Category: Cruelty to Animals

Introduction

These are technologies or disciplines of asceticism and meditation which are thought to lead to spiritual experience and profound understanding or the insight into the nature of existence and it is connected to religious beliefs and practices of Indian religions.

It is one of the most ancient spiritual concepts of east, and despite a philosophical look it has an equally significant physical basis and it is a collection of simple practices, a kind of body rituals, consisting of action, method and the technique. It is a science that yokes the finite with the infinite, or the finite spirit with the supreme spirit. Most of the animals have been mistreated in all places and their cry is secret as there is no communication a human being can here as we mistreat them.

The cats and dogs in were killed for fur something that is seen as a mistreat to them because people do not think and they seem to enjoy being in denial and adopt a non- questioning attitudes where animals are concerned and it makes them feel better about themselves to call animal activists irrational than to see themselves as a supporter of a painful and cruel trade as a meat- eater. The sutra form is a distinct type of literary composition, based on the short statements, generally using various technical terms and it is designed for concision, as the texts are intended to be memorized in some of the formal methods of scriptural study.

The violence can be of three types: done by oneself; got done by another; and approved when done by other and can be violence because of greed for example killing of an animal for its meat and skin, also through anger, if one feels the other has wronged them in some manner and also through delusion, thinking for example that by sacrificing animals in rituals one can acquire merit. The ahimsa is one of the five basic ethical precepts, which must be first cultivated for purifying and calming the mind, as a stepping- stone towards the ultimate enlightenment.

Main body

Some people may have many resources when others are lacking and it is some sorts of violence people have over others the ahimsa is the highest self- restraint, the greatest charity, the highest penance, highest sacrifice, greatest fruit, greatest friend and highest happiness. The moral attitudes are meant to bring our impulsive life under control and the desire not to harm others is an essential ingredient in cultivating a mental state and recognizing the essential unity underlying all the living beings, leading towards the ultimate mystical union.

The ethical precepts have a social implication that is it involves a violence perpetrated by one another for the selfish gains by helping one to rechannel the powerful survival instincts. These social interactions through moral discipline help us to suggest the ways in which the psychophysical energy can be freed and be further harnessed to take the yogi to the next level and if they give a positive restraint to our relations and others then our individuality can be addressed through: purification, contentment, penance, self- study of sacred texts, and the surrender to God.

The physical purification leads to disenchantment with one’s body and this is because it is hard to try to cleanse, bodily functions are bound to generate impurity. The contentment leads to unsurpassed happiness as it destroys impurity and leads to fulfillment of the body and the sense- organs and the sense organs and the body both depend on the external world for their gratification. When they are thus fulfilled, and have served their purpose, the yogi has no attachment left to the world.

The self- study leads to union with the desired deity and such an individual has no need for external aids to achieve his spiritual purpose. In surrendering oneself wholly to god it leads to perfection and the yogi remains super consciously absorbed to the outside world.

The softening of boundaries of the self is of paramount importance for they are too tight as one sees the other as separate, different, and apart from oneself which can lead to conflict and violence. But if the boundaries are softened then one sees oneself and the others as united in some way.

There are four factors in understanding the meaning of ahimsa in the yoga sutra and include: the general Hindu belief that according to karmic law, the process of karmic development, which can lead to self- realization and thereby moksa that is rebirth requires overcoming ego; the fact that the yoga school was focused on and engaged in the angas or the disciplinary practices necessary for the yogins who were at a very advanced state of spiritual development to achieve self- realization; the underlying metaphysics of the yogi school that differs in a significant way from the samkhya metaphysics.

According to that metaphysics, there are two ultimate aspects of reality which are distinct; one is the purusa, which is the pure consciousness, that is described as unbound and inactive and the other aspect of reality is the physical or the material world which is described as unconscious, and the things and the beings in it are said to be bound. The world is made of constituents; that which is light or illumines and also that which is light or buoyant and that which is dark, and heavy and resists energy.

In the yoga school there was a shift away from dualism to the idea that the purusa is to be found within oneself and the shift is important for the understanding of the significance of the ahimsa because the material, sensual self is identified as the true- self which is to be unveiled; and lastly the patantjali’s great insight concerning the forces of bondage, especially raga and the dvesa and their interactions. The raga can be described as an attraction to things and the persons that feed the ego which expresses itself in grasping and attachment and the dvesais the aversion to and the dislike of those things and the person which are perceived to be threatening to the ego.

The meditative practices start with the moral abstentions which begin with and are based on the ahimsa, the spiritual observances, the physical practices, breath control and the effort to shut off sensory input from the gunas. The yoga proper includes: the concentration which involves the binding of the mind stuff on a place of fixed attention; meditation which is the state of fixed attention wherein there is a flow of unbroken current toward a particular object ;and the contemplation wherein only the object of meditation shines forth in the mind.

The importance of the ahimsa is that, as part of the moral abstentions, it is considered before the spiritual, physical, or the mental angas. It also underlies the other moral abstentions that is the truth, not stealing, non- grasping or non- possesion, and the celibacy. If the ahimsa is adopted by a large number of people in the world then conflict and violence can end for it is attitude that is the one’s state of mind, disposition, or habitual mode of regarding life, that can either give rise to conflict and violence or not.

The animals should be given the legal rights to demonstrate their natural behavior even if they are found to be harmful and their movements have to be restricted and all measures, such as shooting predators or introducing diseases, taken to counteract ecological pollution and degeneration or the substitute habitats or protection should be rendered unnecessary. Maltreatment of animals is punishable by law laid down but does not include penalizing passive maltreatment of animals by for example the extreme curtailment of an animal’s freedom of movement.

Disregarding an animal’s well being is related to animal rights but animals also have fundamental rights in case of the obscure relation between human behavior and the animal’s well being. The freedom is a paradoxical concept and clear boundaries are to be created as to its beginning and its end and an advantage of freedom is that it entails a limit to the obligation to be concerned with animal rights. By safeguarding these rights, the animal can be left to interpret freedom in its own way and be free to exercise behavior that is in accordance with its innate nature.

For animals in the wild it is sufficient to be able to maintain a natural balance without disturbance by human beings and for the domestic or the agricultural animals the important thing is to ensure that they are able to exercise their behavior to a certain extent The freedom also entails the right of physical integrity in that no bodily harm by interventions including cutting beak, castration of piglets, genetic engineering or the extreme unhealthy forms of breeding.

The boundaries that can be set with respect to animals without infringing their fundamental right of freedom are: sterilization and the castration of pet animals, separate housing of the male and female domestic animals for the purpose of birth control; fencing off meadows and the demarcation of motorways; and lastly euthanasia and the abortion in cases of great suffering, similar to cases of human suffering when patients are not capable of expressing themselves.

A significant asset of the concept of freedom is that it can also be utilized by people who in principle disagree with the ultimate consequences like keeping pet animals can be seen as a way of depriving the animals freedom but with a pet lover in order to define the right circumstances for keeping pets and reaching a compromise which enhances the workability of the freedom concept. Another significant asset of the concept is its immediate controllability and if the circumstance is laid down in which an animal’s freedom is being obstructed then it will show that the animal has its right.

Conclusion

The animals need to be granted the right freedom just as human beings and therefore every one should have the right attitudes towards these animals whether domestic or the wild ones. Many people take advantage of the fact that animals have no better way to claim their rights and therefore the government has set the law to ensure that the animals are been taken care of and such practices such as hunting of the wild animals discouraged and a high penalty has to be paid.

Reference:

Chapple, C.key. (1995). Non- violence to animals, earth, and self in Asian traditions: Delhi.

Christopher chapple.(1990).ecological prospects, scientific religious and aesthetic perspectives.yogi anand viraj. The yoga sutras of patanjali: an analysis of the Sanskrit with accompanying English translation: Delhi.

George, PhD, (1998). the yoga tradition: its history, literature, philosophy and practice, Arizona, Hahm press, P.176.

The condition of public health in a society depends on many factors. To achieve good standards in this sphere, it is crucial to identify harmful factors, introduce effective laws that would deal with these factors, and to realize these laws in practice.

In this paper, we will attempt to identify one of such factors, the level of cruelty towards animals, show its relation to public health, and offer some legal tools that might prove useful in addressing the problem. The problem of animal abuse is significant for the public health of a society.

Despite the fact that public health legislation does not include this issue (for instance, in Baltimore County Code the article concerned with animals (#12) is separate from the article concerned with public health (#13) (American Legal Publishing, 2015)), the problem of cruelty towards animals has an important correlation with the area of public health, or, more precisely, with one of its parts – behavioral health.

Indeed, it is evident that violence towards animals is, in most cases, related to violence against humans. For instance, Flynn (2011) argues that “animal abuse is linked to a variety of interpersonal violence, including bullying, juvenile delinquency, adult violent crimes and other nonviolent offenses”; it has been shown that cruelty towards animals often “co-occurs with woman-battering” (p. 454).

Therefore, the link between animal abuse and public health exists, and it demands both public and legal attention. The prevention of cruelty towards animals is a major factor that might contribute to preventing interpersonal violence; for example, Flynn (2011) argues that ending violence against animals “is an important step in ending all violence” (p. 454).

It is stated that in 2013 many police officers did not consider animal abuse a vital problem, treating it “as a minor property crime” (Smith, 2015); many of them consider it a “Fluffy-Muffy issue”, not worth worrying about (Siebert, 2010). Even though there exists legislature protecting animals in Baltimore County (American Legal Publishing, 2015; Baltimore County Government, 2014), it is apparent that it needs to be adjusted in order to enable law enforcers to elicit the facts of animal violence and prevent them more effectively.

The law should also make the change in the officers’ attitude towards the problem possible on the institutional level; for instance, it might establish specific training programs elaborating the importance of the issue. It is also possible to legally introduce anti-violence programs into the school curriculum (e.g., into primary schools). Clearly, such programs need to be carefully designed and well-implemented to be effective.

As we have seen, the problem of animal abuse, being linked to interpersonal violence, is directly related to the sphere of public health. Battling animal abuse is vital to address the problem of behavioral health of the society. To do this, it is possible to introduce legislation which would allow the law enforcers to protect animals more effectively, as well as to create laws that would introduce the explanation of the issue to schoolchildren.

References

American Legal Publishing. (2015). Baltimore County Code. Web.

Baltimore County Government. (2014). Animal laws and policies. Web.

Flynn, C. P. (2011). Examining the links between animal abuse and human violence. Crime, Law and Social Change, 55(5), 453-468. Web.

Siebert, C. (2010). The animal-cruelty syndrome. Web.

Smith, V. (2015). A dog in the fight: Baltimore’s enforcement of animal-cruelty laws is getting some bite. Web.

Animal Cruelty

Controversies about animal cruelty

Animal cruelty is whereby one inflicts suffering upon an animal. In most cases, the harm is inflicted on them to gain from them. Animals have historically been killed for food, fur and other products that are beneficial to human beings.

However, humans overdid this and turned cruel. They fail to realize that such cruelty has an indirect effect on themselves. They suffer as a result of inflicting suffering upon animals. There are several ways in which animal cruelty is shown.

One of how animal cruelty is exercised is in the way they are used to obtain meat and eggs. For a long time, chickens have been used to obtain food. However, the need to commercialize this activity has led to their congestion in bureau farms (Akhtar 69). These animals are kept in huge numbers in relatively small areas such that the conditions in the confinements become unfavorable.

When animals are kept in huge numbers, it is difficult to manage the diseases that arise within the confined areas. Various strains of diseases arise in these areas and have the potential of becoming lethal to the animals. The H5N1 virus, for example, is highly contagious as it spreads fast. This leads to the death of birds in large numbers.

Another way in which animals are used for gain is in the fur trade. Millions of animals are killed yearly for their fur. These animals include the rabbits, chinchillas, minks and raccoon dogs.

The fur trade has sparked outrage from concerned individuals due to the inhumane way the animals are bred and killed. Most companies involved in this trade usually rare animals in cages. In such confinement, animals usually undergo stress due to the conditions in the cages.

Furthermore, certain activities (which inflict suffering) are done to the animals to preserve their fur. Some of these include the breaking of the neck, gassing, and anal electrocution. In China, cats and dogs have been used for their fur. They are turned into trinkets and trim. However, the conditions in which they are kept and the pain that is inflicted on them is unbelievable.

These animals are kept in bad conditions and then beaten, hanged and left to bleed to death. Some are strangled with wire nooses or skinned while still alive. The fur may then be mislabelled to deceive people that it belongs to other animals. This way, they may be sold to other countries.

Another way in which animal cruelty is shown is through animal testing. Some argue that animal testing is important when it comes to the advancements of medicine. They use animals to test certain treatments for humans. However, various campaigns argue against this unfair activity. It has been argued that human treatments should be done on humans instead. Every year, millions of vertebrates are used for these activities.

Even though the use of certain invertebrates for experiments is important and necessary, this is never regulated. Animals are used for research in medical schools, farms and other industries.

Institutions that support the use of animals for research argue that animals should be used for advancements in science to understand the relationships between cells, organisms and the surrounding environment. However, other organizations (PETA) argue that animal cruelty arises since these activities are not regulated.

Cruelty towards animals may also be seen in dolphin and whale slaughter. In Taiji, for example, several of these animals are trapped in coves and slaughtered in their hundreds. Seal hunting has also drawn media attention. This may be seen in the mercilessly killing (through clubbing) of the pup seals. Several countries such as Belgium have tried to combat this by banning the trade of seal products.

How to deal

In the case where animals must be used for experiments and other economic benefits, this should be done in a regulated manner. Statistical considerations should be done to ensure that the number of animals killed would not have an impact on their survival. Overkilling of certain animals may have an impact on their survival since they may not be able to reproduce at a rate as high as the rate at which they are killed.

This would lead to their reduced numbers and may cause them to become endangered. Certain animals are usually located in specific areas only (endemic). Such animals should be preserved rather than exploited.

Therefore, it is also important for those individuals exploiting animals for monetary gain to assess the sustainability of that exercise to ensure that the future generations would be able to utilize the same resources while ensuring the survival of the species.

In areas where animals must be used for fur, food or other products, the persons responsible should also ensure that animals are kept in good conditions. Caging many animals in a small area might lead to congestion and stress. Stressing animals inflicts suffering, and this is unacceptable.

Therefore, the conditions in the confinements should be conducive. The health of the animals should also be monitored frequently to ensure that the sick ones are quarantined so that they do not spread the diseases.

Another way of combating animal cruelty is through banning of trade of the products of certain animals. The sale of dolphin products and seal products, for example, could be banned. This would stop the merciless killing of thousands of these beautiful animals.

However, if certain countries wish to continue with this trade, they could strictly regulate the exercise. Akhtar argues that this could be done by coming up with regulations to ensure that only a specific number of adult animals are harvested (Akhtar 71). The killing of young animals may endanger the survival of the species.

How they affect

Animal cruelty also affects humans. It has been determined that the congestion of animals for commercial use may result in potentially lethal strains of avian viruses (Capua 361). For example, H5N1 has been determined (through research) to be a lethal and rear strain.

This pathogen also can spread among human beings. The congestion of birds in farms acts as a lab for the fast growth of the rare strain. Several attempts, including vaccination and culling, have been made towards reducing the viruses. However, research has argued that the H5N1 strain will continue to re-emerge for as long as the bureau farms are in existence.

Animal cruelty may also affect future human generations. As humans continue to kill a huge number of animals, they (animals) diminish at a high rate. If this is not monitored effectively, their numbers will be so low that they would not be able to serve future generations.

As animals become endangered, their use is strictly limited. Therefore, if the present generations do not take care of the animals or use them effectively, future generations may not be able to benefit from them.

It has also been argued that childhood development is severely impaired by exposure to cruelty towards animals. When children observe adults harm and abuse animals, their mental health is affected since they begin to think that cruelty and abuse (of animals) is a norm. Therefore, they become accustomed, and they may resort to violence in the future (Beirne 40).

Interview

What is your definition of animal cruelty?

Classmate: Animal cruelty is any activity that causes unnecessary harm to an animal.

Have you ever witnessed any form of animal cruelty?

Classmate: I witness animal cruelty almost every day. In the media, I see people kill thousands of animals for food, fur, and skin. Some are killed to use some of their body parts to make jewelry or medicine.

Do you support animal cruelty?

Classmate: On the contrary, I am strongly opposed to the act. This is unacceptable since the animals are treated ruthlessly. Animals feel pain as humans do.

What are you doing to help reduce incidences of animal cruelty?

Classmate: One way is by acting as an example. I have pets and treat each one with respect and dignity. I also advise my friends on how to treat them well. I am a big supporter of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).

What do you think the government should do to help?

Classmate: The government has the power to put in place policies to ensure that animals are treated well even if they are being killed for food or other purposes. There are better and humane ways of killing animals.

Works Cited

Akhtar, Aysha. Animals and Public Health: Why Treating Animals Better Is Critical to Human Welfare. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Print.

Beirne, Piers. “From animal abuse to interhuman violence: A critical review of the progression thesis.” Society & Animals 12.1 (2004): 39-65. Print.

Capua, Alexander. “Animal and human health implications of avian influenza infections.” Bioscience Reports 27.1 (2007): 359-372. Print.