Let’s bring Sri Lanka into 21st century in protecting its animals

by Bob Isaacson, President
CEO of Dharma Voices for Animals (DVA)

I am the co-founder and President/CEO of the only international Buddhist animal advocacy organization in the world, Dharma Voices for Animals (DVA), based in California, USA, and which has made Sri Lanka the site of its first countrywide project, beginning in 2017. Since then DVA has started countrywide projects in the Buddhist countries of Thailand and Vietnam. Although not born Buddhist, I became a Buddhist 25 years ago when I was drawn to the Buddha’s teachings that every living being should be treated with compassion and not be harmed. I was a human rights attorney for 25 years in the United States, in Chicago and San Diego, making my career defending women and men against the death penalty, which has been widely used in the US. I am one of the few attorneys to present a case to the highest court in the US, the Supreme Court of the United States, where I have appeared on three different cases. Fighting for the lives of my human clients became the stepping stone to fighting for the lives of animals.

The sad truth is that Sri Lanka, among countries that celebrate democracy in the world, ranks dead last in protecting innocent animals. The current animal welfare law, called the Preventing of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance, passed in 1907, is barely two pages long, and is no longer relevant in a modern society. After 113 years, it is time that a country, which I greatly admire, after visiting four times, join the other democracies in the world and finally pass a modern animal welfare law.

Sri Lanka is greatly behind the times when it comes to compassion for animals because it has, unfortunately, ignored the explicit teachings of the Buddha. Quite frankly, the 113-year-old law should be an embarrassment to a country that is proud of having the longest, uninterrupted Buddhist tradition in the entire world.

My organization, DVA, is fully committed to helping pass a modern law, drafted in 2006, named the Animal Welfare Law, which will soon be voted on by the Sri Lankan Parliament, probably in January, 2021. We are all very grateful to the visionary and compassionate political leaders, in Sri Lanka, who have publicly supported this proposed law.

Passing this proposed law will bring Sri Lanka up to speed with the other democracies in the world. Here is how those other democracies protect their animals by legislation.

On April 11, 2017, Taiwan’s main legislative body, the Legislative Yuan, passed a number of amendments to the Animal Protection Act which included strengthening animal cruelty safeguards and penalties. Amendments updated the penalties for animal cruelty so that the slaughter or intentional injury or damage to animals that results in “shattered limbs, organ failure or death” is punishable by a sentence of up to two years of imprisonment and a fine of up to NT$2 million. Repeat offenders face a prison term of up to five years.

South Korea first introduced the Animal Protection Act in 2017. Since then it has been proactive in continuing improvements to the law, ensuring that animals are protected. The Act places a duty of care on local authorities and the general Korean population by recognizing that animals feel pain and suffer, and tries to minimize that pain and suffering.

Japan’s main animal welfare law is the 1973 Act on Welfare and Management of Animals. The law makes it a crime to kill, injure, or inflict cruelty on animals without due cause, and creates a duty of care in owners and keepers of animals to maintain their health and safety and raise them in a manner according to their species and behaviour. The law lists a wide range of animals for which the penalty for killing or injuring is a fine or imprisonment up to one year.

The European Union, composed of 27 countries, has a series of animal protection laws that are quite extensive. Animals are given moral status by the laws and protection as living beings that can feel pain, beyond having value only as property. How ironic that in non-Buddhist Europe animals are recognized as sentient beings whereas in Buddhist Sri Lanka they are regarded as merely property and, as I write this article, without any meaningful legal protection. In my country, the United States, animals are given protection far beyond that given in Sri Lanka, but short of that given in Europe.

It is not difficult to see that Sri Lanka’s only animal welfare law, passed 113 years ago, is now meaningless. It is also clear that the rest of world’s democracies have modern laws that actually protect animals. It is time for Sri Lanka to follow the Buddha’s teachings, recognize that animals can feel pain, and protect them from unnecessary pain and suffering. Let’s bring Sri Lanka into the 21st century in protecting its animals.