As part of Dhyan Foundation’s ‘Save a Cow’ initiative, we have come across many severely wounded accidental cases of animals. In a majority of such cases we found that once the animal was taken to the hospital, it would never see the light of day again.
A common practice in medical science is termed as ‘Animal Euthanasia’, wherein an animal is humanely put to death in order to relieve it of its pain. We, however, found that the power to end a life was being used rather frivolously by certain institutions.
Recently in Goa we found a cow that was severely poisoned from eating garbage on the roads. She could not stand and did not eat. On examining her, the doctors immediately announced that she should be ‘put down’. After much persuasion and insistence the cow was taken from the authorities and brought to Dhyan Foundation’s Goa Gaushala, so that she could spend her ‘last days’ in peace…The last days seem to be far away, as on the third day of bringing her in, the cow stood on its feet without support and starting eating well. Today, the cow has recovered completely.
Would killing a being, which can (and did) survive, have not amounted to murder? Is it fair to end a life on the mere assumption that it will not be able to survive?
Animals should not be put to sleep unless they have a serious disease like rabies. Till date man has not been able to create life in a laboratory, what gives him the authority then to take it away, that too just because it might call for a little extra effort? It is not relieving the pain of the animal, it is relieving oneself of the responsibility which has been entrusted upon us as humans – to protect the weak. Karmic repercussions are high.
Thanks to human callousness we have already disturbed the balance of nature; the brunt is going to be borne by us only, the ‘survivors’. We are living in times when there are no cows to give healthy milk, no bees to pollinate and help grow our food, no birds to chirp, no vultures to decompose the dead matter, no trees to purify the air and provide food, no seeds to germinate into food and grains…Every life is precious – human, animal and plant. Let us give it its due respect. Right to life is not a human privilege, it is fundamental to every living entity.
