Column

Don’t blame ‘up against it’ Mumbaikars for being blasé about ecology

The shooting down of flamingos in Uran has set off great outrage. Perverse as it might sound, the reaction to the sickening crime is gratifying.

That is so because the average Mumbaikar seems to be feeling the anguish and anger that until recently lacerated only the green activists. And until only a few years ago, environmentalists were considered to be eccentrics in soiled khakis.

You really cannot blame the Mumbaikar for being blasé about ecology because an average metropolis resident is forever battling for survival and supremacy in the badlands of mortgages and careers.

For such people, people like you and me, complicated debates about the extinction of species and its effects seem too ‘impersonal’. Would you take it personally if a scientist were to tell you that the earth will be wiped out in 2 million years?

“By which time,” I can hear you say, “my car EMIs would have been done with.” I can readily appreciate that sentiment. On the other hand, one need not be an evolutionary biologist to be an animal lover.

I am one – that is, an animal lover and not a biologist – and like all pet owners I am puzzled by the squeamishness that some people demonstrate when they meet a dog!

Pandit Ravi Shankar exhorted people to love animals shortly after he was turned away by a Pune 5-star which did not want to accommodate the maestro’s therapeutic dog.

The tiny animal has helped Ravi Shankar recover from a viral double pneumonia and has become his most steady accompanist.

Now, those who shrilly champion the cause of culling stray dogs will argue that a therapeutic canine is not quite the vicious fur-ball that chases motorcycles in the nights.

They will also point out the risk of a nasty fall, stitches, and rabies. All these protests are well taken.

I will, however, forcefully make the case for adjusting to the local ecology. Strays were not born in the city of smog and car horns: most are the descendants of abandoned pets.

Sure, they have not been able to shake off the genetic debris that came from the wolves, but have you noticed how eager they are to please those who talk to them?

But only animal lovers notice how loyal, kind, and intelligent the strays can be. Those virtues were noticed in the late eighties by the Delhi Police, which is not really renowned for wallowing in the milk of human kindness.

In its vigilance-promoting ads in Delhi papers, the police suggested that apartment blocks adopt the strays. The dogs will prove to be great companions and guardians, the ads declared.

The initiative never caught on because the dogs, as ecology icons, were not as glamorous as the whales.

But today, many housing societies in Mumbai have a Moti or a Blackie protecting and cheering the residents in honourary capacities.

Those who are indifferent to Moti or a Blackie show a sliver of compassion only when the poor creatures are crushed by a truck or battered by municipal dog squads.

Then the PowerPoint in the boardroom goes on and more flamingoes will be killed. Why should you care? This weekend, instead of a 5-star brunch, may I recommend bird-watching? You will know then.

Email:raghu@dnaindia.net