World Animal Day At SOA: Need Development Sans Destruction, Says Eminent Biologist

Bhubaneswar: The need of the hour is to ensure development without destruction and pollution to ensure the safety of our planet, eminent biologist Prof. Aditya Prasad Dash said.

“What is needed today is development without destruction and production without pollution,” said Prof. Dash, former Regional Advisor to the World Health Organisation (WHO) for South-East Region, while speaking at a Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA) Deemed to be University programme here to mark World Animal Day.

Prof. Dash pointed out that the entire earth is dominated by plant bio-mass, with animals and humans accounting for a miniscule 0.4 per cent and 0.01 per cent, respectively.

“A little imbalance in the animal-plant bio-mass equilibrium will cause havoc,” he warned.

“Climate change is happening everywhere and affecting the animal kingdom. It is said that industrialisation and deforestation are largely responsible for this change. Since we can’t stop development, we should ensure development without destruction and production without pollution,” Prof. Dash said at the programme which was organised jointly by Institute of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry (IVSAH), faculty of veterinary sciences of SOA, and Odisha Livestock Development Society.

Prof. Dash stressed on the importance to strive for ensuring a protected environment for animal kingdom, and focus on highly-evolved community of ants, termites and bees.

He said some creatures have strong societies, and ants and termites have a special symbiotic relationship with aphids, the insects which secrete a sweet liquid known as honeydew.

“The bees are interesting creatures and research on their behaviour had found the worker bee resorts to a unique form of communication to share information on the location of a food source with its nest-mates. This is known as the waggle dance,” said Prof. Dash, former Director of the National Institute of Malaria Research, New Delhi.

SOA Vice-Chancellor Prof. Pradipta Kumar Nanda, who was the programme’s chief guest, said animals also reciprocate their appreciation if cared for, as love is a universal language.

“We have this experience with our pets who often sacrifice their lives to save others… we should learn from animals and birds and pick up their positive traits,” Prof. Nanda remarked.

Dean of the institute Prof. Bramhadev Pattnaik spoke about the importance of animals and birds, saying they were vital to the existence of human beings as most vaccines were experimented on animals first.

Prof. (Dr) Sanghamitra Mishra, Dean of Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital, faculty of medicine of SOA, stressed on the need to develop compassion for animals and promote vegetarianism. “We must be committed to love, protect and care for animals,” she said.

Prof. Sushanta Kumar Das, Odisha Livestock Development Society president and Dr Raj Kishore Mohanty, former Joint Director, Department of Veterinary Services, Odisha government, were also among speakers.

Several eminent veterinarians and winners of essay, debate and quiz competitions held earlier were felicitated.