Proposed ban on cattle slaughter

Thursday 10th September, 2020

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has decided to bring in new laws to ban cattle slaughter, according to media reports. He has earned praise from animal lovers, but meat eaters are not likely to take kindly to the proposed ban. The PM may have anticipated protests from beef lovers and the food industry; that may be the reason why he has said beef imports will be permitted. If the ban happens to be imposed, the cattle will be saved from the butcher’s knife in this country, but an equal number of bovines will get killed overseas to be dispatched here to meet the demand for beef!

Why Prime Minister Rajapaksa has suddenly decided to save cattle, of all sentient beings, is not known. He may have done so for religious or moral reasons, but it is sure to go down well with all those who are compassionate towards cattle. It, however, should be added that cattle are not the only animals that should be saved; there are many other dumb creatures slaughtered in their thousands daily for food. Who will save them?

We hope that Prime Minister Rajapaksa has not announced the proposed ban, at this particular juncture, to distract media attention from the controversy over the 20th Amendment and the swearing in of Premalal Jayasekera, who has been sentenced to death, as an SLPP MP. The government is drawing widespread criticism for 20A, which contains some draconian features. The SJB grabbed the headlines, on Tuesday, by protesting in Parliament against Jayasekera’s swearing in and 20A, which, it said, would pave the way for a dictatorship. The government has provided the Opposition with a rallying point.

PM Rajapaksa is quite adept at handling, if not manipulating, the media. (President Chandrika Kumaratunga used to call him the ‘reporter’ in her Cabinet because of his links to the media.) His proposal to ban cattle slaughter has led to a social media feeding frenzy. Web-based publications have got something to busy themselves with for days to come. They might forget 20A and MP Jayasekera for a while.

The Constitution makes specific mention of the fundamental rights of people and requires governments to safeguard them. The incumbent administration has drawn a lot of flak for 20A, which, among other things, seeks to prevent citizens from exercising their fundamental rights in case of wrongful presidential actions affecting them.

Animals, too, have rights, which need protection. After all, this country constitutionally gives the foremost place to Buddhism and is considered a Buddhist state. One may recall that the first thing Arahant Mahinda, who introduced Buddhism here, did after his arrival in this country was to stop the then King (Devanmpiya Tissa) from killing a deer before going on to conduct what may be considered the first ever IQ test in the world to see if the king was capable of understanding Dhamma. The great Thera may have wondered whether a king giving chase to a poor animal to kill it by way of entertainment had any intelligence, at all. The king’s answers, however, cleared his doubts.

Animals are deprived of their habitats and destroyed or reared and slaughtered in their thousands daily for food, in this country. Not even wildlife is spared. Elephants die painful deaths owing to hakkapatas (improvised explosive devices concealed in fruits, etc., and primed to go off when bitten). Leopards are killed in traps. Bush meat trade is thriving. Untold suffering is inflicted on domestic animals.

The government is under pressure to pass the Animal Welfare Bill, and animal rights activists who are pushing for it deserves praise, but what is needed more than anything else is to protect animals’ right to life. The rights of animals, too, must be constitutionally guaranteed like the fundamental rights of humans.