Animal Crackers

I recently posted an entry on my personal blog about some animal rights clowns stealing a pet bunny rabbit from a local school in the US. The poor children were told by their teacher that some people don’t believe animals should be in cages.

I have to admit that this sort of subject puzzles me slightly. I certainly believe that animals should be treated fairly and not be abused. But on the other hand I don’t think that there is something inherently wrong with being a carnivore. I don’t think God or Darwin gave us this formidable set of teeth if we were merely meant to mulch on vegetables, fruits and the odd nut.

That’s not saying I don’t understand the philosophical stance of vegetarianism. One could argue that one could choose to not eat meat and lift one’s self up to a higher moral plane by becoming vegetarian. I can understand that position even while I don’t share it. I suppose vegans are even more consistent.

Here in the UK there is a lot of bother about animal rights activists. Some university departments are having to employ military-style security measures to protect their animal research programmes from potentially violent animalists. I’m not keen on animal testing as I hate to see an animal suffer. But if it means the difference between finding or not finding a cure for some terrible human diseases I’m not so sure it shouldn’t take place. After all, I do not place animal life on the same plane as human life. In nature there is a hierarchy.

There was a family firm where they specialised in breading hamsters for a nearby life sciences laboratory. Not a very cosy sort of business to be involved in but perfectly legal. This family had to close their business down due to constant and prolonged harassment by animal rights terrorists. I use the term terrorists as they went further than mere activism. They issued death threats, caused bodily harm to members of said family, and tried to spread rumours in the local press that a male member of the family was a paedophile.

They had a whole box of tricks to let loose on this family. At one point the grandmother of the family passed away. This particular group of animalistic liberators broke into the cemetery, exhumed her body, and proceeded to hold the family to ransom by holding the grandmother’s corpse until the family would stop running their business. Nice. If you choose to employ that type of action to further your cause then perhaps that cause becomes slightly less than laudable itself.

I love animals and can’t see them abused or hurt by humans. I think there is something majestic about the unconditional love and trust of animals. There is also something unbearably dignified about how they can put up with suffering at the hands of humans.

But in the end animals are animals and human beings are human beings. Let’s just look after them as best we can and not cause unnecessary suffering. Now I’m off to feed some tuna to my two cats. These two kitties certainly aren’t vegetarians.