Opposing animal experiments implies supporting experiments on humans — the poor, needy and unsuspecting humans, to be precise. The same goes for entertainment, as entertainment through animals is a source of income for thousands of very poor families.
Nida Fatima | Clarion India
NOW that Bakrid (Eid Al Adha), the Festival of Sacrifice, is just round the corner, there is understandable and expected frenzy among a certain kind of animal rights activists. They are not necessarily vegans or against the animal slaughter in general but the idea of slaughter on Bakrid makes them jump like cacti on their seats would.
Once they start jumping, it usually takes them until after Bakrid to come to rest. Then they stay in the state of rest until the next Bakrid. In the meanwhile, they flaunt silk attires and enjoy quite a few non-vegetarian delicacies.
This year, their anti-Bakrid slaughter activism has gone many notches up. There have been suggestions of treating goats as brothers to prevent their slaughter. Such insuppressible misogyny!
Dear seasonal activists, please consider adding a word for goat-sisters while I work out a condolence note of the sort I have never written all my life. It should read something like:
‘Dear seasonal activist
I am very sorry to inform you that your sibling has ended up on my plate in the form of mutton tikka. I know what a massive tragedy it is for you. I hope it helps to know that you had a delicious sibling that my family and I relished thoroughly.
Yours truly
An avid mutton eater.’
Then we have PETA which, unlike the seasonal activists, is active all round the year and does some commendable work. I agree with a lot of what PETA does and says except that it expects me to go vegan!
Its tagline reads: Animals are not ours to experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way. While they are absolutely right in their stand against animal abuse, most of their other demands are not just unreasonable but inhuman and in some cases even anti-poor.
Opposing animal experiments implies supporting experiments on humans — the poor, needy or unsuspecting humans to be precise. The same goes for entertainment, as entertainment through animals is a source of income for thousands of very poor families.
The human race is believed to be 200,000 years old but cultivation started only 10,000 years ago. One of the most conducive factors for the survival of the human race during its first 190,000 years was that there had been no PETA back then!
There are still places on Planet Earth where it is either too expensive or entirely impossible to survive without killing animals for food. Besides, the meat industry provides direct and indirect employment to millions of people. I wonder if PETA has alternative employment ideas, or does it expect people in the meat industry to starve to death?
Cow slaughter must be opposed because there are religious sentiments associated with the cow and such pious sentiments ought to be respected.
However, the slaughter of goat, sheep and camels, etc. on Bakrid, and chicken and fish on ordinary days is no one’s business and extending ties of kinship only to goats to the exclusion of other animals reeks of ulterior motives.
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Nida Fatima is a Hyderabad-based writer and homemaker. She can be reached on Twitter.com/@TawakkkalAllah The views expressed are personal and Clarion India does not necessarily subscribe to them.
