Why should it matter to you and me how we are treating our animals?
It is a fair question, and it deserves a plain answer. Four of them, in fact — and none of them requires you to love animals first.
Article 51A(g) of the Constitution makes it a fundamental duty of every citizen to have compassion for living creatures. Cruelty to animals is not a matter of taste; it is against the law of this country.
The capacity to recognise suffering in something that cannot speak for itself is the same capacity we rely on with the very young, the very old and the very ill.
Most of the suffering around us is not caused by cruel people. It is caused by ordinary decisions taken without looking — and that means ordinary decisions can undo it.
Habitat loss, unmanaged animal populations and zoonotic disease do not stay on the animals' side of the line. How we treat them decides how safely we live.
Pain and suffering
An animal in pain is not performing pain. The biology is shared; what differs is the animal’s ability to tell us, to understand it, or to do anything about it — which is exactly why the responsibility falls to us.
Pain itself is shared
Animals and humans share similar nervous systems and pain receptors, so pain registers and is responded to through comparable biological mechanisms — including pain from infections, dental problems and arthritis.
In pain, animals behave much as we do: they become less social, stop eating normally, pant or shiver with stress, vocalise or yelp, and move stiffly.
Studies show animals have similar areas of the brain involved in processing pain as humans do.
What they cannot do is tell us
A person can say where it hurts and how much. An animal cannot, which makes it far harder for us to judge the severity of what it is going through.
We understand that pain is temporary or can be managed. An animal may have no such expectation of an end to it, which amplifies the suffering.
Animals rely on humans to notice the pain and provide care. Without our intervention they have no way to relieve their own suffering.
Six kinds of animals, one common thread
Every one of these groups depends on human decisions for whether its life is bearable. The harms are different; the dependence is the same.
Dairy, poultry, slaughter, fish
Forests, wetlands and the edges of our cities
Carts, construction, transport, tourism
Our own streets, every day
Testing and research facilities
Inside our homes
Our own direct action is concentrated on the homeless, working, wild and companion animals of Surat and South Gujarat — the ones we can physically reach. Our education work is where we take on the rest.
What you can do about it
None of this asks you to change your whole life. It asks you to act the next time something is in front of you.