Remembering the plight of man’s best friend

By Roshan Peiris

Oh Great King - the birds of the air and the beasts have an equal right to live and move about in any part of this land as thou. The land belongs to the people and all other beings, and thou art only the guardian of it.

Arahant Mahinda 250BC

“If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who deal likewise with their fellowmen.”

St Francis of Assisi.

Tomorrow is Vesak and it is an appropriate time to write about the appalling treatment of stray dogs in our country.

Sita Undugodage and Penny Jayewardene both animal lovers were choked with tears as they recounted that recently dogs in Dehiwela were dumped into a big Silver Municipality van and then gassed.

The animals writhed in pain for well over two hours.

Sita looks after strays. She gives them their anti rabies and distemper vaccines but cannot provide them all with a home.

Brownie her pet stray had not been wearing a yellow collar to indicate that she had been vaccinated. She too was taken into this Hitler type gas chamber.

All Sita’s pleas for its release were in vain.

The bleeding dogs unable to breathe are subject further to ill treatment as other dogs are piled on top of them asphyxiating them.

Both Penny and Sita asked why are these animals treated like this. Is it because they are dumb and totally dependent on us?

“Animals have only us humans to turn to. But what do we do? We cage them, mistreat them and now use gas as a form of torture. Can’t we use an injection and put them to sleep?” said Penny.

Sita said the long term plan should be to both sterilise them and innoculate them. “I love animals and I have become unpopular in Dehiwela where I live because I keep screaming when dogs are maltreated.

Dehiwela Mt Lavinia Mayor Jayaratne Perera has promised to convene a meeting and consider how best to stop this inhuman treatment of dogs traditionally considered man’s best friend.

At the Colombo golf course recently thirty dogs were given poisoned food to kill them.

Lord Buddha and other religious leaders have totally condemned the torture of animals. Mahatma Gandhi said “The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

More Plus * Muller spits out a mild shocker

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