Wars and conflicts have been one of the biggest causes of human suffering, and this suffering has increased over recent centuries of "progress," now reaching a point where humanity faces an existential crisis due to wars and weapons, including weapons of mass destruction.
However, there is another important aspect of wars that is very serious in terms of the distress caused but has received very little attention. This refers to the extreme suffering and pain endured by animals, birds, and other forms of life as a result of wars.
During the greater part of recorded history, several animals, particularly horses, were widely deployed in battlefields and in supporting work like carrying loads for battles and war campaigns. As late as World War 1, we learn that as many as 16 million animals, including horses, mules, donkeys, and camels (in desert areas), were used in this war, and almost half of them perished.
While so many animals have died in wars, their death was seldom mourned, and their sacrifice was seldom remembered, let alone honored (although there are a few exceptions; for example, the valiant horse of Rana Pratap, Chetak, is still widely remembered and honored). Animals injured on battlefields in very painful ways are almost never picked up for treatment and continue writhing in pain until they die.
While the role of animals in battlefields has declined rapidly in recent times, this does not mean that the mortality and distress of animals, birds, and other forms of life caused by wars have decreased. In fact, due to the use of increasingly more destructive bombs and other weapons, their distress and mortality have, in fact, increased.
When very heavy bombing occurs, we get reports of how many people have been killed or injured, but we do not generally hear how many pets, farm animals, poultry birds, wild animals and birds, butterflies, and aquatic life have perished, or have been injured and very adversely affected in various ways. These numbers are likely to be very high. Some of the more delicate forms of life, including small birds and butterflies, may suffer grave harm from the noise, fumes, and harmful after-effects even when they are some distance away from bombs and shells.
The harm is likely to be much higher and longer-lasting when very dangerous chemical weapons are used. The massive use of Agent Orange in Vietnamese forest areas is perhaps the worst case of wildlife being most seriously harmed in a war, although this was entirely avoidable and, in addition, blatantly illegal.
Unexploded bombs can continue to kill and disable even a long time after the war is over, and while warning signs can keep human beings away, animals continue to become victims more easily. This harm can be greater in the case of the widely dispersed smaller explosives of cluster bombs.
Many animals also fall prey to landmines and die or are crippled in very painful ways. Landmines can take a long time to remove even after a war is over. While warning signs and instructions can prevent the accidental deaths of human beings to some extent, animals cannot be protected in this way.
Huge fires, including oil fires, have been an increasing feature of wars, particularly those in the Middle East. These fires, their heat, and their very widely dispersed suffocating smoke can be very harmful to more delicate animals and most particularly to birds, including migrant birds. As the Gulf region is a much-favored place for migrant birds, these birds, as well as their migration routes and patterns, have been badly affected in recent decades of wars, including the various Iraq wars. It is likely that millions of birds have perished, or have been affected in other harmful and painful ways. Oil slicks and oil spills caused during wars have also been harmful to migrant birds, fish, and all life in oceans.
In Gaza, Israeli bombs and drones have been destroying the basic life-nurturing conditions in recent times. Obviously, apart from the very harmful impact this has on the people of Gaza, this also harms animals, birds, aquatic life, and other forms of life in very serious ways.
Wars lead to food shortages and even starvation conditions in many regions. When even human beings are short of food, it is only to be expected that animals will also face serious food shortages and, in many cases, water shortages as well. More of them are likely to be slaughtered and hunted in these conditions. Birds also face more dangers of being hunted.
Care provided for domesticated and farm animals is difficult to continue during wars, and this also leads to their higher mortality and suffering. Animals of nomadic pastorals can suffer serious harm in wartime as they move from one place to another in disturbed conditions and conflict zones.
Zoos are likely to be neglected in such difficult times as wars, and many animals may die due to starvation in captivity, even if they manage to escape the bombings.
Hence, it is very clear that animals, birds, and all forms of life face very serious risks in times of wars and conflicts. This aspect of the serious harm from wars should get more attention at the level of peace movements and in terms of the overall opposition to wars.
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The writer is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Saving Earth for Children, Planet in Peril, A Day in 2071, and Man over Machine
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