Violence A-stray!

There is an expression in Tamil, or should I say, a way of saying someone was shot mercilessly: “nadu road-la nayee sudura mathiri suttAngga” roughly translates to “was shot like a stray dog in the middle of the road.”.

The community of animal lovers and animal rights activists were up in arms recently with the news of the shooting of Kopi the stray dog in that exact manner. Okay, I am not a dog person, but how can I hate those guys? I see them every morning when I leave to work; they are about as harmless as butterflies. 

Also, the endearing thing about Kopi that got him popular was that clip of him playing with my people, little kittens. That “aww” factor. Cat and dog folks unite over that clip. 

Sure, stray dogs do get shot now and then, but they mostly don’t make it to the news. The authorities “slipped” when this time they picked the wrong creature to mess with. This time, it’s personal.

Issues of animal rights, abuse, and wrongful killing aside, what really worries me is the use of firearms. This is Malaysia. Gun law is such that owning one can get you in prison. If the authority can wave their weapons about and start shooting in the street, what would stop him from being dumb and start shooting at folks? Or if the bullet ricochets and hits some guy on the street right between the ass cheeks? What justification will these so-called authorities have for having produced a second arse hole? Because they are one?

So, I see two issues here. The freewheeling attitude behind the attempt to rid strays with costly and collateral damage-causing firearms, and the issue of animal rights itself. The stray animals are living, breathing creatures, just like human beggars and the infirm living by the street. 

Yes, there have been issues where strays have attacked little children, but I am coming back to the same issue: there shouldn’t be any strays in the first place. Men domesticated wolves and bred them into shapes and sizes according to their whims and fancy. They have the responsibility to take care of these creatures. 

Cats are quite independent; don’t give two hoots about human beings. But not dogs... their attachment to humans is legendary for centuries, and there are so many great tales out there about their loyalty and sacrifice. Plus, their usefulness extends to the authorities, and we should be grateful for their services—whether the cops, the customs department, or even the military. Their less than useful relatives do not deserve to be shot in the streets like that. Where’s the gratitude, human? 

Of course, when I said people were up in arms about, I meant all the outcry occurred mostly only online. When a bunch of folks decided to hold a rally protesting the incident, only two turned up, the organisers. So much for all the noise online.

Soon, the whole thing will die off until another stray gets shot. There are a handful of true animal lovers and organisation which will continue to monitor and make noise at the slightest sign of another act of abuse or handing out of street justice like this.

Anyway, fret not, the noise has gone to the parliament, and I do hope that they come up with something. Not that the current bunch of parliamentarians are the brightest and the best; there’s a whole bunch of red-nosed circus inhabitants in there, but let’s keep our fingers crossed. Something should come out of this. 

Come on, Nabi Muhammad S.A.W., despite Islam’s certain cautiousness over some animals, including dogs, did say: ““If someone kills a sparrow for fun, the sparrow will cry out on the Day of Judgement, ‘O Lord! That person killed me in vain! He did not kill me for any useful purpose.'” There are a whole bunch of quotes in that link where the Prophet talks about cruelty against animals. 

Judgement awaits these perpetrators.