More reasons for Govt. to enact Animal Welfare Bill

Kalawana animal cruelty incident suspect granted bail  

• Stray puppy attacked in act of revenge 
• Subject minister briefed on the importance of enacting the Bill
• Higher penalties and fines for those guilty of harming animals

While Sri Lanka applauded the Government’s move to ban cattle slaughter, several acts of cruelty towards animals had been reported during the past couple of days. One of them was

reported from Kalawana where an individual has brutally hit a puppy that is not even a month old. A video of the animal screaming also went viral on social media. This is a clear indication that the much delayed Animal Welfare Bill needs to be enacted soon to bring such culprits before the law and serve justice to innocent animals.   

Suspect bailed out

However the Kalawana Police was accused of not taking swift action with regard to the incident. But around a day later the suspect was arrested. Yet, it didn’t end there. The matter was put to courts within a matter of hours and he was given bail. According to the Kalawana Police the suspect is a tuition class teacher who had been bitten by a dog during a previous instance. “This was a revenge attack and he had been bailed out on a surety of Rs. 100, 000,” said a law enforcement officer at the Police Station. However the case will be taken up again on January 1, 2021 at the Kalawana Magistrate court and a probe is underway. The Police also confirmed that the puppy isn’t dead although it is in a 
critical condition.   

"A couple of animal welfare advocates met with the Minister of Agriculture Mahindananda Aluthgamage and pointed out why it needs to be enacted soon. He said he will brief the cabinet and we are keeping our fingers crossed"

Activists keeping fingers crossed

But this wouldn’t have been the case if the Animal Welfare Bill which has been in the pipeline ever since 2006 was enacted. After being passed on from one Ministry to the other, the Agriculture Ministry is now responsible for its future progress. However, according to attorney-at-law and animal welfare advocate Lalani Perera, there’s a ray of hope. “A couple of animal welfare advocates met with the Minister of Agriculture Mahindananda Aluthgamage and pointed out why it needs to be enacted soon. He said he will brief the cabinet and we are keeping our fingers crossed. The Bill has been trending since 2006 and more issues of cruelty towards animals are being reported. The existing penalties are as low as Rs. 100. Apart from that only a few offences listed in the Cruelty to Animals Ordinance apply to domestic animals. Therefore it is much needed at this hour.” 
said Perera.  
The same group had also met with President Rajapaksa and his response towards the enactment of the Bill too has been positive. 

Bill finalized

Speaking to the Daily Mirror Dr. Niroshan Gamage, Additional Secretary (Livestock) Ministry of Agriculture said that the Bill has been finalised and will be presented for cabinet approval soon.   

"However the Kalawana Police was accused of not taking swift action with regard to the incident. A day later the suspect was arrested. Yet, it didn’t end there"

Provisions in the proposed Bill

The proposed Bill provides for the protection of animals from cruelty and animal welfare generally as well as for the fostering of kindness, compassion and responsible behaviour towards animals. The term animal has been defined to include all animals including a domestic animal, a farm animal, an animal in captivity, a companion animal, a stray animal and a food animal.   
According to the proposed Animal Welfare Bill, any person who beats, kicks, overrides, overdrives, overloads, overworks, over-walks, tortures, terrifies or otherwise treats an animal so as to subject it to unnecessary pain or, being a person in charge of animal, permits the animal to be so treated shall be guilty of the offence of cruelty to animals and shall upon conviction after trial before a Magistrate be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty thousand rupees or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both such fine and imprisonment.   
Apart from that any person who kills an animal in an unnecessarily cruel manner shall be guilty of an offence and shall, upon conviction after trial before a Magistrate be liable to a fine not exceeding seventy five thousand rupees or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both such fine and imprisonment.  

(Kamanthi Wickramasinghe)