When we are young, we consider them our buddies. As we grow, we tend to forget this bond.
Anjali Mehta looks at the tenuous man-animal ties

Why is it that animals, which play such a dominant role in our lives when we are young, lose their appeal as we grow in years? This is quite baffling, especially when considered in the context that childhood events leave lasting impressions.

Within days of making our first "contact" with humans, we make our first contact with animals, albeit with stuffed ones. It could be the cuddly teddy on the pillow, or the toy with darting eyes which helped us develop our ocular fixation, or our first "favourite friend" on whose stuffed shoulder we poured our stories out.

Surrounded by furry friends, we reached the toddling stage. Again animals came to our rescue in the classroom. We learnt the alphabet with the help of animal pictures. Who can forget the pleasant cadence of "C for cat, D for dog and E for elephant?" In our holidays, weary and tested relatives kept our spirits up with trips to the zoo. We squealed with delight at any move made by an animal. We admired the long neck of giraffes, the luxuriant fur of bears, the steely gaze of the tiger and the agile antics of the monkeys. We fed swans that glided on edges of lakes and watched birds and squirrels with wry amusement. When we fell sick, the doctor would try and hold our attention with pictures of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck et al and this seemed to be the only way to get our undivided attention.

As we grew older, we learnt in geography of the Savannah grasslands and Amazon forests and the species they supported. We made scrapbooks of animal facts and animal pictures. We saw programmes on TV about animals in their natural habitats as well as special animals that could do tricks and interact with people in unusual ways.

We collected pretty little ladybirds, wrote essays on animals and some of us learnt horse riding in school. We bought fish in packets for our aquariums, and pestered our parents to let us keep a rabbit or two or maybe a puppy or bird. So far so good. It would be fair to say that animals played an overwhelming role in our lives. We could justly conclude that animals provided friendship, facilitated our learning and education, contributed to our knowledge and happiness, gave us endless hours of joy and even helped our health care providers make better judgments about our state of health.

But then`85 something changed. The years sped past and we became adults struggling to find our place in the world. We are still exposed to animals but in increasingly limited ways. However, the sheer delight they once aroused in our hearts has been replaced by very pedestrian emotions.

Now when we see a little dog, we notice its teeth and dirty fur and keep a safe distance. When we take our children to the zoo, we fret that they should not get hurt or get too close to the cages. We make sure they have their promised ice-creams. We look upon the monkeys that resided in the trees near our offices as nuisances and think of the repair bills we would have to pay if our cars get dented. We feel a sense of shock if the newspapers carry a report of some animal harming a child or attacking an adult.

Somewhere we deserted our childhood friends and totally abandoned them. First we destroy their habitats and feel surprised when out of lack of choice they are forced to venture nearer our homes or habitations. We kill them for sport, fashion, food, money and every conceivable reason. We save our compassion only for other members of our species who we perceive to be less fortunate than us but don’t have hearts large enough to accommodate other species. We neither feel any sense of kinship nor any gratitude for our old friends. We simply cast them aside. Like that.

This is totally baffling, considering that childhood acquaintances, memories, haunts, tastes or the familiar tunes of our earlier years can leave warm and indelible impressions. They can bring smiles or even tears to our eyes. So what about our childhood world of nature?

The scenario, though bleak, is not black because amongst us dwell many compassionate and enlightened hearts who are able to encompass all creatures into their circle of love. We have dedicated scientists and conservationists, several of them giants in their field who reach out to our old friends, study their habits, understand them, protect them, nurture them. Thus they in some small measure at least lighten the burden of debt for the rest of us.

Long live these wonderful people, long live our old friends, the animals. And, as for the rest of us, we need to wake up to many things we need to reconcile with our old friends.

Ways to reduce the burden on our conscience:

• Daily acts of kindness towards animals such as feeding birds, putting out water bowls, helping sick animals, etc.

• Be good to domestic pets and look after them to the best of your ability.

• Don’t buy caged birds, don’t eat the meat of endangered species. Try to be a vegetarian, don’t buy fur, peacock feathers, etc.Speak out when confronted with an act involving cruelty to any animal.

• Use the Right to Information Act to get out details about animal numbers, habitats and sanctuary data.

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