Animal rights activist holds 2-person run against cruelty to animals
An animal rights activist on Saturday morning held a two-person run on the Corentyne, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) to bring awareness to the cruelty animals in the region are forced to endure at the hands of unkind persons.
The 22-mile run took place from Number 57 Village to Corriverton and back.
Gobin Harbhajan has for years been speaking out of some of the cruel acts perpetrated on animals from persons burning them alive because they were injured, to the poisoning of cats and dogs that hang around public buildings because of the availability of food and some being starved to death at animal pounds at Police stations.
Gobin Harbhajan and Leila Hazel on Saturday’s run
On Saturday, he took his advocacy campaign to the Corentyne in the form of a 22-mile run.
“The Animal Act is there and persons can be charged for animal cruelty. We need to enforce the animal cruelty law.”
Harbhajan said that back in the 1970s, Police officers would stop horse-driven carts and remove the saddle from the animal to see if there were bruises and if so, the operator was charged and placed before the court for cruelty to animals.
“No one is doing that anymore,” he added.
Harbhajan has also expressed concern that many times when there is conflict over the ownership of animals; the animal is taken into custody and remains there for months until the matter is resolved. On many occasions, the animals die because of poor health, starvation and being tied without being able to sit for weeks.
Many, he said, take their unwanted pets and stray them at places where they cannot even find food. He has also on many occasions related eye-watering stories but he believes that as a people we can do better.
This is not likely to be his only run.
The activist said if a country cannot have an Animal Cruelty Act enforced or persons have no interest in respecting the rights of animals then the country will not be blessed.
“I am calling on the relevant authorities, especially the Guyana Police Force, to enforce the Animal Cruelty Act law. That is the whole purpose of my initiative to do what I am doing today,” the activist of eight years said. (G4)
