The news earlier this month about the orca (killer whale) named by marine scientists as Tahlequah carrying its dead calf off the coast of Washington State in the US stirred global attention as it did in 2018 when she carried another dead calf for 17 days across 1,000 miles.
That extraordinary act of grieving – carrying the substantial weight of her offspring, which likely caused significant physical strain – spoke volumes about the emotional depth of animals. Tahlequah’s poignant journey forces us to confront a fundamental question: Do animals grieve as we do?
Orcas are far from alone in displaying behaviours that suggest grief. Elephants, chimpanzees, giraffes, and baboons have all been observed mourning their dead, while certain bird species, like crows and magpies, appear to hold their own versions of memorials. These behaviours challenge our assumptions about the emotional lives of non-human creatures and call into question the age-old tendency to deny them experiences akin to human emotions.
Sceptics might argue that attributing grief or sorrow to animals is a form of anthropomorphism, the projection of human characteristics onto non-human beings. Yet, as philosopher and ethicist Susana Monso explains in her book ‘Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death’, our reluctance to anthropomorphise can lead us to an equally flawed position: anthropectomy, or the mistaken denial of any human-like traits in animals. By ignoring the evidence of animals’ emotional capacities, we risk missing the profound connections we share with them.
Consider the documented cases of animals mourning their dead. In a National Geographic video posted on YouTube, a herd of elephants in northern Kenya stops to examine the skeletal remains of a matriarch named Victoria. The elephants use their trunks to touch and explore her bones, standing silently in a way that is strikingly unusual for creatures that typically spend 20 hours a day foraging to meet their nutritional needs. Such behaviour – breaking routine to acknowledge a loss – suggests more than mere curiosity.
Or take the haunting video from BBC Earth of a female tiger in India wailing for her missing mate, who had been poisoned by a farmer protecting his livestock. Her mournful calls, echoing through the forest, convey a sense of profound loss. While we may hesitate to call it grief with all its human connotations, the tiger’s distress is undeniable.
The question of sentience – the ability to experience feelings such as pain and pleasure – is central to understanding animals’ emotional lives. Philosopher Jonathan Birch of the London School of Economics, who advised the UK government on animal welfare legislation, defines a sentient being as “a system with the capacity to have valenced experiences.”
The everyday experiences of pet owners provide abundant evidence of animal sentience. Dogs’ exuberant greetings after an absence or cats’ excited frisking when anticipating a treat reveal their capacity for joy. Conversely, pets exhibit signs of grief when they lose a companion, be it another animal or a human caregiver. Changes in appetite, vocalisations, and behaviour – such as plaintive barking or restless pacing – are common manifestations of their sorrow.
Even animals not typically associated with emotional expression can surprise us. Crows, for instance, are not only sentient but also capable of holding grudges. A recent article in the online version of the New York Times reveals that it would be foolish for any individual to wrong or annoy a crow since a ‘murder of crows’ (the collective noun for crows) can bear grudges for years.
The article cites firsthand accounts of crows’ revenge on persons either because they had angered them (one person had thrown a rake at them to drive them away from a robin’s nest) or because the crows had mistaken them for someone else they were targeting.
A professor at the University of Washington in Seattle cited in the Times’ article, John Marzluff, who has long studied crow behaviour indicates that crows can hold multigenerational grudges that can last as long as 17 years. Their vengeance can take the form of stalking and scolding the targeted person by cawing incessantly at them or, more seriously, they can dive-bomb them with the possibility of physical injury to the person concerned.
Such behaviour underscores the complex emotional and social lives of animals.
Recognition of animal sentience has prompted legislative changes in many parts of the world. The European Union, a pioneer in animal welfare, has issued directives since 1974 to protect animals’ well-being. After leaving the EU, the UK enacted the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act, which explicitly recognises animals as sentient beings. This groundbreaking law extends protections to vertebrates and certain invertebrates, such as octopuses and lobsters, acknowledging their capacity to feel pain and pleasure.
In contrast, Pakistan’s animal welfare laws remain woefully outdated, dating back to 1890 under British colonial rule and last revised in 1937. Despite transformative developments in our understanding of animal welfare, these antiquated laws fail to reflect modern ethical standards.
We need to recognise sentience in animals and therefore stop harming them through cruel and inhumane methods. This includes poisoning or shooting stray dogs and cats or deliberately running them over and leaving them to die slow and painful deaths. There are better ways to curtail the population of stray animals in our cities and villages – one such being the Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return method.
Many countries accept that the humane slaughter of animals requires training. In Pakistan, however, during Eidul Azha we find that many unskilled persons become butchers overnight for monetary reasons causing undue suffering for sacrificial animals. Some training should be provided to all who want to slaughter animals or else the slaughter should be conducted in an abattoir by trained personnel.
Then there is the question regarding the operations of zoos. Their supposed benefits include conservation and research. But what conservation and research are Pakistani zoos doing?
Zoos in countries like Pakistan often become death traps for animals, plagued by poor funding, overcrowding, and neglect. When has a government finance official ever thought about the funding needs of zoos? A good rule of thumb I believe in: if people are ill-fed and struggling as in Pakistan, then animals in zoos are in an even more precarious position.
Zoos must therefore be inspected regularly by accreditation experts, and if such expertise isn’t available locally, it should be brought in from abroad to ensure accountability and proper animal welfare standards. If any zoo fails to meet minimum standards it should be closed down.
However, there are glimmers of hope. Organisations like the Ayesha Chundrigar Foundation (ACF) in Karachi are leading the charge for change. ACF, a private sector not-for-profit organisation, provides sanctuary for injured and disabled street animals as well as equines like mules and donkeys.
Also impressive is the work done by Mr Syed Faisal, an unsung Pakistani hero based in Karachi for his work on animal rescue. He travels on a motorcycle even at odd hours to wherever he is needed. Despite his limited resources, Faisal provides first aid and feeds and transports injured animals to veterinarian hospitals. He operates under the name ‘One Man Ambulance’.
The animal world offers endless opportunities for awe and wonder. From the song of the humpback whale to the intricate social structures of elephants, animals inspire us to reconsider our place in the natural order. Their behaviours challenge us to expand our moral circle and acknowledge the depth of their experiences. They remind us, as Hamlet tells Horatio in Shakespeare’s eponymous play, “There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
The writer is a group director at the Jang Group. He can be reached at: iqbal.hussain@janggroup.com.pk
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