Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Cats Mimic Us

According to a new study, cats mimic human habits - good and bad - and adapt their lifestyle with that of their owners. The finding shows how profoundly captivity can affect certain animals. While genetics help to explain some aspects of personality and behavior, an individual's environment clearly is a factor too.

Cats are intelligent animals with a long memory. They watch and learn from us, noting the patterns of our actions, as evidenced by knowing where their food is kept and what time to expect to be fed, how to open the cupboard door that has been improperly closed and where their feeding and toileting areas are, the study said.

The findings of the study clearly show how we are responsible for the well-being of animals of the planet. It naturally becomes our collective responsibility to take care of them and to ensure that their natural behavior remains the same. Animals are beautiful creatures and they should be respected for their individuality. It is our absolute obligation to protect the animals of the planet under all circumstances.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Do Fish Really Feel No Pain...

Scientists have reportedly discovered that fish do not feel pain as they do not have a brain system or enough sensory receptors in the nerve cells to experience suffering. Fish do not even suffer when they are hooked and fighting for their lives, according to research by an international team.

While fish may struggle to get free, scientists say this does not mean they are in pain. Instead, they show little effect from injuries and toxins that would leave humans in agony. In their experiments, experts inserted needles into the jaws of rainbow trout. In spite of large injections of acid or bee venom, that would cause severe pain to a human, the trout showed little effect. Fish also resumed normal activity within minutes of surgical procedures, as well as after being caught and released back into the water.

Even if this report is correct, nobody gets a right to inflict cruelty on fish or kill them. We all know how important fish are for a balanced eco system. We all must remember that the animals of the world are here for a reason and the Earth belongs to them as much as it belongs to humans. As Henry Beston puts it, "We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals... In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth."

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Elephants Crushed by Train

A train hit and killed five elephants and a foetus in Ganjam distric of Odisha state in India. The elephants - three females, a tusker; a calf besides a foetus - were killed after being hit by the express train. One of the female elephants was in the advanced stages of pregnancy and the impact of the hit forced the foetus to come out! The elephants were crossing the railway track when the train hit them one after the other, killing them on the spot.

How insane is that! What is the wisdom behind putting railway tracks through the middle of the jungle? Even if it was at all needed to lay railway tracks through the jungle, the government must have taken safety measures for the animals to save then from this untimely, cruel death.

Again this shows the insensitive and indifferent attitude of humans towards animals of the world. We are worried only about ourselves, exploiting all available resources to make our lives better. We have become so self-centered in our efforts to enjoy luxuries of life that we don't care about other forms of life on the planet. However, we must remember that if there will be no animals left on earth, we will perish too.