Animal rights activists gathered in front of Secretariat on Saturday to advocate the ‘personhood’ status of animals.
The activists, holding placards and banners and shouting slogans against animal abuse, condemned the exploitation of animals for human interests.
They highlighted the increase in brutality against animals in the ‘animal agriculture’ industry, in scientific testing, and as community animals and work animals.
They sought to raise awareness about speciesism - an unjust prejudice that deems humans superior to animals. Messages on the placards emphasised the moral equivalence between the lives of different animals. “There is no moral difference between killing a dog and killing a goat or killing a human- they all suffer equally and feel the same pain,” Drushti, an activist, said.
Jayaseelan, an organiser, highlighted the lack of awareness of “standard practices” in the animal agriculture industry. Separation of mother and offspring in dairy farms, painful artificial insemination, confinement of cows and abandonment and/or slaughtering of male calves were some of the practices resorted to. India, he pointed out, was a leading exporter of beef and leather.
Responding to concerns about the economic impact of regulating such practices, Suma, an activist, underlined the need for approaching the issue from the perspective of social justice.
Amjor Chandran, one of the organisers, expressed the need to recognise the freedom of animals. He urged society to view animals as individuals rather than objects of pleasure.
The primary demand of the activists was acknowledgement of animals as sentient beings and rejection of the term ‘livestock’ and their treatment as one. They urged the government to grant legal personhood status to animals and called for a total ban on industries where animals were exploited.
