How a federation of rights groups is fighting to protect animals

A latest news report says that 9,191 people across India died of animal bites and stings between April 2017 and March 2018. The World Health Organisation states roughly 36 per cent of the world’s rabies deaths occur in India each year, mostly when children come into contact with infected dogs. Recently, there were incidents reported from Sitapur, where 14 children died owing to dog attacks. All this data might make you think twice about sending your child outside to play, or averse to the idea of keeping pets at home or making any contact with animals near or far. However, amid all this, we miss out on a pertinent thought — animals (also) do think, feel, and suffer. It is not just the humans. There have been reports of man-animal conflict in India almost every year. Cases of leopards straying into nearby villages can be read on a regular basis. Have you ever thought from the point of view of an animal? Perhaps yes. Perhaps no.

It is with this aim to fight for the rights of animals that the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO) was set up in 2010 in Delhi. Prior to this, there were several organisations that worked at the local level for animal protection rights. However, what was required was to do the work in a manner that involved mass participation. “The federation brings together all the organisations at the grassroots level under one platform,” says Varda Mehrotra, executive director, FIAPO. Created, for the movement, by the movement, the FIAPO is India’s only federation with more than 80 members and 200 supporter organisations, nationally.

“It is not an easy task to set up a federation and work on a strategic path,” feels Mehrotra and adds how tough it has been across the world for animal rights organisations to come together and set up a federation like the FIAPO. The organisation, on the one hand, looks to ensure recognition and respect for animal rights in society and, on the other hand, connect and empower animal protectors to achieve animal rights by advocacy, networking and capacity building.

“We are currently working on farm animals and companion animals by looking at improving their life conditions,” says Mehrotra, detailing their latest campaign called ‘personhood of animals’. “The idea is to look at animals as those who have their own intrinsic rights; and inculcate this change in the minds of people,” she adds. The FIAPO is working with over 100 organisations across the country to spread this campaign. They are also reaching out to other rights-based organisations such as Amnesty and Oxfam to get the perspective of animal rights included in the bigger human rights perspective. “As of now, our focus is on elephants. We are working on specific cases, with the judiciary and the government, and looking at how elephant rights are being violated and ensuring immediate rehabilitation of those elephants,” says Mehrotra. 

In the case of farm animals, the FIAPO has done extensive research across 450 dairies nationally, and looked at how there are no existing laws that govern the welfare of cows. “We are campaigning to ask for laws so that cows can be protected from abuse,” says Mehrotra. The FIAPO also trains local activists across India on how to campaign against illegal slaughterhouses and mobilise the government machinery in the states. Further, their mass media campaigns are an effort to bring about the change in consumer behaviour by showcasing ill treatment of farm animals.

Ask Mehrotra about how the FIAPO can make the change in the minds of the people and get them involved in animal rights protection, she responds, “that was why the FIAPO was set up in the first place. We wanted to work in a way that more and more people get involved with us. And, today, I can proudly say that we have thousands of people across the country who are willing to and are already generating a movement for the rights of animals”. 

In case you too are an animal lover, and wish to work for the rights of animals, you too can be part of the FIAPO. The website offers a comprehensive view of how you can be a volunteer, or donate for its cause or work with the FIAPO as their campaign coordinators. All you would need is the heart to work for the animals, ensure good living conditions for them, and advocate their rights to dignified life and liberty.