�Eish it�s only an animal�

Correspondent | Tuesday August 8, 2017 15:19

As the only fully functional shelter in all of Botswana, and the only functional shelter in the south and south-eastern part of Botswana, every day the BSPCA is inundated with everything from indifference, neglect, cruelty to the outright bizarre. And this phrase repeats itself a thousand times over.

Humans and animals have a long history of association. Globally, animals were domesticated at different points in history with cattle and dogs being animals that have been domesticated the longest. The need for domestication arose from realising the mutually beneficial relationship that animals and humans can gain in terms of food, security, companionship and these relationships continue until this day. Domestication had far reaching impacts and studies have shown that over time ,the genetic make-up of both humans and animals have changed to adapt to living in proximity.

The foraging and grazing habits of cattle or the hunting instincts of dogs gradually tapered down as they began depending on humans to provide sustenance. Humans too adapted to living so closely with animals with one example being the ability to digest milk products well into adulthood following the modification of our genes given the increased presence of dairy products in our diet.

As a consequence of this close relationship and the value placed upon animals, laws governing animal ownership and welfare and the protection of animals as sentient beings have been present in most societies around the world for centuries. However, it was only the industrialisation and commercialisation of food production in the last century that has led to a broadening of the scope of animal welfare laws.

Animal welfare legislation helps create a unifying umbrella under which several key aspects of animal keeping, health, care and welfare are raised. These range from health and safety of the products of domestic animals entering the human food markets, such as meat or milk, to zoonotic disease control for diseases such as rabies which have devastating human consequences.

Botswana, like several countries formerly associated with the erstwhile British Empire inherited the Cruelty to Animals Act (Chapter 37: 02) from what was then British Common Law. This act was drafted and put into place in 1936 and was amended once in 1966 at the time of Independence. While the presence of this piece of legislation already sets Botswana apart from countries with no legislation governing animal keeping, care or welfare, Botswana unfortunately is the only country among its neighbours in the region which hasn’t updated its animal welfare legislations in recent times. This is particularly alarming because Botswana as a country sure does stand out in terms of overall societal development, be it gender equality, health care or consumer protection. However, how we view and treat sentient beings plays an important role in how we would like our society to be perceived.

Numerous studies have shown violence towards sentient beings (living creatures capable of feeling hunger, thirst and pain much in the same way as humans do) is violence all the same, no matter who the victim is. So, the next time we walk past someone kicking a dog, or injuring an animal, let us keep in mind that tomorrow it could be other sections of our society, weak, vulnerable and voiceless amongst us, who may also be facing the same form of abuse which we ignored because we thought “it’s only a dog”.

Internationally there is increasingly a growing consensus that human and animal health and human and animal welfare aren’t distinct concepts as they were once considered to be, and that the health and quality of life of one depends on the other. Indeed, if we were to look at some of the global disease epidemics in the last decade, be it swine flu or avian influenza, they demonstrate the need for good governance over animal keeping and welfare to prevent the same.

This takes us to an emerging concept of “one health” where human health, animal health and the environment are considered together. For a country that has sustained democracy for 50 years, and is known as the jewel of Africa for its commitment to wildlife and its strong stance against poaching in any form, it is indeed perplexing as to how the Animal Cruelty Act has not been updated since Independence. Let’s work towards amending our outdated animal welfare act and strengthen its enforcement; after all, we all stand to gain from that don’t we? BSPCA