Some animals are more equal than others

Last week this newspaper reported that the hungry dogs of Rugendabari village in Kayonza District went on a goat murdering spree. Goat and dog owners, brought together by the village leaders, met to ‘express their views’ according to the article and as is to be expected the two groups found very little common ground. The boys in maroon [Local Defence] had to physically restrain people and prevent one of those scenes from those free-for-all WWE fights. The village leaders later came down on the side of the goat owners, ordering that the dog owners kill their dogs and compensate the goat owners. Twelve dog owners were detained following the meeting, the article never specified the charges. The general tone of the article was anti-dog and while the dangers of stray dogs cannot be underestimated, I cannot help but wonder what would happen if stray livestock caused damage. If a cow caused a road accident or a goat damaged crops in a garden, would the cow/goat owner be summoned by his/her village leaders and ordered to, in addition to compensating the people affected, turn their beasts into steak or brochette? Even when livestock is infected by disease, most people would be reluctant to suggest that they be put to death. This may have to do with economics. There is a market for goats, pigs and cows while dogs are generally pets. The dogs in Rugendabari village were worse than worthless beasts neglected by their owners, they were economic saboteurs. Making the dog owners pay reparations for the damage caused by their dogs is reasonable. Asking owners to kill their pets seems unnecessarily cruel unless it’s shown that the dogs are rabid. To use the over quoted line from George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’; some animals are simply more equal than others.Elsewhere, all roads led to the city of Lyon in France for those with any interest in robots. Last week, Lyon hosted Europe’s largest robotic event – InnoRobo. As usual this resurrected the old speculations on whether robots will one day take over the world either in a benign way by doing everything for us humankind and leaving us to spend lives or ease or malignly enslaving all living things once they achieve conscious and independent thought. Mostly, the talk is on how to make robots emote better and become true companions and perhaps even replace dogs [the people in Kayonza would love this] as man’s best friend. I am not well conversant with the technology but it’s fascinating to watch the attempts of robot builders at achieving the very difficult and expensive task of creating ‘emotionally intelligent’ machinery. It was reported that there were exhibiters from about 50 different countries at InnoRobo. As usual with such technological shows, our dear country is absent. I’m reliably informed that building a robot for simple tasks is not technologically difficult and may cost less than a laptop. Technical institutions should encourage such initiatives among their students even as we wait for the software and communication wizards to bring about the ‘knowledge based economy’. Rwanda may not win any prizes immediately at any exhibitions but perhaps we’ll be advanced enough to send a few participants within 5 years.