Until one loves an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened. In regard to showing love for the animals, World Animal Protection together with other animal welfare organisations came together to celebrate World animal Day at the Kenya Cultural Centre, on 4th October 2018, from 9.00 am to 2.00pm.
World Animal Day was started with the aim of raising the status of animals, in order to improve their welfare standards around the globe.
Uniting Animal Welfare Organizations
The celebratiosn of World Animal Day unites the animal welfare movements, mobilising them into a global force to make the world a better place for all animals.
This particular event brought together animal welfare organisations such as World Animal Protection, Kenya Society for Protection and Care of Animals (KSPCA), Africa Network for Animal Welfare (ANAW), and Kenya Veterinary Association (KVA).
‘’Through increased awareness and education, we can create a world where animals are always recognised as sentient beings and full regard is always paid to their welfare.’’ Said Dr. Victor Yamo, The Humane and Sustainable Campaigns Manager at World Animal Protection.
Hence, this clearly indicated that these organisations have a common goal of improving the standards of animal welfare and not in competition as it would be thought of.
The link between animal welfare and animal freedoms
Animal welfare is the wellbeing of animals; based on their psychological, physical and emotional state.
There is a very strong link between animal welfare and the five animal freedoms. Animals are said to be in proper welfare if their five freedoms are well taken care of. i.e. Freedom from hunger and thirst, Freedom from pain, disease and injury, Freedom from fear and distress, Freedom from discomfort, Freedom to express their natural behavior.
In Kenya, we have a law, CAP 360 that prevents the cruelty to animals. This Act defines offences in relation to animals and provides for the control of experiments on animals. “Animal” in this Act means a living vertebrate animal. Cruelty could refer to acts such as Confinement, poor transport, neglect and abandonment, factory farming, bull fighting and unnecessary scientific experiments.
One Samuel Kahariri, The Kenya Veterinary Association Chairperson said that ‘’despite our mandate of acting as a watchdog for the veterinary profession, we also have an overall aim of enhancing good animal welfare’’
Responsible Dog Ownership
Owning a dog is a joy, privilege, and responsibility. If you are considering bringing a canine companion into your life, think seriously about the commitment that being a responsible dog owner entails.
Irresponsible dog ownership is the reason we have so many roaming dogs. According to Diana Onyango who works for KSPCA, ‘’There is no thing such as a stray dog. The dogs that we see loitering in the streets have their owners. They just ended up in the street due to neglect by their owners, so they opted for the streets in search of food and water.’’
Media in advocacy for animal welfare
The media has a big role to play in advocating for animal welfare. Developing countries like Kenya, face problems like poverty, illiteracy, disease and sanitation, HIV and women empowerment; hence, things like animal welfare are not considered priority issues in the media.
It is therefore up to them to take up the challenge and prioritize animal welfare in their broadcasts, in order to create awareness among the general public.
Alex Chamwada, the Director for Chams Media, who happened to be the moderator of this event has been working closely with World Animal Protection in the production of documentaries that feature animal welfare. This has greatly helped in depicting animal welfare as an issue that should be looked into keenly and given priority by the media.
Animal Welfare in our Kenyan curriculum
On the other hand, education on animal welfare in the Kenyan Primary schools has played a major role in creating awareness on animal welfare.
Animal Welfare was recently included into their curriculum and they have been taking it as a subject. This is seen as a plus for animal welfare organisations. This is because, considering that there are over 10million school going children in the country, we will have so many animal welfare ambassadors in the next 5 years.
Children who have benefited from this program were present with lots of entertainment with the theme ‘’Tuwachunge Wanyama Wetu’’- Lets protect our animals.
Others who made presentations in relation to animal welfare include Kenyan Artists and photographers, who were a great deal in the recent photo exhibition that we held at Kenya National Theatre, Cheche Gallery.
