By Senaka Weeraratna

This is an updated and edited version of a Public Talk delivered on World Animal Day (October 4, 2015) at the Dharmavijaya Foundation, Colombo.

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New Vision

We need a new vision for this country and its civilizational advancement. 

It must begin in our schools.

The primary purpose of education is to make an individual a better human being, morally speaking. One aspect of that is to develop close contact with nature and appreciate nature. This was how the aim of education was viewed in the past. Today the ethos in the educational system has changed radically. The focus is on preparing students in subjects that will be useful to gain employment. The curriculum is directed towards technical and job-oriented education while neglecting the humanitarian side. It is a lopsided education.  Producing children that have little understanding of life – which was the original and essential purpose of education. An enlightened human being cannot arise purely on the basis of instruction in technical subjects.

Once upon a time, the living world was physically close to human beings. It was rural in outlook and a rural atmosphere enveloped the world. The inhabitants interacted with nature, plants, and animals on a daily basis.  There is a marked shift today. An artificial world has made deep inroads into our lives through new technologies uprooting the child from contact with nature.

There is greatness in the outdoors. 99% of children who live in big cities barely touch base with nature. A Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka in the recent past has been reported to have said that her child saw a frog for the first time only upon their arrival in Sri Lanka.  Those who live in concrete jungles cannot see even the sky properly. But the sky and the heavens above have always been a source of inspiration and awe to humankind. 

Buddhist Economics

There has to be a greater public debate on our true destiny.  The uncritical copying of structures more suitable for other cultures and the development of concrete jungles that we see in Southeast Asia at the cost of a green tree-based environment is not the best answer to Sri Lanka’s social and economic problems. Bigger is not always better. Small is beautiful said Dr. E.F. Schumacher advocating small appropriate technologies that can empower people more.  Schumacher propounded a philosophy of  “enoughness”, appreciating both human needs, limitations, and appropriate use of technology. It grew out of his study of village-based economics in Burma, which he subsequently named ‘Buddhist Economics’.

Humanitarian Education 

To break or arrest this trend of producing children who have little empathy for nature, animals, and even other human beings, a new system of education has arisen. It is called Humanitarian Education.  Animal Protection Education is a part of Humanitarian education. Taiwan is one region in the world that has successfully introduced Animal Protection Education into schools. We also see that happening in some parts of India such as Gujarat.

Primary School Education in Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka in our Primary schools from Grades 1 – 5, four main subjects are taught, namely

1) Maths

2) Languages

3) Environment Related Activities (ERA)

4) Religion

ERA has 12 themes integrated into it, such as Safety, Transport, Family, and Natural environment including animals.

Dept of Education

The Dept of Education in the foreseeable future must incorporate animal protection education through the adoption of a number of strategies:

a) The core aim must be to help develop concern for animal rights and welfare in lesson planning for children.

b) Research shows a vicious cycle of violence. The child who abuses animals in the home environment is likely to be a bully at school, beat family members or spouses, and even commit crimes in society.

c) Teenage children who are abused by elders in turn abuse companion animals and other animals.

Therefore the Dept. of Education must:

i) develop an environment in schools to promote teachers’ and children’s understanding of the meaning of animal protection and help them recognize the interdependence and intersubjective relationship among human beings, animals, and mother nature.

ii) help programs that lead children to establish positive relationships with animals and strengthen their ability to empathize with animals.

iii) promote the concept of respect and affection for animals and their habitats and generate humane and caring values and the power to act

iv) If students are made to understand that animals like humans also have the ability to feel pain, they can then develop the endearing traits of benevolence and sympathy.

v) Advocacy of Animal Protection Ideas – Today’s Children will become the future leaders of Sri Lanka. Schools must develop programs that will encourage children and teenagers to become a conduit in conveying the ideas of animal protection to the public which will in turn help them to gain the ability to interact with people and develop effective communication skills.

vi) Schools must help children and their teachers understand the unpalatable truth behind animal shows and Zoos (which in reality are animal prisons though euphemistically called Zoos) and empower them to think critically and engage in resolute action including even refusing to visit a Zoo as a place for enjoyment and merry-making. Children must be taught to emphasize and speak on behalf of caged animals in Zoos who have been given a punitive life sentence without committing an offense.  Our children should be encouraged to share their birthday treats with animals and birds including zoo and stray animals among others. 

Furthermore, our children must be reminded of the Buddha’s words quoted in the Dhammapada:

He who does not inflict injury on beings, whether feeble or strong, does not kill nor cause to kill, him I call a Brahmana.”

vii) Sri Lanka is a country with a lot of wildlife.  It is the human being who is encroaching into the natural habitats of our elephants. Their territory is getting reduced by the day. We are invading their territory without an iota of guilt feeling or wrongdoing. Our pre-colonial Kings assigned special reserves for wildlife. King Devanampiyatissa established the world’s first wildlife sanctuary at Mihintale after his encounter with Arahant Mahinda in the 3rd century.   

Last week in Sri Lanka ( late September 2023) eleven elephants were reported to have died in train-related accidents. This is shameful for the country. Still, no effective plan to prevent or avoid train accidents with elephants is in sight. The elephants have a right to live in their natural habitats undisturbed by human encroachment. This is a message that children must carry with them to prevent further aggravation of the human–elephant conflict.

vii) Teachers must be trained to provide children with opportunities to choose a set of values different from mainstream values. Allow children to have lifestyle options such as avoiding products that are basically slaughter products or combined with slaughter products e.g. furs, animal skins, reduce meat consumption and choose a vegetarian or vegan diet.

Meat is a product of a huge injustice caused to animals. We prematurely end their natural span of life and then rob their body parts for our use and consumption. No amount of religious script-based excuses or defense can hide this shameful bitter truth. Yet the majority of people in our society carry on life as if no wrong has been done to others and then deliver lectures on Human Rights based on hypocrisy and double standards. Legal education is complicit in this intellectual fraud because it remains silent and tongue-tied in areas where there should be outspokenness and vocal challenge. 

James Cameron, famed director of ‘Titanic’ and well-known climate change activist, has a message for the masses: go vegan to fight climate change.

Cameron, who has been vegan for four years, has said in a recent interview with the Fortune Magazine as follows:

[T]he thing that became abundantly clear to us when we met with the experts who are working in nutrition and energy sustainability and climate change is that we can’t actually meet our emission goals if we don’t address animal agriculture, and that’s the thing that’s been left out of the conversation.

This message is crucial because many people who care about the environment still have no idea that raising animals for food is so incredibly destructive.”

Consider some of these facts:

•             It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce just one pound of beef

•             80 percent of land deforested in the Amazon is for raising cattle

•             Factory farms grossly contaminate rivers and groundwater

Future Plan

We must initiate a campaign to promote animal protection education and see it take root in our system of school education.

A unique program operating in schools in Israel has found that animal welfare education leads to a host of other benefits including sensitivity to the needs of others, personal responsibility, and prevention of violence. In respect to primary school education, young children particularly up to the age of seven years are recognized for being receptive towards forming positive attitudes to animal welfare that will carry them through to adulthood.

We must remember that children are generally very receptive, their minds are inquiring and active and they have huge supplies of natural enthusiasm. The messages they receive at school run deep. A caring child will turn out to be a caring adult. Schools must establish Animal Protection Clubs or Associations. These clubs will serve as a platform for students to exchange resources, share information, discuss issues, and make animal protection plans more practical and local.

‘ Animal Law ’must be introduced as part of legal studies in secondary schools and tertiary education i.e. Law Faculty. 

The study of philosophy both Eastern and Western must be re-introduced into our educational system with a view to expanding the intellectual horizons of our school and university students.

People in Sri Lanka in the pre-colonial era were called Arya Sinhala or Aryavansa – noble race by fellow Asians because of our animal-friendly cultural heritage and compassion towards animals.

The ultimate civilizational goal should be to build a caring and compassionate society in Sri Lanka and achieve peaceful co–existence between man and animal. We can then become a true role model for the world like Bhutan has become with respect to the preservation of its rich natural environment.

Animal Welfare Bill

The Animal Welfare Bill proposed by the Law Commission in 2006, was a comprehensive document. Upon enactment, it was felt that it would set the standard for other countries, particularly in Asia to adopt. Unfortunately, the Bill has had an uneasy ride over the last 17 years largely owing to the opposition of people with vested interests.

It has reappeared in a new incarnation in the year 2022 as a Bill of Parliament with many of the outstanding features that made the 2006 draft Animal Welfare Bill admirable and highly valued, discarded. Today, the Bill (2022 Version) is at the penultimate stage of its passage. Some of the content is draconian. It has fallen short in critical areas vis-à-vis the original Animal Welfare Bill of 2006. The potential of creating room for possible committing of greater harm to a wider number of animals through misinterpretation and misconstruction of words, though not conceived at the time of drafting, is very high and alarming.

The moral challenge for the people of Sri Lanka is to either give effect to the long-suppressed voice of the voiceless animals via an effective piece of Animal Welfare legislation or accommodate the demands of those who see animals in an entirely different light i.e., as fit only for abuse and exploitation for profit, and thereby belying the noble purpose of the Animal Welfare Bill.

Senaka Weeraratna