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Rob Laidlaw is creator and an acclaimed animal activist of Zoocheck, one of Canada's leading animal rights organisations. Laidlaw has authored several children's books on animal issues, such as On Parade, The Hidden World of Animals in Entertainment and Wild Animals in Captivity is a Chartered Biologist, and a former Humane Society Inspector, past member of the board from the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies and past Project Manager/Technical Advisor for the World Society for the Protection of Animals working in 91 countries around the globe.

Here, Laidlaw talks about the larger concerns of the creature motion, its history and trajectory in comparison to other social movements and the new directions it should take.

These amateur zoos have very little money and untrained personnel and also leave a great deal to be desired in terms of animal maintenance. You have worked with the creature movement for the last 31 years. There are at least 20 million people who support animal rights organisations. Peter Singer released Animal Liberation from the mid-1970 from the U.K. And U.S. I'd date that as the start of the modern creature motion, though traditional societies have always had customs and characteristics directed at protecting animals. The creature movement is different from other moves because animals cannot talk for themselves and are dependent on individuals to talk for them.

In the case of the creature motion, there are insufficient activists sophistication and diversity, and, most importantly, the animals cannot advocate for themselves. Every creature, whether in wildlife or even on urban roads need to possess rights under the law. Do you see the creature movement becoming a priority item on the agenda of this century? The creature movement a part of the movement although environmentalists don't see it. The real challenge would be to see the clear connections of the creature movement with other social change movements. It's the same in Canada and the U.S. The point I am trying to emphasise is that few legislators and authorities are really serious about animal rights.

If real laws are set in place and enforcement is taken seriously, we may see some reduction in animal cruelty. The normal activist is not too political, with very little comprehension of international treaties, concerned as they are with animal maintenance work, which can be significant too. So do you think that the jump of increase in the creature move concerns itself with political activism? I have always believed that people need creature courts and a separate creature police force. There ought to be a professional, exclusive creature police force that has the authority to write tickets for offences and to arrest people for cases of abuse and neglect.

Creating real prices for bad behaviour is a step toward dealing with animal abuse. We will need to bring from the creature law component into every law college along with re-educate the judiciary. Animal crimes ought to be increased in stature from being.isdemeanours or small to major offences. Institutionalised crimes against animals that are less observable such as laboratory research and testing, confining calves in veal crates, improper animal breeding and so on are totally ignored by the majority of laws. If animal courts could be established, it will be a huge step in the legislative procedure and in protecting animals. The author is a Delhi-based social and animal activistwriter, editor and author.

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