How does compassion for animals develop and take root?

What motivates some people to provide care for stray animals in India despite their own limited financial resources? And how do they develop a compassion-based ethics through their encounters with stray animals who are otherwise feared and even abused by people?

These are some of the key questions of a new anthropological project led by postdoctoral researcher Harmandeep Gill and supported by a grant from the Carlsberg Foundation.

Through extensive fieldwork in northern India, Gill's research will look into why and how ordinary people take individual responsibility for helping stray animals, sometimes by working with local NGOs. Millions of stray animals are estimated to live on the streets of India, and most of them in terrible conditions.

"Stray animals in India face a lot of hunger and diseases. They are also victims of road accidents, abuse and violence. Rabies is still prevalent in India and many people perceive stray dogs as dangerous and aggressive. But there are also a lot of misconceptions about animal behaviour, especially dog behaviour," says Harmandeep Gill.

“With that in mind, why are some people still motivated to provide care for stray animals? Is it the result of specific encounters with animal suffering? Is their care for animals influenced by religious ideals or is it grounded in a specific life history? And how do such individuals deal with the disproval and sometimes harassment from neighbours and others, who don’t like stray animals?”

The relationship between humans and animals

The project will primarily focus on Tibetans individuals living in Dharamsala, a hill station and town in north-west India situated in the foothills of the Himalayas. It has been the home-in-exile of the 14th Dalai Lama since 1960 and is considered as the capital of Tibetans-in-exile.

Fieldwork will also be carried out in the surrounding areas and include local Indians who are working for animal welfare.

The project has, however, relevance beyond Dharamsala, explains Harmandeep Gill.

"The broader aim is to rethink human-animal relationships and in the process also challenge the idea of human exceptionalism, the belief that humans are superior to other species, that has been especially dominant in the so-called western world," she says.

"Studying how some people in India care for stray animals can teach us important lessons about interspecies co-existence, compassion, activism and ethics. As such, the study may have implications for people everywhere.”