Us vs Them: How lower species fall prey to our greed

As 2012 unfolded, a serious tragedy occurred in several parts of Odisha, as thousands of crows died in a space of a week in three regions, including Bhubaneswar, its capital city. The crows simply dropped dead in Bhubaneswar, Khurda (25 km away) and certain places in Mayurbhanj district (nearly 250 km far). A bewildered society simply watched this terrible sight of birds dropping dead in hundreds, before the administration found that a mysterious strain of bird flu was the culprit for such inexplicable dance of death. Unconfirmed sources say that even pigeons died in large numbers.

No one has been able to explain how the crows contacted such a strain of bird flu and that too, in three different places. Mercifully, the viral spread has halted now. Had such a tragedy happened among humans, several heads would have rolled. Probably, governments would have been forced to resign and certain high-level inquiry commissions would have been constituted. But, since this tragedy struck such a lowly species like the crows, nothing of that sort happened. However, many sensitive people were deeply affected by the plight of such helpless crows.

Thanks to our lifestyle and our tremendous greed and capacity for consumption, the climate is getting affected. Vultures were the first to suffer. Then came sparrows. The cows in the cities feasted on a lot of plastic and died of complications. In some states, doves have almost disappeared. Come Uttarayan time, we have hundreds of birds, both small and big, injured and killed due to the deadly manja that we use in complete disregard to the lives of the avian species.

Earlier, it was the big animals, whose dwindling numbers worried governments and conservationists alike. But now it is the very common household species, as innocent as the sparrows, the crows and ducks which are facing the heat.

Thanks to this bird flu scare, lakhs of hens would simply be culled. If it comes to the capital punishment of a hardened criminal, he has so many options of review available to him to infinitely postpone his death sentence. But if the lowly species are likely to spread any infection, we decide to kill them at one go. Who has given us this right to decide such mass death sentences to other life forms just so that we alone may live?

I think the time has come, when simple statutory conservation measures would not ensure a harmonious co-existence between various living species. It is not a question of just saving the tigers or the crocodiles. The problem lies elsewhere.

The human species, armed with tremendous power derived from its mastery over science and technology, considers its interests superior to others. Thanks to its ever-increasing numbers, it requires more and more resources for satisfying its endless requirements. In this endless quest for cornering all the natural resources, where does it leave any space for the lesser species?

The author is municipal commissioner of Ahmedabad