Dear Editor,
Sometime on the night of the 7th January a driver knocked down a horse at Houston and injured her so badly she could not get up. It seems that the driver did not stop or call a vet. Sometime later someone dragged the suffering horse to the side of the road and left her there. On the morning of the 8th January a number of people reported the injured animal to Syeada Manbodh and to the GSPCA. Both went to assist her. That afternoon Dr Bassoodeo euthanised the horse. Angela Rahaman contributed to the cost of the euthanising drugs.
Thank you Syeada, Damian Fernandes, GSPCA, Angela Rahaman, and all the people who reported the suffering horse, tried to help her or stopped to express their concern for her. Thank you Dr Bassoodeo for your professional skill (she died peacefully), your humane concern for the animal and your generosity in giving your time for free.
Clearly this horse should not have been on the road. No owner has yet been found to be prosecuted. But one question that ought to be answered is what kind of human being knocks down an animal and drives off leaving the animal injured and suffering? A drunk? A coward? A moral imbecile? Someone who has no empathy? In the life of almost every psychopath there is a history of cruelty to animals. As long as people are cruel to animals they will be cruel to one another.
Institutions such as churches which claim to know right from wrong should speak out publicly and loudly against cruelty to animals. Schools, parents and guardians should teach children to be kind to animals. Drivers should not be allowed on the road until they can drive properly, ie, safely and reducing their speed to suit the conditions on our roads. If they hit and injure an animal they must get a vet to help the animal and should report to the police who should respond right away. The police must also enforce the laws which penalise cruelty to animals. They too have to become less tolerant of cruelty.
We should put in place a system by which an injured animal receives immediate attention and, when necessary, is euthanised humanely so it does not suffer. There is an Animal Welfare Bill that is ready for Parliament and should be a priority in the next Parliament. We are a nation which is deeply divided by party-based politics but parliamentarians should be able to agree on outlawing cruelty to animals.
The great Mahatma Gandhi said you can judge the morality of a nation by the way it treats its animals. As I reflect on the various people who tried to help this horse, I think there is a bedrock of decency and kindness that will win through, one animal at a time, one person at a time, one minute at a time, until kindness and concern for one another become our default position.
Yours faithfully,
Melinda Janki
