“A good deed done to an animal is as meritorious as a good deed done to a human being, while an act of cruelty to an animal is as bad as an act of cruelty to a human being.” – Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him)
One regularly hears people describe a dangerous and violent person as an “animal.” This is always an injustice, not to the person, but to all animals.
There is most often nothing harmful and attributed to “animals” that is done by them, but which is done on a daily basis by humans. Only in cases of disease and of human interference do other animals behave contrary to their nature, for example in captivity and under stress and suffering caused by human activity, often blindly and without concern, and often even with outright malevolence.
Carnivorous animals need to hunt in order to eat. One meal will last them a long time. What we see when lionesses stalk and capture their prey is a high level of co-operation, showing an advanced level of social cohesion within the extended family. The kill is as instant as possible, with one bite to the prey’s throat. It is not the predator’s aim to cause suffering, but to obtain food to feed her family. Yet the fact that lions, tigers and leopards are carnivores is used as justification by humans to use the word ‘animal’ as an epithet and term of abuse and an indicator of mindless and superfluous violence.
Hunters shoot elephants for their tusks, and also for their feet. Those who seek to justify this say they only shoot the oldest elephants, who have the longest tusks, and whose deaths don’t matter. They have no idea, and care even less, of the injury done to the extended elephant family and the social fabric of the herd.
The decimation of wildlife is not just about numbers. Elephants and lions grieve. They suffer loss, just as humans do. The eldest have an important place in their societies. Elephants are regularly seen congregating round the sites where elephants have died, and revisiting those sites. Lions, robbed by death of loved members of their pride, attend and cry out at places frequented by their dead fathers and brothers. And, lest this be read as mere supposition, there are human naturalists and experts in the behaviour of other animals who can attest to it.
The complex social lives of these animals have come to be more understood in recent times, by George Adamson (who was murdered by poachers) and Tony Fitzjohn, who learned from him and who continues to work among lions and other animals. Thanks to their work, the George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust continues to work with local people, upgrading schools, and seeking to resolve conflicts between other animals and people over land and resources to the mutual benefit of both.
The above-named pioneers learned, from living with lions and other animals, the social clues necessary to mix with them safely, as other pioneers have done with bears in Kamchatka and Alaska.
Jane Goodall has done the same with chimpanzees and Dyan Fossey with gorillas, establishing lifelong friendships with members of these species and coming to understand their language (language is much more than just the spoken kind) and social intricacies. Mark Bekoff from Colorado is the author of numerous works on ethology (animal behaviour and societies), including The Emotional Lives of Animals and other pioneering works.
Beyond mammals, too, complex relationships and behaviours and advanced consciousness has been observed, and details published, on octopuses, who recognise individual humans who have befriended them, after long absences, and who delight especially in play. They too grieve and suffer from separation, which can cause them to die from sorrow.
The story of Delphinus, after whom the dolphin is named, was one of the earliest recorded instances of dolphins saving the lives of drowning humans.
Beyond the relationships of these animals and many others with humans, mutual aid, so important to our own survival, is in evidence as a guiding principle of their own societies, from sea animals to primates, and even insects.
Elephants communicate over long distances through vibration, and whales through song. Birdsong is beautiful to our ears but is not as a rule for our benefit, but to communicate with their fellows. Wolf song too. Wolf song has been successfully used by humans to communicate with wolves.
Humility is a virtue we do well to learn. If we wish to cherish, rather than destroy, then humility on our part is now more than ever a necessity.
