With industrialization and humankind taking charge and control over every other living and non-living things on the planet, animals together with their habitats have been gravely threatened. According to United Nations data, over half of Marine Key Biodiversity Areas are not protected and more than a quarter of species assessed by the IUCN Red List are threatened with extinction. They have identified these threats and the severe consequences of such destruction, emphasizing the importance of sustainable development alongside industrialization under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Goals 14 and 15 respectively, “Life underwater” and “Life on Land”.

Illegal wildlife trade, habitat degradation, invasive species, pollution, and climate change have all been documented as major threats to wildlife. Domestic animals, too, are denied their freedom since they are constantly subjected to brutality by humans. Taking into mind this crucial issue, the Community Service Avenue and the Environmental Service Avenue collaborated on a project titled “Animalia 2.0” to create a positive impact on life underwater and on land. 

As we identified the need of raising awareness and educating the public on the subject of preservation and conservation of wildlife, marine life and domestic animals, as well as the necessity to protect their rights, we took action to relaunch the website ‘Animalia’ with a fresh outlook as part of the project’s first phase. On the website, we published content under four categories: wildlife, domestic animals, aquatic life, and birds. We published articles highlighting key subjects such as endangered species, animal mistreatment, habitat degradation, and animal brutality and the purpose was to educate the public and draw their attention to the matter.  Articles addressing everyday events that should be brought to the public attention were highlighted in the website as well.

If a message is to be comprehended by society, it must be supported by actions rather than just words. As part of the project’s second phase, our team volunteered at the Hiyare Wild Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre and provided financial and non-financial assistance to the center’s rescued animals. As we all know, social media have a significant impact on the society nowadays. Taking the significance into account we initiated a campaign to update our Facebook profile picture with a pledge to support the cause of wildlife conservation on Wildlife Conservation Day.

The third phase’s focus was split between two main activities: a public relations campaign ran across all four of our social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn) and supporting an animal shelter.

Myths are a component of any community or culture, and they are beliefs passed down from generation to generation without any scientific basis or proof to justify or support them. There are numerous misconceptions about animals that have become widely held beliefs in our civilization. Some of these may result in the animals being killed or being subjected to any form of violence. Therefore, we saw the necessity to debunk these falsehoods in order to safeguard animals and their rights. We concentrated our public relations effort on debunking such fallacies, and we shared it across all of the official social media channels of the Rotaract Club of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. We hoped that by doing so, we could educate the public about the issue and as a result, help to remove the black cloud that has hung over the lives of those animals for many decades. 

Furthermore, in order to convey our message more vividly, our team volunteered at Mr. Lesley Rodrigo’s Animal Shelter in Kelaniya and provided financial and non-financial assistance to the shelter’s cats and dogs. We partnered up with the National Health Veterinarians Service, Public Health Complex Narahenpita, Ministry of Health of Sri Lanka to vaccinate the unvaccinated cats and dogs in the shelter as well as with the Kelaniya Pradeshiya Sabha’s Public Health Division in order to dispose of the garbage and they volunteered to help remove the garbage from the premises.

Furthermore, we collaborated with Team Law and Humanities and Youth Govern Sri Lanka on the initiative “Happy Tails,” and many members of the organizing committee, as well as the board of directors and the executive committee, took part in the initiative under the hashtag #happytailsproject, and many shared photos of themselves feeding street dogs on their social media accounts. The purpose of this campaign was to honour International Animal Rights Day, increase awareness, and bring attention to the subject matter.

Our efforts were to bring public attention to some of the most crucial matters that need to be acknowledged and addressed: wildlife conservation and animal rights preservation. With the support of social media campaigns, an educational website, and active physical and financial involvement in the cause, our efforts successfully contributed to getting the message across.

The beauty of the planet is identical to the coexistence of all living beings. However, the quality of life of humankind should not be attained at the expense of the lives of other living creatures, but rather by conserving nature and all of its living animals.

Written by Rtr. Hiruni Fernando