________________
Thus the activity of offering grains by a bird catcher is anubandh
hinsa. In simple language, if we consider two divisions of violence i.e. superficial and real, one has to abjure the real violence. If an animal is worked within reasonable limits, it is not real violence. This is so because an animal not to put any use, will become a liability and would definitely find its way to the slaughter house. Some people try to prove the utility of an animal (as food) by slaughtering it. As against this, those who wish to save the animals from slaughter, rely on this main argument that animals are useful for agriculture and draught activities. Now, if the animals are not put to any use, their usefulness cannot be proved and as a result they would be headed for slaughter. Animal Welfare Activists opposing animal labour (e.g. in bullock cart, horse cart, camel cart etc.) out of their feeling of compassion, in fact become instrumental in slaughter of the animal's. For decades, beautifully decorated and royal looking buggies pulled by horses in Nariman point area of Mumbai have been a major attraction for people. Some NGO took objection to this and filed a case in Bombay High Court which compassionately (!) ordered that such horsecarts should be stopped from plying within a year. What would happen to those horses? Will they still be maintained by their owners, housed in their stables and doing nothing? If compassion towards animals leads to not putting the animals to work, it is not real compassion. It is true that animals should not be overworked or treated cruelly
Lighthouse
93
