Sabbe Sattha Bhavanthu Sukhi Thattha

The title is one of the most memorable lines from ye olde school days, where we studied the poem 'Plead Mercy' by Anne Ranasinghe for O/L English Lit. She writes of the compassion she feels for an old bullock she sees on the street, and the pain and suffering it undergoes whilst trying to pull a cart tied to it's weary back, and at the same time she references her encounter with a Nazi concentration camp and cruelties to humanity back in her youth. Being a hard 'n' fast animal lover from day zero, the poem has stuck with me ever since I read it first, and make the biggest impact that any piece of writing has ever made on me. The title, a pali-sanskrit saying taken from The Buddha's teachings, translates into 'may all being be well'.

Animal rights is a cause a little more than close to my heart, and a cause that, sadly, too few Sri Lankans fight for. Ironically, we hypocritically claim pride over our staunch Buddhist beliefs and at the same time encourage senseless, inhumane euthanization and slaughter.

A land like no other for sure.

Quite often if you take the time to sift through the Sunday papers, there will be at least two articles citing local cruelty to animals or pleas for adoption of strays. Having secured a reputation for being creature-friendly, I myself am subjected to numerous calls and emails begging me to either adopt a stray kitten or puppy that someone has thrown out mercilessly to the harshest of conditions, or use my media contacts to publicize some unspeakable act of cruelty that has been commited in parts of the island. It's depressing to think that the majority of humans (IF they can be termed as 'humans') in this country care more for their discarded toenail clippings than they do for animals.

I've never known a day without an animal in my life. I will always thank the Good Lord for having been born to parents who live compassionately, and have instilled the love for any animal, scaly, feathered or furry. Ever since I can remember, we've housed veritable zoos, from the conventional dog, cat, hamster and fish, to an array of birds, rabbits, squirrels, a calf, and even a monkey, two deer, a mongoose and a couple of leopard cubs! Non-believers usually have to see my 'Palbum' (Pet + Album) for sufficient proof. And each and every one of these pets have been treated with the utmost care and respect, with as much freedom as can be allowed. When it came to the exotic pets, we'd usually end up with them in the house as a result of them being given to us or rescued, and we'd care for them until arrangements were made for them to lead a protected life back in their natural habitats.

As much as I get that not everyone has the finances or mindset to bring up animals in the way my family does (Which doesn't mean we're filthy rich, btw... far from it. We just choose to feed our pets before we feed ourselves), I cannot for a second fathom why the general public can't seem to muster even an ounce of sympathy when they witness the countless acts of cruelty or neglect that we see so much in our environment. Many are the times my heart has gone out for a starving, sick dog on the streets who can barely stand, who, amidst all it's pain, is also being brutally kicked around by schoolboys. I've cried my eyes out every time I've seen boxes full of new-born pups and kittens discarded at garbage dumps or by canals, in the hopes that they'd drown or die with as much suffering as possible. Quite often, these boxes end up in the backseat of my car, and then in my kitchen, until time and much pleading brings kind foster parents to my door.

But I cannot blame the perpetrators themselves. This heartless mentality is bourne out of a sick government and a history of bad parenting, where the cost of living compels you to sell your own children, and future generations are not taught to care. People don't know HOW to care for their animals. We have no legislation that truly supports the rights of these silent innocents, and there is absolutely no protection or concern provided for the wellbeing of animals in Sri Lanka, save a precious few privately-funded societies.

Visit the municipality dog pound if you don't believe me. Hundreds of animals are stuffed into cages until they stand on top of each other, are not fed or given water, and end up eating each other just to survive, before they're 'gassed' to death. By gas I mean being given a less-than-adequate dosage of poison (because the fucking governement claims they don't have the funds to buy enough with the enormous taxes we pay), so that the dogs don't immediately die, but instead bleed internally and suffer endlessly before succumbing to their ordeals. One of my dogs was taken by the dog catchers once whilst he was out having toilet time down our lane, and when we went in search of him, I almost vomitted at what I witnessed at the pound. Because the authorities find humane euthanization too expensive a cost to bear, puppies are bundled into sack and BEATEN to death.

And we endorse this. We, as a friendly and compassionate Buddhist nation, look the other way and let them carry on their evils, simply because it doesn't concern us or affect our lazy, indulgent lives.

Although I am by no means a fan of our president, one thing that I did applaud him for was the law to ban the merciless killing of strays by the municipality authorities. That was until I realized that apart from imposing the ban, he did little or nothing else to actually address the issue of populating strays in the public, thereby causing a general outcry by neighbourhoods overrun by mongrel animals. Had the government thought beyond their narrow vision and provided some form of care and vaccination for these animals, and tried to educate the public on responsible pet ownership and imposed strong animal rights laws in the country, the issues would have not been as severe as they still remain.

Sigh. I could grouse for days on this subject, but I've already written quite a lengthy post, that, if you're still reading, you must be tired of. There are so many areas of animal owernership that I would gladly write on, when time and your patience permits. But perhaps another day.

For now, I leave you with Anne's words, in the hope that they affect you enough to take a second look into your own attitude towards all creatures great and small;

Plead Mercy (sabbe sattha bhavanthu sukhi thattha)

We pass a bullock yoked to a cart
Straining uphill. He shivers
With effort, his bones
Protrude and the taut skin quivers
At each whip of the sharp-thorned stick
There is no expression on his face

Only his eyes plead mercy

Foam slavers from his lips
As he travails to increase his pace
And slips. My daughter asks
Does he think life is worth living?

I tell her what I know
Is not true, that life
Is always better than death.

She frowns
If there is a revolution, she says,
I’ll kill myself. All those horrible things
They do to people.

The bullock has fallen on the rough
Edge of the road. He tries,
But in spite of the stick he cannot rise.
Lord, have mercy on his eyes.
My daughter is just thirteen.

- Anne Ranasinghe