Sometime in October I wrote a short entry about animals, that went "largely unnoticed" if I were to judge by the number of comments to it. It was short, really, and perhaps it simply disappeared, which I wouldn't find so strange. I mean, up to a few days ago most of the readers of my journal seemed invisible and ghost-like to me, but recently a new friend, Joana, from Portugal took liking of my blog, and this entry picked her curiosity.
From the comment she left, saying that the message should be passed on, it occured to me that that was exactly what we should do, and hopefully raise some awareness in people about animals. So I'll be asking all my friends who have blogs, and all those out there who share the feeling, to please spread the word and post an entry, just a few lines, a picture if you'd like, to make your readers realize that animals, specially those we take in, have the right to be treated well. Please, it's just an entry, and perhaps it can make the difference.
If you'd like to read more about animal rights, I have found some very interesting sites you might consider visiting, such as http://www.animal-rights.com/arpage.htm or the home page Animal-Rights.com.
Like you all should know by now, I am not a vegetarian, and I actually put bacon on my vegetarian sandwich, nor I have problems using leather or apreciating a fine fur coat, and yet I believe we must be responsible. Animals out there eat each other, so we don't really need to stop being omnivorous in our attempt to love and guard animals, but we do must learn not to abuse them, not to mistreat them, not to exterminate them. Lets consume what we really need, not more. Lets re-evaluate the luxuries we take, whether we need them or not, but above all, when you get home, please pat that adorable dog waging its tail for you, stroke the soft fur of that lovely cat meowing for your attention, scratch the head of that bird chirping... and please think whether they are better the way you keep them, pay attention to them and evaluate if they are happy. They deserve it.
I'm reaching out for all fo you, please, lets make the difference, okay?
4 comments:
That issue of "the other animals also eat each other" is controversial, because "the other animals" who eat each other are most of the time in their natural habitat, they act for instinct, and they fight with no arms to eat. We, human being, fight with weapons (can we say "fight"?), raise animals in cages to eat them later, giving them no chances to defense or fight back. Shouldn't man be left in the middle of the jungle to learn some rules?
Well, it was just one point of controversial issue. Even eating meat and a lot of other issues involving animals protection (which are a lot, but meat eaters issue is widely spoken this days, people should spend some quality time thinking about the problem, sometimes to think about and make researches change their minds little by little, not in everything, but in some, which is already very good to start something.
Thank you for the reference to my person :) and I'll for sure make a post about this issue.
Does people feel more alert when they see photos of animals in awful physical situations or when they see beautiful and "normal" animals?
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You know, I don't know if people react stronger to suffering animals than to cute animals. I know that a picture of an animal being tortured hits me so hard that I leave the topic altogether. I normally resource to cute pictures to wake up love and tenderness in people's hearts, though I have used harsh picture to depict hunger and war. There are no pretty, cute pictures to talk about those issues.
As a meat eater, I agree with you that what we do is criminal. It's not a matter of stopping the consumption of meat, but how do we do it. Meat is an important part of our diet, so okay, let's eat it, but let's not waste it, or consume more than what we need. Nor do we need to mistreat the animals that will feed us.
I guess that people feel like "hmm happy animals, bad treated animals are a minority, those like in the photo are the majority", sometimes people just don't do nothing because it's easy to be quiet, they don't need to put efforts in nothing, and it is what human being prefers the most. Awful pictures normally open peoples feelings and minds to what is wrong. I probably will not use those photos either because I am a little weak in this point, and i can't stand looking to that kind of photos... but I clap to who can do it, I clap to TV when they show it because we are too weak to look for it by ourselves, to be aware. Of course this is my point of view and everybody is free to say the contrary.
Technically a lot of people could think the same about shocking pictures. They could think that such kind of mistreatment happens only is far away places or so rarely that they don't really care for it.
As a consumer, you can help the animals in labs and the those who are being abused by not purchasing products from non-animal-friendly companies and countries, but what can you do to stop people from hurting their pets?
I see your point, but usually a shocking picture would get to people who don't beat their pets so much, or who mistreat them in other ways. Such tortures can make them think "Oh, that's so terrible! At least I don't punish my pet so terribly". This is why I prefer happy, free pictures (and avoid those of funny, distorted animals, or pets in costumes, with weird hairdoes), to make those who confine their pets think whether it is okay to keep a dog in a tiny apartment locked all day, or a bird in a cage, or a cat in a tiny room.
However, I see your point as well, and you are right: truth is sometimes you need to shake people up, and let them know that just because our pets can't vote, it doesn't mean they have no rights. Perhaps this is what's needed, both points of view, so those who are not caught by the soft way, get caught by the harsher one.
The more of us spread this message, the better it would be.
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