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By Madushka Balasuriya
Following the recent uproar over the immolation of a dog in Negombo on New Year’s Eve, animal welfare activists over the weekend called on the public for support as they looked to push the Government into enacting a new Animal Welfare Bill.
The Bill, which proposes the establishment of a National Animal Welfare Authority, will look to protect captive and domestic animals against torture, abuse and neglect, and bring Sri Lanka in line with modern global animal rights standards.
The move comes in the wake of Charlie the Labrador being set on fire on 31 December. While the public outcry on social media was swift following the incident, it became deafening once realisation dawned that the perpetrators, who have since been arrested and released on bail, would only face a slap on the wrist.
Under the 1907 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance, which is currently the legislation in force in Sri Lanka, cruelty against captive animals only denotes a maximum fine of Rs. 100, while cruelty against wild animals such as strays carries no punishment whatsoever. This is one of many reasons why animal cruelty is rarely, if ever, prosecuted in the country, activists said.
The only other legislation which covers animal rights in the country is the Flora and Fauna Protection Ordinance (FFPO), which only looks at the hunting and killing of animals in the wild and those within specified nature reserves.
The new Animal Welfare Bill, if enacted, will see punishments increased up to Rs. 10,000 and/or one year imprisonment.
On Sunday a media briefing was held, where President of the Sri Bodhiraja Foundation
Dr. Omalpe Sobitha Thero, President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka U.R. de Silva, former Consultant to the Law Commission on Animal Welfare Legislation Senaka Weeraratna, all spoke in favour of enacting this new Animal Welfare Bill.
Activists hope similar briefings and awareness campaigns over the coming months will help pass a bill, which has been unsuccessfully tabled twice since 2006.
“The manner in which animals are looked at in Sri Lanka at present is as if they are exploitable, that they are in a category humans see only in terms of exploitation,” said Weeraratne.
“The meat industry is very powerful in this country, they have bought the silence of our lawmakers. The people who have clout, people who direct the society, the political establishment, the media establishment, are being silenced by the money given by the meat industry,” he added.
As it stands, the new Bill is in the hands of Minister of Rural Economic Affairs and Livestock P. Harrison for approval and amendments, after which it will be passed along to the legal draftsman before making its way through to the Attorney General and then back to the BASL, before finally being tabled in Parliament.
