Enlarge Image
John Abraham is against animal culling and all for stricter laws to protect animal rights
Upala KBR (DNA; July 11, 2016)

That John Abraham is a known animal lover is no secret. Earlier this year, he signed and auctioned his North-East United FC jersey, with the proceeds going to Animal Rahat, a NGO that provides for animals desperately in need of care. He previously called on the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to make all circuses in India animal-free and starred in a PETA ad that called on everyone to let birds be free. He spoke to us on the recent incident where a pup was thrown off the terrace, why we need stricter animals laws and why for him culling wild animals are a strict no-no.

Setting a bad precedent
Recently, a video of a pup being thrown off a terrace was circulated, resulting in public uproar. John says that the guys were let off too easy from jail with just a paltry fines of Rs 50 and Rs 10. He adds, “Unfortunately, there are no laws that can protect animals but what the two guys did is deplorable. I think they were let off too easily and it’s sad because animals can’t speak. It sets a precedent that it’s easy to cull an animal and that’s what so many state governments are doing — culling wild animals just so that they can reduce the population and ‘maintain ecological balance’. I just wonder just why they don’t do that with human beings, too? It would be great, no? (laughs).”

Stricter laws, please!
Can cruelty to animals be stopped? He admits, “Though I am not in a position to speak about this and I’m not completely aware about the laws, but I think we need stricter laws for animals. There is no other way. We need to have laws in place that could actually control and bring people to book and stop them from harming any living being. We are talking about a pup being thrown off a terrace! Sad, ridiculous and unheard of!”

‘Let’s get proactive’
Three notifications have been issued by the Environment Ministry this year, declaring a wild animal ‘vermin’, or ‘pest’, in a state in the span of one year. What are his thoughts on this? John says, “You are speaking to an animal lover (laughs) so I would never agree to culling of animals, but it’s not just because I am biased. There could be an argument that I am irrational — yes, I am irrational — but I love animals — and love is sometimes irrational. I believe if you really want to maintain an ecological balance then you have to draw a plan for the future rather than reacting to a situation. You got to be proactive.”

Prevention is better than cure
According to the actor, “Rather than face a situation where an excess of population of a certain species calls for a culling of a population as the plan is now, prevention is better than cure to prevent that from happening.”