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AHIMSA TIMES - NOVEMBER 2008 ISSUE - www.jainsamaj.org
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I should have challenged them on the spot, asked them where they got these thousands of camel bones from - when there are only about 5 lakh camels in the country and no slaughter of camels except at Bakr Id when they are killed illegally in South India by rich Muslims. But I did not have the sense to think it through then. The main suppliers and exporters get the animals slaughtered themselves as their businesses are to going to wait for intermittent supplies of dead cows. The meat is thrown away, the bones are sent for carving. In South India, the export slaughterhouses like Al Kabeer who kill thousands of buffaloes every day, sell the bone to Andhra Pradesh carving industry suppliers.
You need to stop this trade. It is not the byproduct of the slaughter industry. It is the slaughter industry itself. Thousands of cows are killed for their bone and skin - their meat is simply thrown away as few people eat it. To have an idol in your house made of the bones of a ruthlessly killed, gentle, milk giving creature is in itself the worst form of sin. Don't just stop people from buying the carvings, get a few analysed and if they are cowbone, you can have the trader and exporter arrested, even if he claims ignorance.( text of the letter has been briefed To join the animal welfare movement contact E-Mail: gandhim@nic.in
FIVE LAKH MUSLIMS DEMAND A BAN ON KILLING OF COWS Muslims belonging to Kuresh sect had joined together at Delhi recently to demand complete ban on the killing of cows and providing due measures to give them proper care and protection. They have asked the whole Muslim community not to kill cows specially on the festive days, like Bakar-e-Id. They have submitted a memorandum, duly signed by various members of
Kuresh sect, in this regards to the Vice-President, Hamid Ansari. Imam Maulana Umer Illiasi of National Muslim Parishad have also urged Muslims to avoid taking cow's meat. He said that he has sent a request to all the mosques and madarsa in the country, not to sacrifice cows on the occasion of Bakar-e-Id, saying that cow was a national animal and it should e given due protection. He added that if the Government imposes a ban on cow-killing, mutual love and understanding amongst Muslim and Hindu community would increase.
SWISS HAVE PUT INTO FORCE THE WORLD'S MOST EXTENSIVE ANIMAL-RIGHTS LEGISLATION - Although easily viewed as comical and excessive, the legislation nonetheless is laudable. Have you heard the one about the goldfish having the right to privacy? How about the pigs with a right to a shower? How about making dog owners take a class in pet care? Or, here's the knee-slapper: Anglers must take classes in the humane treatment of fish. The stipulations in the Swiss animal-rights legislation that took effect in September certainly sound like good fodder for a stand-up comedian: "All right, Mr. Trout. You have the right to be filleted and dipped in batter. You have the right to be broiled or deep-fried. You have a right to have a professional chef present when cooked."
Have the Swiss - those staid people of practicality, precision, finance and civilized discourse - lost their collective, well-ordered minds? We say, no; they are simply a step ahead of other societies on the evolutionary scale of compassion and responsibility,
After all, Pennsylvania just passed legislation that set rigorous standards for the dog breeders, in hope of putting an end to the puppy mills that made the state infamous. The law mandates humane conditions such as larger cages in commercial kennels, exercise areas, temperature controls, ventilation, veterinary inspections and more.
The Swiss simply extended such compassion for canines, which makes sense when one sees a dog penned up or in a yard alone all day, barking out of boredom and frustration, a neighborhood nuisance – or even a hazard - rather than a companion to its owner. Though not as extreme as beating, such abandonment still constitutes cruelty, because dogs are social animals that crave companionship, whether canine or human. Presumably, an educated human being will be less likely to inflict such subtle cruelty. Some of us still may chuckle at the Swiss requirement that fish be treated humanely. After all, fish are so very different from us: They have minimal
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