Animal Rights

Animal rights, moral or legal entitlements attributed to nonhuman animals, usually because of the complexity of their cognitive, emotional, and social lives or their capacity to experience physical or emotional pain or pleasure. Animals are maltreated not only around localities but also under the supervision of authorities such as Zoos, forests and other captivities which violate the rights of animals.

JWF takes matters of animal rights violation fairly serious as the offence towards a living being is a grave violation of the already enacted laws of the country. In order to prevent any manner of abuse or cruelty towards animals the Government has enacted the Cruelty to Animals Act, 1920 which consolidates and amends the law relating to the prevention of cruelty to animals in Bangladesh. The Cabinet has also cleared on principle the draft of 'Animal Welfare Law' with provisions of jail term and fines for animal cruelty. The new law, once passed in Parliament, will stipulate a jail term of six months or a fine of Tk. 10,000 or both for anyone convicted of animal cruelty. For maiming or poisoning animals, the penalty is two years in prison or maximum Tk. 50,000 fine or both. According to the proposed law, vertebrates will be considered as animals while those raised to serve human will be domestic animals. Physical, chemical, or environmental torture causes physical or mental pain to animals. The draft law is discouraging these activities. Torturing animals will be considered as an offence. The team at the JWF believes that through proper advocacy on these rights can we help the enforcement on the country’s legal system in a more stringent way.

Humans use and exploit animals in myriad ways, including meat, milk, eggs, animal experimentation, fur, hunting, and circuses. Animal rights are the belief that animals have a right to be free of human use and exploitation, but there is a great deal of confusion about what that means. Animal rights are not about putting animals above humans or giving animals the same rights as humans. Also, animal rights are very different from animal welfare. How we mistreat animals parallels how we mistreat people. Cruelty is barbarism, whether it is inflicted on humans or on other species. The campaigns for animal rights and human rights share the same fundamental aim: a world without oppression and suffering, based on love, kindness and compassion. We aim to raise awareness against animal cruelty by posting and sharing various news on our official social media page as well as stating the legal ramifications of such unjust acts to all. We believe that by doing so more people will raise their voice in protecting the animals that they may see in such oppressive and miserable conditions. Hence, preventing any such further cruelty on the animals.