Animals also matter

Animals are very much sentient beings

n a full-scale war, soldiers on both sides put down their weapons on the ground to let animals pass when they were being moved from the zoos, abandoned buildings and the streets to shelters and places of safety. It might yet be hope. Humanity is a much bigger word.”

This was the sentiment of Egyptian veterinarian, Dr Khalil Amir from Four Paws, a global animal welfare organisation which was rescuing, protecting and providing shelter, medical attention and food and water for abandoned animals during the current protracted Israel-Hamas war.

While many civilians were being killed and injured by tanks, grenades, bombs, bullets, fire and collapsing buildings, animals were fast becoming a forgotten entity. In the midst the unbridled human carnage continued. Four Paws worked relentlessly on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides reporting overwhelming and unprecedented death, hunger, fear and confusion which engulfed the animals. This situation is no different in war -ravaged Central Africa, Somalia, Sudan, Ukraine, Syria and Yemen. Also, importantly, where there is abject poverty even without war, animals suffer immensely. We could be in an animal welfare epidemic on the planet which is fuelled by war and poverty. Animals need more attention.

A few years ago, a young Ontario boy was on a fishing trip with his parents when they drowned, leaving him to fend for himself in the freezing cold in the wilderness. Traumatised, he spent the night in the open, only to wake up and feel warm, furry bodies pressing against him. It was a couple of beavers, sentient beings, who saved his life. They feel pain and suffering and love, joy and empathy, just like humans, and us being kind has a positive effect on them. Research backs this up — being kind and responsive to animals can enhance our emotional and mental wellbeing.

Recently, Humane Society International

reported how a baby buffalo bellowed as it witnessed its mother being decapitated. This was in Nepal, at the Godhimai Festival (Goddess of Power) where tens of thousands of animals are slaughtered as a sacrifice to the goddess. This is done on a large scale and in a most violent way. I read somewhere that animal sacrifice is the lowest from of worship, if at all. It is cruel and a shame.

Thankfully, the Nepal government, NGOs and individuals are working tirelessly to make the Godhaimi sacrifice blood-less. While they work against the tide, some improvement was noted during the 2019 festival.

Well over 100 000 acres of forest is cleared every day on the planet to make way for agriculture, human settlement and economic activities. Swathes of animals and other species are driven out of the natural habitat they are dependent on.

The World Wildlife Fund for Nature reported that they found the 2019 Australian bush fires difficult to comprehend when well over 3 billion animals, birds, reptiles and other species were displaced, injured, traumatised or killed. Authorities labelled it as an emergency. This must not happen again. They are working harder for greater co-ordination of efforts, much more funding, vastly improved preparedness, better mitigation technology and an emphasis on awareness and education.

There is an ever-increasing interest in animals, their behaviour and their habitats, as seen in the greater coverage and attention that television, newspapers, magazines and discussions grant to animal welfare. That animals are conscious beings has received increasing recognition, both in volume and frequency. This is a welcome positive development.

Pet ownership across households in the U.S. has increased from 56% in 1988 to 66% in 2024, while in the same country one in three dog owners say that they adopted their dog from a shelter.

All of this indicates that pets are becoming an integral part of people’s lives. In the past three decades there has been an explosion of thinking that animals are sentient beings. They possess a physiological and neurological makeup to experience consciousness while each animal has an individual personality. Animal sentient science is taking hold like never before. In recent years at the University of Stirling in Scotland, 755 psychology graduate students took an animal behaviour course as an elective.

Animal sentient science delves into what animals think and feel, their need for sustenance, safety and certainty, that they feel pain, anxiety and fear, the need for companionship, freedom and their preferences, and that they feel grief and have empathy. Research into animal biology outlines that humans share the same systems of genetics, memory, hearing and emotional expression with animals. Noel Fitzpatrick summed it up well when he said: “People don’t get the big picture. Animals matter, people matter and animals in the lives of people matter.”