Thanks to the two mutually competing factors namely, the limited total geographical area of the country and its steadily expanding population, resulting in gradually declining land needs per citizen, the issues of sharing the available spaces in their different make-up such as agricultural land, industrial establishments, forest cover, urban territories, hilly areas, deserts, barren lands, roads, dwellings of urbanites and rustics, open spaces for various activities such as sports, entertainment, parades and so on loom large more  conspicuously as days pass. The choices for choosing among them, given the human-centric outlook, are no longer as wide as they used to be. The reports of man-animal conflict being witnessed in many regions of the State in particular and the rest of the land in general should serve as a glaring example of ignoring the right of the animal species to live in their natural habitats without fear or favour. Nearer home, the occasionally heard wailing by citizens of Mysuru about the menace of stray dogs and horses is familiar to all as a strong case for getting rid of the two four-legged species.

By sheer hindsight, the denizens of the country’s forests and the livestock (cattle, poultry, pigs, sheep, goats, buffaloes, pets and so on) seem to have shared the geographical space amicably until  a few decades ago, given the human headcount as a fraction of its present number. The speechless species have no choice other than succumbing to the assault mounted by the human beings all over the planet.

While policies are in place to protect the spaces needed by the denizens of forest and also different domesticated species, particularly the cattle of indigenous breeds, the compulsions of present-day life, focussed on satisfying the human needs, read greed, on priority only have made the policies more complied with in breach than falling in line. Report of people living even in rural parts of a North Indian State isolating their livestock by perceiving stray cattle around their lands as a menace, as published in a daily this week, brings home the suicidal outlook of humans towards life forms that are indispensable in ensuring human welfare.

The right of human beings over the rest of the species has tended to be over-skewed in favour of humans. Almost every stray cow is reportedly facing death due to injuries in traffic accidents and feeding on hazardous wastes including plastic. If the country’s nearly 200 million heads of cattle had their say, they would surely look at the burgeoning human population in the country as a menace.