Value of life
In a country like Pakistan, it is hard to quantify what is the value of life — be of humans or animals. The death of either is a tragedy but a far lesser value is prescribed to the animal. For the first time, a man has been arrested and sent to jail in Sindh for causing the death of the endangered Indus Dolphin. That matter emerged after a video went viral in which a baby dolphin was discovered to be stranded in a minor distributary of the Sukkur Barrage. Local villagers gathered on the banks of the canal while a couple of them jumped in. Instead of carefully dealing with the sensitive animal, one of them grabbed hold of the dolphin and yanked it out of the water — its only sustenance. He brought on to the bank, slinging the writhing dolphin over his shoulder to loud cheers from the crowd. The manhandling of the dolphin ultimately led to its death.
The Sindh Wildlife Department, along with police traced and arrested the man who manhandled the dolphin and became the cause of its death. He was fined Rs250,000 for his transgression. Unable to pay the fine, a judge sentenced him to spend 14 days in jail. Elsewhere in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, a youngster was fined Rs40,000 for the illegal poaching of a Monal pheasant. These were welcome news, but the post facto actions do little to hide the unbearable truth that our value for non-human life is so little.
“The cruel treatment and neglect of the wellbeing of an animal in captivity, or exposing it to conditions which do not meet the animals behavioural, social and physiological needs, is an infringement of the right to life of humans.” These were the remarks that form part of the Islamabad High Court verdict given six months back on the treatment of animals in the Islamabad Zoo. How little did we learn?
The wildlife department claimed that most people living along the river are aware of the significance of the endangered dolphin, but the loud cheers of the locals on the video told a different tale. Perhaps, instead of sentencing the ignorant villager to spend 14 days in jail, he should have been educated about the importance of animals and told to teach others the same in his village. Only then perhaps repeats of these incidents can be avoided.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 8th, 2020.
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