are tightly tied together. But alas, you can't assure that completely when 40 guys are stuck together for 12-14 hours of their standing journey. They obviously get squeezed and some weak ones faint during the journey. An unconscious cattle is considered to be sick and doesn't get good price. So to awaken them and to keep them alert, salt and pepper is rubbed in the eyes of the unconscious ones. That added to back, side, and leg breaking journey, they scream and yell in agony in the market to be sold to prospective buyer who's going to break their bones or employ some other innovative method to kill them.

This, I want you to compare with the very generic and very harmless statement that says 'it's great to protect animals but people lose out'. I'm not saying people should protect animals but I wonder how some one cannot have problems with such a treatment being meted out to these poor creatures before they are brought to your dining table.

I've just shared two instances of ill treatment. I've not shared other horres stories and if you are already shocked, will leave you to
explore them further.