A recent issue of the famed National Geographic magazine cited elephant as one of the most intelligent animals on earth. It was an excellent coverage, raising mass awareness towards these majestic animals living in the wild, or around human civilisations. This brings us to take a closer look at the demise of a young elephant in Karachi.
It was captured in Tanzania, and was kept at the zoo in Karachi that lacked the expertise required to care for these animals. This was a tragedy that should not have been allowed to happen.
A lot of grief over the incident and anger against the zoo management was expressed on conventional and social media platforms.
Tragedies like this have happened before and zoo managements have been blamed afterwards. Calls for reforms are made, but then everyone seems to forget them, and animal abuse continues in the zoos.
A fundamental problem is the perception of our relationship with animals, in general, and zoo animals, in particular.
We see zoo animals as a source of entertainment, a notion that robs animals of their dignity and lifestyle conducive to their needs.
Such views of course lead to bigger issues that Australian philosopher Peter Singer in his 1975 classic, Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for Our Treatment of Animals, called speciesism; a prejudice against animals that is not different from the prejudices of racism and sexism that we abhor in this day and age.
Zoos are not the place for animals, and, as we are encroaching on their habitats, we need to build them proper sanctuaries where the animals may live a life that is closest to their natural habitats and needs. They surely deserve that much, and we surely need to provide that.
SYED RIZVI
SAN JOSE, USA
