Life vs. a Painless Death.
What would you prefer?

I along with my friend @chetanpadliya keep meeting local aquarium hobbyists to explain them our stand against enslaving fishes. Interestingly, in one of our meetings yesterday morning, one avid aquarium keeper who was pursuing this hobby for about a decade, tried to convince us to modify our campaign to emphasize proper education and care for aquarium fishes to save them from dying.

I often come across animal lovers who emphasize the importance of animal welfare over anything else. They are so over-confident about their stand that they will term our abolitionist stand as total rubbish and out of place. Over the years, I’ve met several aquarium hobbyists who have maintained their aquarium for decades. Yet, I haven’t come across any aquarium keeper who had zero casualty in their aquariums. Fishes die in all aquariums. Still, they keep telling us the importance of proper maintenance procedure for the enslaved animals.

The story of his aquarium

When we visited the above-said aquarium keeper yesterday, all but one fish in his aquarium had died a few days ago. The lone fish surviving in it was so shocked and depressed by the turn of events, that she was hiding behind some pebbles all the time. Yet this fellow kept boasting of his knowledge and the expert care he provides to them. When pointed towards the disappeared fishes in his aquarium, he was blaming all aquarium vendors in the city for their inability to provide the required maintenance and care services.

He had moved to this city only a few years back and was frustrated by the state of aquarium industry in this city. It was evident that after all these years of experience; he was completely dependent on external help to take care of his fishes and couldn’t take any corrective measures to save the remaining lot.

Yes, fishes do die in aquariums.
But I LOVE fishes a lot!

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So we proposed to do away with his aquarium in the interest of fishes that he loved so much. To that he got very defensive. However, after our explanations, he became receptive to our idea and philosophy and assured that he won’t keep aquarium while he is living in this city at the least. But in a 2 hour long discussion, he insisted us to not to tell people directly to do away with their aquariums. Instead, we should raise awareness for the proper upkeeping practices. But how would this help?

A ridiculous idea to eliminate aquariums

His stand was that it will force people to take adequate care of their aquariums and this will instigate the “caring nature” in them. Today, most people keep aquarium as a decorative item or for the sake of Feng Shui / Vaastu but they have nothing to do with fishes. So once they start caring for them, they can better connect with their living state of enslavement and would ultimately love to set them free.

Most welfarist will agree to this approach as it is easy to gain support from the aquarium lovers. But it never does any good to animals.

Welfarist approach never works

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My country has tried welfarist approach for centuries without any desirable results. Cows are the most sacred animals in my country and is worshipped as God, mother or some divine being. Still today, dairy consumers will emphasize to take a good care of the dairy cows, bull-calves and dry cows. They will extend some donations for cow-shelters and think that they have done their bit for the cow and now have every right to drink her milk. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work. The state of cows in India is worsening every day.

Today India is among the world leaders in production of dairy, leather and beef-export. It has got the largest population of stray cows on the roads. All thanks to welfarist approach!

Abolitionist approach advocates to do away with the consumption of dairy altogether. So there won’t be any necessity to give birth to cattle by artificially inseminating it to fulfil the human needs.

Same is true with free-range poultry, ahimsa milk, ahimsa silk, organic eggs etc. All these gimmicks are to brainwash the consumers to make them keep consuming animal products without feeling any guilt. But this doesn’t benefit animals in anyway. You would never find a happy cow who would love to share her milk with you except in advertisements!

Is it desirable to stun a fish before killing her for your dinner?

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Well, apparently it looks better than just taking her out of the water and slicing her body into pieces with a sharp knife. But this question is being asked in a welfarist approach. If you ask me, this question itself is wrong. Why would any animal want to end her life …in whatever fashion? Let me put this question as:

“Is it better to let this fish live or should we murder it?”

The process of murder is secondary. The most precious thing in this world is one's own life. No one wants to die. Can you help saving it with your approach?

Same thing is applicable to aquarium industry. However best the care you provide to your fishes, they will still live a captive life in a small glass-tank in an unnatural environment. Almost all tropical aquarium fishes are specifically bred for this industry and brought into existence for the pleasure of aquarium hobbyists. They get no benefit out of this deal except getting a life full of suffering which ultimately lead her to an untimely and sad death.

All animal welfare measures in animal farming industry serves the commercial interest of businesses for increasing their customer base. No commercial organization is concerned with the interest of animals. Consumers are always deceived by portraying happy animals in their advertising. They just want to take out the guilt of exploiting and slaughtering animals from the minds of their consumers through systematic brain-washing while inviting their customers to relish their taste buds with zero guilt. But the truth is billions of farmed animals are being slaughtered every year for the sake of monetary gains.

Don't let them deceive yourself. If you really want to show your care towards animals, don't go for cage-free eggs or free-range poultry or grass-fed cows but go vegan and spare their life!