You must’ve
heard about wildlife sanctuaries. Wildlife sanctuaries are places where animals
can live freely. India has 550 wildlife sanctuaries. And quite a bit of them
are private sanctuaries engaged in buying, selling and trading wild animals.
But are they wildlife sanctuaries in real sense?
First, let us
understand the difference between a wildlife sanctuary and zoo.
Zoos are
places where animals are kept in cages, while the people roam around freely.
The zoo keeps animals for their conservation. They’re given food and a safe
place to live, but not a free space to roam around, where they can feel free.
But wildlife
sanctuaries are places generally spread over huge areas. The animals are free
to roam, but the visitors have to move in a restricted area only.
Nowadays, many
wildlife sanctuaries are becoming places for breeding of animals, and where the
paying public is allowed to play with the young ones, like tiger cubs.
If people are
coming and playing with the cubs, will the animals feel safe? Do people feel
safe when a leopard enters their village? How do people react? They try to get
rid of the leopard as fast as they can. In the same way, the animals don’t feel
safe when people are around them.
A wildlife
sanctuary should be a place where animals should feel as if they’re living in
their natural habitat. They must have sanitary conditions, roomy enclosures,
proper vet care, appropriate feed and the like.
Visitors
shouldn’t be allowed to get close to the animals, let alone playing with them.
The sanctuaries mustn’t be breeding places and places for sale of animals. They
never should be used as a place of entertainment for people.
Wildlife
sanctuaries must be places for animals, not for humans. That must be their sole
purpose. Their environment must be one of complete serenity and tranquillity,
so that the animals could spend their lives peacefully and safely.
-
Manas Trivedi
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