End Cruelty Towards Animals

Now before some of you vegan hardliners get any ideas, I want to make one small disclaimer: This post is not about 'cruelty' towards those animals that are commonly used as food. But the ranting that I'm about to do was triggered by an outrageous incident in Noida. A pregnant female stray dog lived close to a traditional sweets shop, a halwaai ki dukaan. The bitch gave birth to a litter of pups not far from the vicinity of the shop. One day, searching for food for her pups, the lactating dog strayed a bit too close to the shop for comfort. Rather than shooing her away like a normal, civilised man would do, the shopkeeper did an abhorrent act of cruelty - he spilled hot oil over the poor dog's mouth. Writhing in pain for hours, the dog succumbed to the severe burns, and when a team of humane people brought her to the nearest vet's, she was declared dead on the spot. It is only small comfort that the pups are in good care. They'll never know their mother's love.
  Dogs are usually used as symbols of weakness or inferiority in many age-old phrases and colloquialisms. When a woman says that all men are dogs, she is clearly abusing the opposite sex. Saale ko kutte ki maut maaroonga literally means, "That bastard will die a dog's death at my hands." There was a time when dog was considered man's best friend. Man hunted animals only for food and attacked them in self-defense, only when in mortal peril of any sort. But now it seems that the sands of time have erased that inherent nature in us, and made us selfish and inconsiderate beings. Now many of us hurt and even hunt animals, not for self-defense or food, but either to satisfy the sadist within us, or for our own luxurious living. Like seriously, what the hell is wrong with today's world? Can't we learn to respect each life as it is? Can't we learn to treat the fellow beings we share this earth with, excluding those below us in the food chain with the kindness and reverence they deserve? Seriously. Just because you want to look fashionable doesn't mean that you have to buy an outrageously expensive fur coat for yourself, not only wasting your money, but also promoting the killing of innocent animals in the process! As a Buddhist and a dog lover, I was filled with outrage when I read about the Noida incident in The Times of India. Stop becoming slaves to your inner demons, people! Wake up, before the earth becomes living hell! Let us strive to make this planet a better place to live in, for all living organisms.