Cuttack: Union Minister for Women and Children Development, Maneka Gandhi was the chief guest and keynote speaker at a conference on animal and environmental welfare at the National Law University Odisha (NLU Odisha) here on Tuesday.
She spoke on why animal welfare is needed in the first place and what possible impact does such a policy have on human health. She highlighted the fact that the killing of animals, as a means of ‘cleaning’ urban areas (like euthanising of dogs), would only yield disastrous results, as more often than not, removing these animals would only make the next animal on the food chain move up. This, in turn, may create effects that the society may not be able to accommodate fully. Secondly, several anecdotes support the fact that a majority of the internal militancy activities in the country derive a majority of their funding from illegal, cross-border cattle trade. She also stressed on the co-relation between people who commit crimes against humans and a general violent tendency towards animals. She expressed concern over the deplorable condition in which poultry is kept. This, apart from the obvious anti-cruelty concerns, also has a heavy impact on the humans consuming such poultry. She cited several examples and instances, ranging from animal trafficking to the use of animals in experiments, highlighting the need for animal welfare in to improve the quality of human life.
Also present at the two-day conference were Prof. Dr. Priyambada Hejmadi Mohanty, biologist and conservationist, N. G. Jayasimha, Managing Director of HSI, Sumanth Bindumadhav, Wildlife Campaign Manager of HSI, Gauri Maulekhi, trustee, People for Animals and Abhijay Negi, founder of MAD, a social action group. The event was coordinated by Sohini Mahapatra, Faculty of Law at NLU Odisha.
The Vice Chancellor of NLU Odisha, Prof. Dr. Sri Krishna Deva Rao highlighted Mahatma Gandhi’s vision that serving the society does not include only serving humans but also beings, which cannot take care of themselves. He expressed the desire that the discussion on animal welfare be taken further by collaborating with other law schools in the future.
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