None of us are a stranger to an incident that happened a couple of days ago, the brutality of which, shook us to our core. She was a pregnant elephant (who has been coined the named Vinayaki) who lost her life because of eating a pineapple that was stuffed with a firecracker, which exploded inside her mouth. She wandered for days on end, in utter agony till she found a river that she thought would ease the pain if she settled there for a while. Although the officials were contacted, and they tried to help her using multiple methods, she had suffered enough and passed away standing in the river. Accounts on social media blew up in outrage over the incident, after one of the forest officials, Krishna wrote about it and shared it on Facebook.
Days later, a piece of clarification evidence cropped up, about how the pineapple with the stuffed firecracker was meant for the wild boars as protection towards the villagers and their crops. From what I observed, the anger, however, soon started taking different shapes and forms. Some stated and debated over the communal issues, while some took this chance to call out the hypocrisy of people who ate non-vegetarian food and still expressed their demise over Vinayaki. The most important question that should have arisen more than former ones, was that why aren’t there stricter laws to protect the wild animals in our country?
Sadly, Vinayaki wasn’t the first animal to die at the hands of human cruelty. Just a week later, another case surfaced wherein a cow died in a similar manner. They won’t be the last cases either. What doesn’t catch the attention of social media are hundreds of killings of elephants, tigers, rhinos, leopards by the poachers.
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Whether we like it or not, we simply aren’t asking ‘why’ enough. Why is poaching happening on a regular basis? Why is the population of tigers in India a serious concern? Why are elephants or horses or camels when taken as captives, treated so horribly? Why did the villagers think the only way to protect themselves against the wild boars was to kill them? Could there have been other alternatives that protected both sides? The questions, if we really get deep into it, are endless. Usually, when an illegal act is committed to pretty regularly, it’s because either there aren’t proper laws in place or the laws exist but aren’t enforced properly. Because of these laws lying loosely around, there is no fear amongst the people committing these heinous crimes.
The Wildlife Protection Amendment Act 1972, which was last updated in 2008 protects all the wild animals all over India. So, we know, in our country, the law exists but is just not enforced strongly enough. Hunting, poaching, and killing of animals will stop when there is a certain fear of the consequences inside the people. It will stop when each and every one of us start asking the right questions. It will stop when we finally take a look at all the innocent animals who have lost their lives till now and finally say “NO MORE”.
The idea of this article by Kshiti Jhala. Her Insta id is @Kshiiti
This is Written by Sanjana Saxena. Her Insta id is @sanjanasaxenaaa
The Banner and artwork is created by Parul Singh. Her Insta id is @paakhi_art
The article is Curated by Vaibhav. His insta id is @frameshade
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