{"id":108391,"date":"2020-11-06T15:55:10","date_gmt":"2020-11-06T22:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=108391"},"modified":"2020-11-06T15:55:10","modified_gmt":"2020-11-06T22:55:10","slug":"is-there-space-in-our-moral-universe-for-inter-species-fellowship-and-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/11\/06\/is-there-space-in-our-moral-universe-for-inter-species-fellowship-and-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"Is there space in our moral universe for inter \u2013 species fellowship and justice?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Senaka Weeraratna<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

We\nare all familiar with catchcries\u2019 such as inter \u2013 faith dialogue and\nconferences and inter \u2013 ethnic peace talks and the like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nwas being broadcast almost day and night as a panacea for all our mundane\ntroubles ad nauseam, during the period of the previous Yahapalana Govt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ever\nheard of Inter \u2013 species fellowship and extension of natural justice to members\nof non \u2013 human species? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If\nyou have not it is time you hear of it and think of exploring it as a worthy\nmoral cause. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many\nspecies of animals have families, have offspring and show love and affection to\ntheir loved ones just like humans do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some\nanimals even show fellowship and offer companionship to members of other\nspecies, including humans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though\nthis is evident and acknowledged, however when it comes to giving legal\nconnotations, problems arise.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\npurpose of this article is to explore this area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inter\n– species fellowship and justice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\npromotion of inter – species fellowship and justice, is a worthy proposition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nconcept is very much in line with Buddhist doctrine and Buddhist Jurisprudence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buddhism\nviews animals as sentient beings and fellow companions in the Sansaric\nJourney.  Buddhism does not degrade Animals as Chattels as it is done in\nour courts. \u2018Animal constitutes a chattel\u2019 is a legal concept derived entirely\nfrom Abrahamic religious thinking and entrenched in our legislation enacted in\nthe colonial era, that tends to view all animals as gifts from God for the benefit\nof humans and their dominance. An infinite number of animals in their trillions\nhave suffered and died throughout history because of such conceptually flawed\nthinking and insensitivity to suffering of non \u2013 human living beings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nare enough examples to show affection, loyalty and virtue in animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pets\ngive love, affection and companionship to humans far better than many fellow\nhumans. Our inner lives would be irreversibly crippled if not for the\nunconditional love we receive from our pets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A female\nanimal defending her young with her life, a dog remaining with its unconscious\nmaster in a burning house rather than saving itself. animals showing devotion\nto their offspring, being sympathetic to their kindred, affectionate to their\nmates, self-subordinating in their community are all indicative of behaviour\nwhich qualify them to be removed from being segregated as chattels in judicial\nproceedings in our courts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka\nhad a pre-colonial legal system (influenced by laws of Manu and Buddhist\njurisprudence) which treated animals as subjects of the State. It attributed\ngreater value to the lives of animals than the legal system which we have\ninherited from our colonial masters (influenced by Abrahamic religious\njurisprudence) and which we are unable to reform in a manner that would ensure\ndignity, protection, fair play and justice to animals, as this country did in\nthe pre-colonial era.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An enlightened approach\nrequires us at this juncture of our country\u2019s history to abandon judicial\nconcepts that are rooted in Abrahamic jurisprudence and are morally\nindefensible. If Buddhist jurisprudence offers a better alternative, then\nthe way forward for reformers of our archaic laws governing animals such as the\nPrevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance, No. 13 of 1907, is to choose the\nmore humane and enlightened alternative.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Re categorize the\nHuman \u2013 Elephant conflict as an ‘ inter – species dispute’<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, in the\ncontext of Sri Lanka, it may be feasible to re- categorize the so called ‘Human\n– Elephant’ conflict as an ‘ inter – species dispute’, and proceed to resolve\nit on the principles of natural justice rather on the basis of a one – sided\nexercise of ‘unbridled power in the hands of humans’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If promotion of inter –\nfaith and inter – ethnic amity is in order and in the right direction, what\nwould stop us from exploring inter – species fellowship and promoting inter –\nspecies justice?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What humans i.e. the\nBritish colonial rulers, have done to Elephants beginning from the time of the\nWaste Lands Ordinance of 1840 have been to steal their lands and destroy their\nhabitats to establish tea and coffee plantations in a manner no different to\nwhat the European Colonists did all over the world particularly in America where\nthey stole land belonging to native Indians, colonized the land with European\nsettlers and put the native Indians in reserves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nthe process the British settlers and professional hunters such as Samuel Baker,\nencouraged and rewarded by the colonial Govt. decimated the elephant population\nin the upcountry (Kande Uda Rata) causing a loss of over 10, 000 wild\nelephants. Samuel Baker\nlater published a book titled “The Rifle and Hound in Ceylon” (1857)\ndescribing the brutal destruction of Sri Lanka\u2019s wild elephants by him with\npride. A man without a heart and lacking in respect for the sanctity of life\nwhich is grounded in Buddhism, Samuel Baker nonchalantly illustrated his book\nwith drawings of the massacres he had indulged in.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mass\nMassacre of Elephants in Sri Lanka <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttp:\/\/www.infolanka.com\/org\/srilanka\/hist\/37.htm\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Godwin\nWitane in an article says as follows of Samuel Baker:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According\nto the description in his book (“The Rifle and Hound In Ceylon”) he\nhad spent days and weeks in the unfriendly jungles enjoying homely comfort in\nwell-furnished spacious tents stocked with imported tinned meat, fish and\nfruits and also an assortment of imported spirits to mellow the bodily strain\nundergone during a day\u2019s outing in the unexplored forests of the dry zone. It\nhad been an army of servants and helpers such as carriers, cooks, trackers and\nhorse keepers numbering sixty to seventy he had employed at each safari. A\nday\u2019s success at hunting was measured by the number of animals killed in one\nday not sparing even an orphaned destitute baby elephant that strode behind\nhugging the mother\u2019s heel. Sometimes this figure reached thirty or forty in\nnumber. In his narrative he has shamelessly admitted that when a lactating\nelephant was killed he and his brother did not fail to enjoy the spilling milk\nfrom the animal\u2019s udder sucking the nipples with their mouths as it was deemed\nwholesome. The picture on this page clearly illustrates the heartless cruelty\npracticed by this alien hunter on freely roaming herds of the champions of our\nforests. Besides elephants he had killed other game for his food and that of\nthe host of employees that accompanied him throughout his stay in the wilds\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore,\nthe British colonial Govt. had no compunction in destroying the lives of both\nhumans and animals. The manner in which they suppressed the Kandyan Sinhala\nuprising of Uva \u2013 Wellassa (1818) and the Sinhala Rebellion at Matale (1848),\nthat resulted in Inquiries being conducted in the British House of Commons\n(1850) regarding the savagery and barbarity with which the British suppressed\nthe popular rebellion against British occupation of Ceylon, is a sad and\npoignant tale.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nBritish were enthusiastic hunters who destroyed the fauna in their colonies in\nAsia and Africa in the name of game and sport. In Ceylon they soon began hunting\nelephants for sport. One British officer, Major Thomas William Rogers, is\nestimated to have killed over 1,400 elephants during a period of 11 years. It\nwas an atrocious crime against wildlife of the country. It is said that he\nhimself lost count of the number of defenseless elephants that he had killed in\nthe later years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However,\non the 7th<\/sup> of June 1845, Major Thomas\nWilliam died struck by lightning while staying at the Haputale\nGuest House.\nHe was buried in Nuwara\nEliya and a tombstone was erected on his grave, which too had been struck by\nlightning many times over the years, leading people to believe that karmic\nretribution had finally caught up with him for his heinous crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See also<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holocaust\nof Elephants by the British Raj in Sri Lanka<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
Holocaust of elephants by the British Raj in Sri Lanka<\/a><\/blockquote>