LOVE YOUR ANIMALS

Sir,
 
“Tell PETA my mink is dragging on the floor.” I’ve always wanted to say that. I do suspect that it is an awful thing to say and that it may antagonise a section of the population but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find it amusing, especially when I heard it for the first time. Animal rights are not something that we observe to any measurable extent around these parts. To us, animals are either unpaid labour or dinner. Organisations like PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) have dedicated themselves to fighting against the mistreatment of animals. They insist that animals are not for us to experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment or abuse in any other way.

Resistance

You can imagine the resistance they face because the general populace enjoys a lot of these things that PETA, and other organisations like PETA, consider to be unfair treatment to animals. I mean, how do you convince emaSwati kutsi emajobo are not banging like that? How do you dissuade us from indulging in meat products when bacon is this delicious? You think a biologist will take kindly to a directive to cease playing with his lab rats? It’s a tough sell to say the least. The United Kingdom passed her first law against animal experimentation in 1866. Since then, many jurisdictions have followed suit including the majority of European states, the United States and even some African states.

Attitude

The contemporary attitude in the west is one that recognises an animal’s potential for pain and suffering; and laws have been enacted to protect animals against the unnecessary infliction of the foregoing. Western society’s attitude is largely empathetic towards animals as evidenced by the bitter debate following the premiere of the Oscar-winning film The Cove, in 2009. For the benefit of the 2000s who may be too young to have seen it or South Park’s – let’s say, rude - reimagining of the same, The Cove depicts a Japanese community called Taiji, and its peculiar annual cull of dolphins in the Pacific Ocean.

Animal rights activists couldn’t stomach the brutality that is a cultural cornerstone of the small coastal community as depicted in the film. I guess dolphins are too cute to be slaughtered for food and entertainment? It’s ironic that these same western countries are the ones that pay fishermen from Taiji over US$40 000 for live dolphins that they later throw into underwater cages on a different continent to pay the bills of an arbitrary aquarium; but we’re not pointing fingers here. I’m the type to watch horror flicks without so much as a flinch but scenes from that motion picture were gruesome and difficult to watch even for me.

The blood from the pods of dolphins that are slaughtered turn the ocean waters crimson red. It is the most unsightly thing I’ve ever laid my eyes on and appears unnecessarily cruel on the face of it.Taiji villagers insist that this practice is ancestor worship and the dolphins are just a source of food… a means for survival. Supporters of animal rights believe that animals have an inherent worth – a value completely separate from their usefulness to humans. Only prejudice allows us to deny others the rights that we expect to have for ourselves. Whether it’s based on race, gender, sexual orientation, or species, prejudice is morally unacceptable. Animals deserve to live their lives free from suffering and exploitation.

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