Asia for Animals urges India’s Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change to take strong and immediate action to prevent bull taming/ racing, and other associated events, from taking place, by upholding the Supreme Court’s order, prioritising public safety and animal welfare, and India’s international image and reputation.
No other animal has come close to the cow and the bull in sharing a viscerally intimate relationship with humans, or possibly suffered more for it. The spectacular rituals around bull sports involve young men who sought to demonstrate their virility, masculinity, and ultimately, their sexual domination of the raw potent power of an angry bull.
A bull is every bit as capable of feeling anguish, distress and suffering as a human being, and to justify making any sentient being feel thus for the sake of a sport is offensive to the principles of Indian Dharma. In this regard, Prakash Javadekar has betrayed the very Hindu Dharma that he used as a platform to get himself elected in the first place.
Minister Javadekar has announced that he will restart Jallikattu, Bull fighting and Cow races on January 1st which are extremely cruel activities banned by the Supreme Court of India. It is sad that the same government which could not tolerate the plight of cows in the slaughter houses is OK with restarting hideous games involving deliberately disoriented terrified bulls.
Instead of contributing to the development of sustainable, healthy farming systems, veterinarians have become servants of the industrial farming machine. Vets no longer see animals as their clients, they see the person who signs their salary check. We need vets to rediscover their original mission – animal welfare. Vets have the power to change the system for good. It’s hard to understand why medical professionals who specialize in treating animals actively contribute to their pain and terror.
Must you drink milk? If you must, at least try and find out what cows are being used for your dairy. Scientists have implicated A1 beta-casein, found in the milk of European cattle breeds, in a range of serious health problems.
The ethical traveler now needs to take decisions that change the world. To decide where to go for their holidays. And if they decide not to go to a particular state and country, to actually let the travel agency and country know why they are not going.