Call me a bleeding heart, but I thought some here might like this article and it might bring up peoples comments on animal treatment. Its a little late and I tried to figure which forum it waould be most at home in. This article is found at
http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/200310030035396.php.
"Spare a thought tomorrow on our cruelty to animals
S M Mohd Idris, President, Sahabat Alam Malaysia
3:49pm Fri Oct 3rd, 2003
Oct 4 is World Animal Day! World Animal Day is celebrated around the world each year in the first week of October to publicly recognise the important contribution animals make to society, and the important role pets play in the everyday lives of millions of people
It is a day to enhance public awareness of animal abuse and make people aware not just of the pet overpopulation problem but also the suffering man inflicts on farm, research, and wild animals and the role our ignorance and complacency plays in the perpetuation of that abuse and suffering.
It is about awareness, compassion, respect, and responsibility for the animals we share the Earth with. It is for pet lovers, humane societies, animal rights activists, wildlife conservationists and rehabilitators, everyone who cares about animals.
Animals have little rights. It is the cowardice and tyranny of which they are victims, which make their suffering so especially touching. There is something so very dreadful, so satanic in tormenting those who have never harmed us, and who cannot defend themselves, who are utterly in our power.
It is paradoxical that man, who claims to be far superior in intelligence than other creatures, behaves in the most irrational way whenever torturing and annihilating species which are not only crucial for the environment but also for his own survival too.
History of trade in wild animals and animal products have been going on for centuries. Wildlife products like musk from the musk deer, horn of rhinoceros and tiger bones fetch lucrative prices in the international market that smugglers will do almost anything and everything to kill the animals in demand and extract the desired parts of their anatomy.
The magnificent tiger is being slaughtered in hundreds every year because of the curative powers of its bones. Almost every part of the tiger is used for making Chinese medicines for diseases ranging from stomach upset to asthma and other ailments.
On the entertainment front, elephants have been captured and trained since olden times and tortured until the spirit of the worlds biggest mammal is broken and turns into a puppet for people to jeer at. Birds and ocean creatures are exploited for show performances. Are we really a civilised race?
Billions of farm animals throughout the world are reared behind the closed doors of the factory farm. They are caged, crammed and confined, forced to grow super-fast, and pushed to their physical limits in the quest for ever more meat, milk or eggs.
Three quarters of the world's 4,700 million egg laying hens are confined in tiny battery cages. These cages are so small the hens cannot flap their wings, so barren they have no nest in which to lay their eggs, and so restricting that the birds bones become brittle through lack of exercise.
Breeding pigs are caged in sow stalls. This system keeps pregnant pigs in such close confinement they are unable to exercise or even turn around throughout their 16-week pregnancy. When ready to give birth, the sow will be moved to the equally restricting farrowing crate.
Thousands of broiler chickens reared for meat are crammed in each barren shed. They are not caged, but kept by a few thousands in sheds. They grow at a fast rate, developing heart and skeletal problems. Today, 20 billion 'broiler chickens are being reared worldwide.
Factory farming has even taken to the water. Thousands of fish can be crowded into a sea cage or pond, causing them to suffer stress and become prone to disease.
Already pushed to their natural limits, genetic engineering threatens to cause further suffering to farm animals. By altering their genetic make-up, animals will be made to grow even faster, bigger, leaner, or produce more milk.
Animals exported for the livestock trade are often mishandled and abused and many with inadequate space during transport suffer from stress, lack of water and food and many die during the journey. Poultry birds are transported in crates piled on top of one another during transportation by lorries with many suffering from heat stress on a hot day.
Wildlife have been exterminated by men where poaching goes on unabated. Mans activities have caused severe decimation of the animals population through habitat degradation in the form of logging and land conversion, wildlife trade for zoos, pet shops, for medicine and for the exotic meat trade.
The suffering of animals in different fields has been for the reasons of ignorance, lack of right education, poverty, lack of feeling and understanding of the finer values of life, both amongst the young and old as well as amongst the educated and uneducated.
The task of creating a momentum to bring about awareness against cruelty to animals should start at schools and colleges for a massive educational programme to teach reverence to all living beings.
Along with this programme of education through schools, there should be an intensive programme to bring about general awareness through audio visual means, exhibitions and prosecution against persons who committed acts of cruelty.
There is a paramount need to create a consciousness of the environment. The existence of everything on this planet Earth depends on ecological balance; therefore a functional and humane relationship between man, animal and trees is of fundamental importance.
Finally stringent legislative enactments and their proper implementation is essential if we are sincere in our pursuit to prevent acts of cruelty and to preserve and protect the animal wealth of our country."
http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/200310030035396.php.
"Spare a thought tomorrow on our cruelty to animals
S M Mohd Idris, President, Sahabat Alam Malaysia
3:49pm Fri Oct 3rd, 2003
Oct 4 is World Animal Day! World Animal Day is celebrated around the world each year in the first week of October to publicly recognise the important contribution animals make to society, and the important role pets play in the everyday lives of millions of people
It is a day to enhance public awareness of animal abuse and make people aware not just of the pet overpopulation problem but also the suffering man inflicts on farm, research, and wild animals and the role our ignorance and complacency plays in the perpetuation of that abuse and suffering.
It is about awareness, compassion, respect, and responsibility for the animals we share the Earth with. It is for pet lovers, humane societies, animal rights activists, wildlife conservationists and rehabilitators, everyone who cares about animals.
Animals have little rights. It is the cowardice and tyranny of which they are victims, which make their suffering so especially touching. There is something so very dreadful, so satanic in tormenting those who have never harmed us, and who cannot defend themselves, who are utterly in our power.
It is paradoxical that man, who claims to be far superior in intelligence than other creatures, behaves in the most irrational way whenever torturing and annihilating species which are not only crucial for the environment but also for his own survival too.
History of trade in wild animals and animal products have been going on for centuries. Wildlife products like musk from the musk deer, horn of rhinoceros and tiger bones fetch lucrative prices in the international market that smugglers will do almost anything and everything to kill the animals in demand and extract the desired parts of their anatomy.
The magnificent tiger is being slaughtered in hundreds every year because of the curative powers of its bones. Almost every part of the tiger is used for making Chinese medicines for diseases ranging from stomach upset to asthma and other ailments.
On the entertainment front, elephants have been captured and trained since olden times and tortured until the spirit of the worlds biggest mammal is broken and turns into a puppet for people to jeer at. Birds and ocean creatures are exploited for show performances. Are we really a civilised race?
Billions of farm animals throughout the world are reared behind the closed doors of the factory farm. They are caged, crammed and confined, forced to grow super-fast, and pushed to their physical limits in the quest for ever more meat, milk or eggs.
Three quarters of the world's 4,700 million egg laying hens are confined in tiny battery cages. These cages are so small the hens cannot flap their wings, so barren they have no nest in which to lay their eggs, and so restricting that the birds bones become brittle through lack of exercise.
Breeding pigs are caged in sow stalls. This system keeps pregnant pigs in such close confinement they are unable to exercise or even turn around throughout their 16-week pregnancy. When ready to give birth, the sow will be moved to the equally restricting farrowing crate.
Thousands of broiler chickens reared for meat are crammed in each barren shed. They are not caged, but kept by a few thousands in sheds. They grow at a fast rate, developing heart and skeletal problems. Today, 20 billion 'broiler chickens are being reared worldwide.
Factory farming has even taken to the water. Thousands of fish can be crowded into a sea cage or pond, causing them to suffer stress and become prone to disease.
Already pushed to their natural limits, genetic engineering threatens to cause further suffering to farm animals. By altering their genetic make-up, animals will be made to grow even faster, bigger, leaner, or produce more milk.
Animals exported for the livestock trade are often mishandled and abused and many with inadequate space during transport suffer from stress, lack of water and food and many die during the journey. Poultry birds are transported in crates piled on top of one another during transportation by lorries with many suffering from heat stress on a hot day.
Wildlife have been exterminated by men where poaching goes on unabated. Mans activities have caused severe decimation of the animals population through habitat degradation in the form of logging and land conversion, wildlife trade for zoos, pet shops, for medicine and for the exotic meat trade.
The suffering of animals in different fields has been for the reasons of ignorance, lack of right education, poverty, lack of feeling and understanding of the finer values of life, both amongst the young and old as well as amongst the educated and uneducated.
The task of creating a momentum to bring about awareness against cruelty to animals should start at schools and colleges for a massive educational programme to teach reverence to all living beings.
Along with this programme of education through schools, there should be an intensive programme to bring about general awareness through audio visual means, exhibitions and prosecution against persons who committed acts of cruelty.
There is a paramount need to create a consciousness of the environment. The existence of everything on this planet Earth depends on ecological balance; therefore a functional and humane relationship between man, animal and trees is of fundamental importance.
Finally stringent legislative enactments and their proper implementation is essential if we are sincere in our pursuit to prevent acts of cruelty and to preserve and protect the animal wealth of our country."
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