The cats of the fish market in Vasco

THE CATS OF THE FISH MARKET by KALI

It was appalling to see the condition of the fish market in Vasco and also surprising that it was not covered in the South Goa Monitor recently by Navhind Times whereas they had covered many other lesser known fish markets or shall we say ‘fishy’ markets! The one redeeming feature of Vasco’s fish market was the presence of cats in large numbers of all sizes and all ages. There was also a downside to this as typified by an injured kitten, possibly run over by a carelessly driven vehicle, gasping for life. Juxtaposed with this was the presence of a big bunch of gawking kittens huddling together over the sacks as if they were collectively contemplating the consequences of something similar happening to them.

The fish market apparently was the most suitable place for dropping off cats and kittens that were possibly thought to be pesky by our ilk. This aspect was amply confirmed by the fisherwomen who conveyed a feeling of empathy towards the felines. It, however, is a sad sign of the times that humans do not care for the domesticated animals as much as the animals feel secure in the presence of humans. Humans, it seems, cannot take time out to care for the few animals that make their home in the concrete jungles that we create by displacing the green jungles and natural habitats of animals. It is a well known fact that dogs and cats will always be around the habitations of humans and one cannot survive without the other. The current line of thought amongst humans is that they would prefer to live in as sterile an environment as possible and there is no place for animals in this scheme of things. The question that needs to be answered is ‘Can we actually survive in such a sterile environment’?

There are ways and means of peaceful coexistence and we the humans play a pivotal role apart from the civic administrations. Adoptions as pets, sterilization, animal farms, relocation, etc. are some of the options available. The MMC funds an animal care centre run by the ‘People for Animals’ (PFA) and this is a big help for the unwanted canines and felines. This centre needs our support as well as patronization. We also need to create more such centers to cover all the towns in Goa. This not only will help provide a safe shelter for the unwanted canines, felines and domesticated animals, but also provide them with a healthy life and an opportunity to be adopted by those amongst us who are lovers of universal life. We have many organizations (e.g. People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, World Wide Fund for Nature, International Union for Conservation of Nature, National Geographic, etc) for the care and protection/preservation of the environment and wild life, but, very few for taking care of domestic animals. Further, very little publicity is given for those few organizations dedicated to domestic animals and hardly any awareness campaigns are carried out amongst the local population. There is an urgent need to redress this and commence a concerted effort at providing opportunities for domestic animals to live with dignity.

The public at large also needs to be educated that a clean and hygienic environment as opposed to a sterile environment is important not only for them but also for animal life. To overcome the shortage of animal care centers, housing societies can collectively adopt canines and felines as pets and provide a dignified life to them. Many such solutions can be worked out provided there is a willingness to help preserve animal life.