THE treatment and welfare of animals whether domesticated, in captivity or in the wild has always been a concern of the consumer community since such treatment has important social reverberations. Accordingly, this column may return to this subject again.

Last week, there was a media report of an East Asian woman who ran a restaurant at Diamond, one of the villages on the East Bank Demerara, who mercilessly beat a dog almost to death. The dog was beaten in her yard and its ribs and jaw were broken and its skin was lacerated. She then threw the dog while still alive onto the road, probably with the intention that oncoming traffic would crush its body.

A concerned resident witnessed the brutality and spoke to the woman who denied that the dog was hers. Another resident tried to feed the dog but it could not eat since the injuries to its mouth were too severe. These residents reported the incident to the Police who visited the scene and laid charges against the woman under those sections of the Laws of Guyana which afforded protection to animals. In the meantime, the Guyana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (GSPCA) was contacted but they had to put the animal to sleep, since it could not be revived and when the GSPCA personnel visited the premises of the restaurant, they found several cats in a large cage as well as a number of dogs which they rescued.

This incident illustrates two tendencies in Guyanese society. Firstly, the ill-treatment and cruelty to animals still persist but there are also large numbers of Guyanese who eschew violence and cruelty to animals and treat them in a humane and civilised way.

For most of the 19th century, most Guyanese were insensitive to violence and cruelty to both man and animals since the residue of the harshness of Plantation Slavery had not completely faded away. In the post-Emancipation society, transportation was done by animal-drawn vehicles and this persisted for the next century. The drivers of these vehicles, especially the horse and donkey carts, would savagely and sadistically beat their animals with ropes. Domestic animals such as cats and dogs were also never treated with care and no veterinary services were available.

The colonial administrators came from Britain where animals were protected and had rights. These administrators, as well as the more educated Guyanese, decided to integrate animal protection into the Laws of Guyana and a branch of the British Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) was established in 1902, and an inspector was appointed who brought charges mostly against horse and donkey-cart drivers. This proved an effective deterrent.

By the 1940s, Guyanese society had become fairly sensitised to the kindly and humane treatment of animals and this was evidenced by vet. doctors beginning to practice in both New Amsterdam and Georgetown, the drugstores stocking animal medications and even a few groceries selling imported cat and dog food after World War II. In all of this, the SPCA, later the GSPCA, played a great role in rescuing animals, finding homes for them and providing veterinary services without charge. They also, within their limitations, did educational work concerning the care of animals.

Above, we had referred to social reverberations emanating from the way in which a country treats animals. The cruel and unnecessary beatings of children by parents and primary school teachers, as well as domestic violence, could be traced to the insensitivity to suffering in the perpetrators. Had these perpetrators kept pets, their sense of humaneness would have been developed and they would have been less prone to hurt human beings. Treating animals humanely and respecting their rights would result in human beings treating each other with care and respect.

When one begins to treat animals well and with respect, one gradually begins to realise the interdependence of life. Such would give greater meaning to Ecology and Biodiversity, where we begin to realise that if we are responsible for the destruction of any form of life on the Planet, we would ultimately be diminishing the quality of our own lives.
We will also consciously or unconsciously begin to realise the philosophic truth that all life is one. This makes us realise that we have an affinity to everyone else, and this could help us to extinguish social barriers which human beings falsely erect between themselves and others.

The implications of kindly and respectful treatment to all animals are therefore far-reaching and as knowledge expands more people would come to realise that kindly treatment of animals is in their ultimate interest.

The Education System, especially at the primary level, could usefully introduce a programme of how to keep pets which would help to make school life more interesting. This would help to cultivate an understanding of kindness and respect for animals among growing children.

The GSPCA is a voluntary organisation and there is always room for volunteers to help in its many activities. It would be a rewarding experience for young people, as well as older and even retired people, to join the GSPCA.