Request To Indian People From Vegetarians Of World

Author(s): Young Indian Vegetarians
Publisher: Young Indian Vegetarians

Page 43

I have been a strict vegetarian for 35 years, and on the death of my Stepfather, Lord Dowding, in 1970 I gave up my aerospace career to join my Mother in her dedication to animal welfare.
I am greatful to Shri Nitin Mehta, President of the Young Indian Vegetarians in England, for inviting me to make myself known to you and to share with you some aspects of my work in India. In this connection 1. must thank Shri Prabuddha N. Chatterjee for his help to me and to his dedication to animal welfare through the "All Lovers of Animals Society", which was run by the late Dorothy Matthews. Also my thanks to Asoke and Shunta Mukerjee for their great friendship to me and my wife while in Calcutta.
How delicate is our relationship with nature? The importance of a harmonious relationship between man and nature has always been an important aspect of the Indian culture. Yet this is now threatened by the intrusion of Western material values - the values that I speak of are the very ones which have been proved to be untenable and are being discarded in the West. Consider the matters of wildlife and pest control. The scene is idyllic. A humid Indian summer evening with the sun sinking behind the billowing monsoon clouds, the beating wings of a family of giant fruit bats foraging in the mango trees; the insect whine of attacking mosquitoes, and the air filled with the wooing chorus of the Indian bull frog. How I long to be back amongst my friends in a country I have come to love so dearly.
Even as I write, there is tragic news from India. Thousands of people and animals died near Bhopal in agony from an escape of toxic Methyl isocynate gas, used in the manufacture of insecticides. The increasing dependence on dangerous insecticides in India is directly linked to the needless and cruel mass slaughter of millions of bull frogs to provide a
delicacy for the North American and European market. The range of delicacies for the gourmet is proliferating - lobster, crab, pate de foie gras, and now frogs' legs. . Commercial interests supplying the supermarkets and fast food trade are cashing in by making these one-time-rare delicacies available to all. Alas for India - a beautiful country whose heart beats in thousands of small villages. Its farming communities, their livelihood, the rural ecology and economy are threatened by a small number of influential business entrepreneurs with big fish processing and freezing plants. They are cashing in on the live cutting of millions of frogs each year which pass through their plants on the outskirts of cities such as Madras, Bombay, Hyderabad and Calcutta. Over the past 25 years the trade has growth at an alarming rate. In 1959, India exported about 93,5 tonnes (equivalent to at least 5.8 millions frogs). By 1973, this had risen to 2.698 tonnes, and to 3,570 tonnes in 1978 (which is the equivalent of 10,700 tonnes live frogs). Ecologically, these frogs would have eaten over 10.000 tonnes of crop pests PER DAY during the monsoon season, had they been left alive in the rice paddies and coconut gardens to fulfil their natural task. ---