Hello, I’m Tasnia Khandaker and people who know me are well aware that I’d prefer animal company over theirs any day, and fortunately for me, my two-legged friends don’t take much offence to that.
As far as my memories go, I remember loving and being fascinated by animals since forever. My parents absolutely adore dogs, and I think it was their overwhelming love for animals that catapulted me into feeling the same towards non-humans. Gloria, my parent’s pet dog, was already around when I was born – so it’s safe to say that it was in my destiny to interact with animals the way I do.
2. We know that it’s better to adopt than to buy. Can you shed some light on how we can encourage more animal adoption, especially of dogs?
I think it boils down to whether we, as individuals and as a part of a larger society, hold ourselves accountable for the indirect, yet substantial, suffering we cause animals. Making it a point to only call foreign breed dogs ‘cute’, or getting a “bideshi” dog for it to be a status symbol and not acknowledging that you now have the responsibility of a living-breathing animals is a very dangerous problem.
I see people saying that they’d like to have pet dogs of only certain breeds – I think that notion is very harmful, because dog market places are then encouraged to ship in breeds who are absolutely not suitable to stay in Bangladesh’s climate.
It’s heart-breaking to see people go out of their way to pay and see a husky, and not pay attention to a starving dog right outside their doors, and even if that wasn’t the case, people are not taking the time to understand that just because we love a certain animal doesn’t mean we can provide the best habitat for them. People should love animals enough to want the best for them, and hold themselves accountable.
3. Do you think there are any possibilities of an organized dog park in Dhaka?
In a city that lacks organized parks for human children, I doubt that a dog park is likely to be reality any time soon, I think we’re still in the preliminary stages of ensuring that our city is a safe space for both humans and non-humans. We need to direct our thought process to what we can do to ensure that their basic rights are fully ensured. A dog park does sound heavenly though, I know my dog, Facebook (yes, my mom actually named him that, haha!), would be super excited.
4. As an animal lover yourself, what experiences can you share with people who are afraid of or have had bad experiences with animals?
I empathize with them, I’m no one to invalidate someone’s experiences, but I hope people understood that their fear will never justify abuse done against another sentient being, neither does it give anyone permission to treat them badly.
Animals aren’t robots. They have their own personalities, own traumas, and it’s most likely that a bad experience is the result of an unfortunate interaction than the blanket statement of “animals are bad”.
5. Animal welfare in Bangladesh – what do you think are the limitations and how do you think we, as a nation, can overcome them?
In 2019, an Animal Welfare Act passed in the parliament but I think there’s still a stigma in the nation, where most don’t acknowledge how intertwined human welfare is to animal welfare. If you remove street dogs in a way that’s not humane or scientifically proven to work, at some point, the damage done is going to extend to us humans.
We’re in the middle of a pandemic, caused by constant and deliberate ignorance of how we must interact with animals – and if we do not learn now, we may suffer.
Let’s educate ourselves, find out if there’s a local organization that needs our support – monetary or otherwise, and do our bit to safeguard ourselves and our four-legged friends.
