In Sri Lanka, there are a lot of issues surrounding animal rights. The animal welfare bill which recieved cabinet approval in 2016 is yet to be passed by the parliment in Sri Lanka. The regulations surrounding the animal tourism industry aren’t that strong to prevent the exploitation of animals. There are certified animal sancutaries that care for the wellbeing of the animals, however, that is not the case with the majoirty of the places. There have been numerous cases of severe maltreatment towards local animals. For instance, the killing of the leopard in Killionchi (https://www.pressreader.com) or even the burning of a house held labrador. Which are all gruesome yet on going problems of the Sri Lankan society.
On the 13th of January, 2019 there was a media conference held to address the issues of animal rights. Specially, the torture and abuse of domestic animals, the killing of elephants as well as other wild animals. The destruction of animal habitat and the enactment of the animal welfare bill in Sri Lanka. I went to this event through my own personal passion and interest for the topic of animal rights in Sri Lanka but also to represent my service group Care For Paws. There were several speakers which included a monk (Venerable Sobhitha), the president of the bar association of Sri Lanka (Mr. U.R De Silva) and the former consultant to the law commission on animal welfare legislation (Mr. Senaka Weeraratna). They were speaking directly to the public and the government with their speeches as there were several large media channels that were present.
Left to right(Venerable Sobhitha, Mr. U.R De Silva, Mr. Senaka Weeraratna)
In their speeches they addressed a lot of the issues that Care For Paws as a service group are constantly working to raise awareness on. The monk specifically stated how as humans many of us deem to believe that the world belongs to us and solely us, thus leaving us with the power to do what we desire. However, this is what needs to be changed especially in the mindset of the Sri Lankan society as the animals are beings of this Earth as well. The president of the bar association stated how people with good intentions and good hearts must come together to solve this issue as it is our responsibility to speak for the voiceless. As he directly requested for support from the parliament to help combat this issue. The former consultant to the law commission on animal welfare legislation, went to give real world examples of nations that support and protect animal rights. Nations within the European area have political parties that support animal rights, like this one in Norway called Justice for Animals. Unlike Sri Lanka as there is no social structure within the law or government for this kind of support. He went on to ridicule how this is merely because animals have no votes or money, thus they choose to exploit animals and not protect their welfare.
Through this experience I was able to get a firm understanding on the legal position of Sri Lanka towards animal rights. It was clear that as a nation we must come together and our government must open their eyes to this oppression issue. As a nation we have a long way to go before this is solidified. I was overjoyed and enlightened to be a part of the start of something revolutionary! By the end I questioned the ethics of our government as no political parties have yet moved the animal welfare bill forward which demonstrated the lack of moral understanding towards the issue. Education is where it all begins, but the answer starts with starts with me.