More sentient beings than we thought…

I would like to start this article with a quote from Mahatma Gandhi.

“The more helpless a living being is, the greater his right to human protection from human cruelty”.

But is that really done in our society? In the name of human well-being, there are still animal experiments, captivity and animal suffering … and far too often even the banal, cruel entertainment is beyond the right of animals.

For the human race, their own well-being comes very often, too often in first place. One may wonder where the sentient aspect remains. Man evaluates with his idea of intelligence! Divide animal life into categories that are more or less given the right to life, to well-being. But what if one asks oneself the question, if there are other forms of intelligence, of the feeling experience, which can not be pressed in order?

As an animal lover, I am torn between anger and sadness, the suffering that human action creates for the animal world. Anyone who looks closely should be able to recognize the true and sentient nature of animals.

Animal lovers whose animals are part of the family know only too well what fidelity, friendship, love and support comes from them. They know that their animal family members feel joy, love, well-being, as well as fear, pain and grief. In an optimal, peaceful world, I hope that even people who regard animals as possessions, as “objects”, learn to respect all forms of life and are able to grow with their hearts in the category of “humanity”.

It is particularly touching to read of wonderful examples, as in New Zealand, where the decision of general principle was made that all animals are “sentient beings”. Such a legal decision is an absolute recognition for the fundamental rights of animals and has an excellent example function at the international level.

In 2013, dolphins were granted the right to be “non-human” in India. They may no longer be kept in marine parks.

In New Delhi, the Supreme Court ruled that birds have the right to be free. They must not be kept in cages for economic reasons. In a court ruling, Judge Manmohan Singh said: “I am absolutely clear that all birds have the right to fly through the sky and that people have no right to cradle them for business or other reasons.”

During our sightings with small and large marine mammals we experience one after another, the beneficial effect that such an encounter has on our guests and also on us. Voluntary gifts of intelligent, sentient beings to us, a completely different species. In the meantime, there is well-documented research material that shows the cohesion, support, team spirit, protective behaviour and mutual support of marine mammals within their own species but also across other species. Many times it comes to me the idea, that people could go to apprenticeship to learn these qualities.

With another quote and two questions, I want to finish this article …

“The size and moral progress of a nation can be measured by how they treat their animals.” (Mahatma Gandhi)

Now the question arises, where do we really stand in our human progress? What steps need to be taken to be a world in which humanity is the highest good over all life?

by Fatima Kutzschbach