Cruelty to Some Animals
From Our Bombay Correspondent Frill: existence of a public opinion and degrees I of responsiveness to it are looked upon as a fair indication of the nature of government. By this criterion, the Indian administration can be deemed to be both sensitive and democratic. For it has given way, with grace and promptness, to a vocal demand that live baits of buffalo should not be offered as a kill in order to attract lions within sight of tourists in the jungles of the Saur.ashtra peninsula.
Outside Africa, India is the only country where lions are found in natural 'surroundings, and their habitat is in Saurashtra's Gir. Since independence, the Indian Government has there- fore taken• special pains to preserve the species. There now is a total ban on 'shikar in the Gir forest where the whole Indian lion pdpulation :s to be found, and the result is a steady increase in their numbers. Now that viceroys and maharajas have departed, the ban on• shikar has been virtually painless.
Such concentration of the lion population carries its own risks, lest an epidemic or natural calamity should' Wipe out the whole species. Therefore, the Government has also attempted to find them a home from home in another forest about a thousand miles away. Two lionesses and a lion have been at large in the Banaras forests for the past three years. They seem to have been acclimatised to the new abode, for forest rangers have recently brought the news of having seen two cubs.
In Oh' also the population has gone up since indiscriminate killing was prohibited. A recent count—'-made by daubing-each lion with a dash of colour from a safe •perch and counter-checked with a count of footprints by expert game wardens—showed that the lion population stood at the highest-ever figure of 300. It was estimated at MO in 1952.
In the past, the Indian lion has been a great attraction for rajas and nawabs on hunting bent. With the advent of democracy the common people have, in theory at least, become as im- portant as the princes who have been pensioned off and no longer rule them. So the Government thought of spreading the benefits of a lion popu- lation in a wider commonalty by developing the Gir forest as a game sanctuary and a tourist resort.
A few weeks ago, the first plane-load of VIPs, tourists and journalists was taken to the Sasan forest rest-house from Bombay. It is a flight of two hours in a small plane. The weekend trip, which includes seeing and 'shooting' the lion (with a camera), costs £20 apiece. The visitors are taken to a spot in the jungle in the afternoon and again after dinner to watch the lions con- verge upon a watering place and feast upon beasts of prey tied up as a ready-made kill.
The spot is a usual rendezvous for some lions. But the organisation of tourist traffic makes it essential that the lions must turn up at certain hours if the tourists are not to be disappointed. This is achieved by tying a few animals as a 'kill' at the spot each day and creating in the lions a conditioned hope that the prey will jr variably be there. The 'kill' usually is an at and discarded he-buffalo which, though alive, of no use for drawing the plough. And if kille", too, he is not of much use to the predominant' vegetarian population of Saurashtra.
Hardly had the first batch of tourists return' to Bombay from Sasan when letters began reach editors of newspapers, protesting agnirr: 'our non-violent, Gandhian Goverment' pro!' ing entertainment by organising a 'wanton,' human' and 'barbaric' sport. Bloodcurdling P" tures were drawn of lions pouncing upon an, devouring the live bait of buffaloes, avidly tear ing helpless animals to pieces. Many head melted with the imagined sight of terror-strieldr animals undergoing anguish and suffering bef'rr life went out.
As it happened, Parliament was in session i/ Delhi and had before it a Bill to stop cruelty animals. How could an India wedded to peacef°1 co-existence and non-violence, it was asked tolerate such sacrificial offerings for the delight' of tourists? Indian puritanism was aroused In opposition as much to cruelty to lions as to the heartless hedonism of tourists.
The Government has yielded to the chorus er protests by discontinuing the practice of tying live baits at the small clearing of bushes nor Sasan. The animals will now have been previoesr) killed and the hearts of tourists (and many other') will grieve no more over what the eye will 0° longer see. No questions have of course been asked whether the animals will be humanerY slaughtered before carcasses are brought to the lions' rendezvous. The public conscience is no' once again, at ease and asleep.
Protests were quick and loud and the Goveor ment responded readily because humane feeling' were mixed up in this case with religious sari' meat. Unfortunately, Sasan is not the only Plac' in the country where cruelty to animals coup be witnessed. Yet little thought is spared for the thousands of cattle which each day draw nearer death by slow inches because there is not enotig° fodder and pasturage for all of them. In sumiller there is not even enough water for them—and for human beings—over vast tracts. India would t'e richer in milk supply and draught animals with half of the present cattle population, provide, all the animals were of good breed and got fd°' and water the year round. But misguided Pub'''. sympathy will never allow the Government t`) get rid by slaughter of the useless cattle of 10 breed.
Societies for the prevention of cruelty I° animals spring to life over aged buffaloes. Yet in every big city there are thousands of labourer' who carry loads and push handcarts heavy beyond human endurance for the paltry earniag of five to ten shillings a day. It is tragic to see them work almost like beasts of burden. But little sympathy is forthcoming to mechanise their 101bs or improve their lot: they are, at least at present' even more 'dumb' and 'defenceless' than the dc. crepit buffaloes of the Gir forest.
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