IT was recently reported in the media that two animal welfare groups  — ‘Paws for a Cause’ and ‘Animal Rescue, Adoption and Protection Society’– had met First Lady Arya Ali who accorded her patronage to them and pledged her active and material support.

These organisations have the basic aims of improving the welfare of animals, preventing cruelty to animals and controlling the stray-animal population, especially in Georgetown and New Amsterdam.  The stray-animal population in Georgetown has been principally caused by the heavy emigration of families who have had to reluctantly abandon their pets, animals being lost and unable to find their way home and the procreation of pups and kittens who grow up on the streets.  It is hoped that the renewed animal-welfare efforts will humanely help to solve the problem of strays, in contrast to the present method which is to catch the animals and put them to sleep.

The process of effectuating these basic aims involve several activities which include finding homes for the animals;  temporarily keeping them at the homes of volunteers until they would have been adopted;  picking up strays, feeding them and spraying them and then releasing them.  Two other more important and greater projects must be attained — educating primary school children as to the necessity and methodology of animal welfare and the building of animal shelters.

Animal welfare could be taught in the Biology classes or could very easily fit into Ecological and Environmental studies, since the basic assumption of these studies is that “All life is one.”  In other words, all living beings are related and interdependent, whether they are trees, mammals, reptiles and other life forms.  If therefore any species is diminished or exterminated, human life is affected although not immediately recognisable.  Protection and preservation of animals, both domestic as well as in the wild, are therefore in the interest of human beings.
Caring for and protecting pets is a civilising force in society.  It diminishes violent crime and makes human relationships easier and more humane.  In the 19th century when literacy became almost universal in the West,  the school readers inculcated love and respect for animals as, for example, the Royal Readers used in Britain and the British Empire.

In the older civilisations such as the Buddhist,  the idea that all life is one is incontrovertible and pets and other animals are treated with great respect and empathy.  This, for example, is manifested in the famous Metta Sutra, where Man is enjoined to show loving-kindness to all sentient beings.

Building shelters for pets, whether they are birds, turtles, monkeys, rabbits, dogs and cats would be a great improvement.  The first one will be built at Paradise village on the East Coast of Demerara as a Paws for a Cause project.  The Guyana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (GSPCA) had long provided shelter and care for animals, but their facilities are overcrowded.  The Paradise shelter will have full veterinary services, facilities for children to visit and easier adoption process.  At present, Paws for a Cause and Animal Rescue, Adoption and Protection Society use  Social Media to educate and arrange for adoptions.  Efforts are also being made to limit or control the use of squibs and fireworks, since their explosions cause severe suffering to animals.

Guyana is now entering into a new era of economic and social development and this renewed interest in animal welfare is seen by many as part of this development.