Dogs: Differential treatments

Dishonouring the evolution

One of the most trusted animals that came along with humans in the course of evolution, however, faces ruthless discrimination.

A big housing society in Navi Mumbai once held a morcha against feeding stray dogs inside the society. These days such a movement gets massive support as it is a threat to the people. Today the world is going in such a way that the crowd is always right. 

When humans think in such a way, the so-called humanity has no space. What remains in people’s minds? Except for them, none has the right to live. Every life on earth has to find food instinctively. They have the right to survive independently. However, when we change the world all 360 degrees and even if we can’t find our food, how can dogs which follow us from the forest sustain? We have the moral responsibility to feed them so long we dominate their living space too. Of course, sometimes they may go wild as per their instincts.

They attack rarely, far less than one does on another fellow being. We create many traps for other people. Robbery, domestic killing, road accidents, construction mishaps, etc. are crimes. Still, we continue walking, driving and flying. We never stop but accept all these crimes. If one dog attacks us we should not show revenge on all the dogs.  It is the only animal that followed us from the forest as it trusted us. So it is our responsibility to reciprocate with it. 

We do not have a proper waste management system. Stray dogs regularly eat the meat and fish wastes we throw in the roadside garbage. Garbage bins overflow routinely. The dogs eat it and get more aggressive. We never blame ourselves for our slip-ups and fouls.

When we started to sit on top of the food chain, not only did we get what we demanded, but also started feeding other lives with hidden intentions.  At the beginning of farming and cooking food, we realised that animals would come close to us if we fed them. Food is the only one that matters in every life,

In the evolution wolves became dogs. There was human interference in the changes. The animals came closer to human shelters for waste food at a safe distance. Long before we got our hands on the chisels in the artificial selection toolbox, natural selection sculpted wolves into self-domesticated village dogs without any human intention.

According to science, all lives keep a flight distance from others. Food is of equal value in their life as safety. Animals don’t run away from food. Wolves used to come near humans for food and kept a safe distance. Those who came close grew up fast and became friendly with humans. Those who kept more distance continued in the forest as a wolf. With plenty of food around they grew up fast and regenerated their species. Their proximity to humans evolved into becoming village dogs. Gradually, they became watchdogs and domestic pets.

If anything or anyone belongs to us, we take care of them. We treat the rest as our enemies. A person who loves his pet dogs is hostile to street dogs and pushes the stray ones into unsafe zones. Our selfishness discriminates against the other dogs. We should show some mercy towards them. Even village dogs play a role in keeping our environment clean as they eat the waste food. Besides, they contribute to balancing our ecosystem by keeping away some rodents. Instead of protecting the deprived beings, we chase them away from our ways. That reflects a dirty mindset.