STOP ABUSE OF ANIMALS!!

 In the past decade there has been a notable increase in the number of people claiming to be vegetarians in our world. For now, statistics say that 20-40% of the people of India are vegetarians while from 1993 to 2007 there has been an increase of 1% in the number of people claiming to be vegetarians in the US. This implies an increase in the consciousness towards animals, and our environment. Among the people who have been "converted" into vegetarians, the majority of them cite the reason as health consciousness and environmental consciousness. The minor reasons include religious reasons and a soft corner for animals.

But non-vegetarianism is not something that has sprung up recently. It has been in practice since the days of our ancestors and may be right from the days of the beginning of mankind. Now, non-vegetarianism can hardly be cited as the cause that kills animals. Our new gen can hardly do without animals. On an average can you imagine the number of animals that are tortured to make this world as it is now? Here's an idea:

• MEDICINES, that save your life. Many of them are tested on cats, dogs, monkeys, rats, guinea pigs and various other small insignificant animals, before they are declared safe for humans. More than half of them die in the process and many are euthanized (mercy killing).
• COSMETICS that we use contain animal products and some of them contain shocking things like hormones from a pregnant horse. Cosmetics are even tested on animals. It has been banned in the European Union (EU). France, which contains the largest cosmetic industry, L'Oreal, strongly opposed this ban. Many cosmetics in the US contain the tag, "not tested on animals". But the almost all products at some stage of manufacture undergo animal testing. A list of animals used for by products as well as for testing : humble bee, beaver, birds, cat, cow, crab, fish, goat, insect, deer, ox, otter, pig, silkworm, shark, shrimp, sheep, sperm whale and many more. Some of these are used for clothing while some are used for cosmetics.
• CLOTHES. A lot of clothes contain animal by products like fur and skin. There are various other alternatives for this. We can use synthetic products, and plant products instead of killing animals for that purpose.
• FOOD. I know many will say its impossible to stop eating food. Ice creams are tasty right? But what you think as purely lacto-vegetarian actually contains capric acid derived from animal fats. It is also used in baked foods, chewing gum, liquor, candy and often not specified on ingredient lists. Calcium stearate derived from cows is used in garlic salt, vanilla, meat tenderisers and salad dressing mixtures. The list is unending. Many foods which we think are purely vegan actually contain many animal products. For this also alternative is synthetic products.
• COLOURING. Sugar is given its white colour by crushed bone charcoal obtained from bones of animals.

So on an average how many animals are we killing per day? The majority of torture comes from the Research department and the cosmetic industry. On an average per year around one million non- human creatures are used for animal experimentation or, to use a more appropriate word, vivisection. Here is an idea on the variety of animals used for research.

That is not all. Animals are not only tortured in the labs and industries. They are tortured even in the places where they are kept. Just have a look on stables, sties and cattle sheds. It is almost horrifying to describe their life. The confinement, the squalor, the racket, the starvation, the exposure to extreme climatic conditions- we almost treat animals as a part of walls and buildings. Many of the animals don't even make it to the slaughter. They die of suffering. And what about dogs in some cities that are killed to keep the pretty cities clean? Well, we don't even think its an issue, even if it is  our favorite friend, dog.

So the question that really arises here is WHY do we have to save animals? Here are two answers.

• We shouldn't go on killing animals because, by common sense, fundamental rights apply to them also. We are living beings and they are living beings. Just because we have got the power to kill them it doesn't mean we've go the right to kill them. If that's the case, then there should be no punishment for murder. But there is, which clearly shows our selfishness.

So, now we have shamelessly agreed that we're selfish, let's go for a selfish reason to stop killing animals.

• Its because animals provide BALANCE. Herbivores control plant population and carnivores control herbivore population. And we? We control all their population to the point of extinction. Animals do our work for us. We, as species with "higher intelligence" are supposed to protect our earth. But we are so intelligent that we have even polluted our outer space with our intelligence. Animals protect our earth by living in harmony with it. They do not ride cars and buses. You don't need to protect nature to conserve. If you just don't destroy it, its enough.

So, since it is agreed that we cant stop eating animals, let us even try to oppose animal experimentation and animal by products in almost everything we come by. We have to oppose animal cannibalism and the terrible conditions in which they are made to live in, animal based food products, animals based clothes, animal based footwear, animal based medicines and animal based-anything. It is not the sole job of PETA or such organisations. Change will come only when majority oppose the existing one. So, for the sake of animals, or at least for the selfish reason of saving our earth, stop abuse of animals.