A recent article about Tango the horse and a letter to the editor about “catch and release” fishing have, between them, highlighted the disturbing double standards which many people have towards animal cruelty.
Tango may or may not have enough space to run about. However, his needs are apparently on everybody’s lips.
Last week, a fisherman wrote to complain about living creatures who were wounded with a metal hook, suspended in the air, with their entire body weight pulling on that wound, had the hook ripped out, causing still more intense pain, and were then thrown back into the water. But at no point did he even mention this cruelty. Instead, he referred to the victims as “wasted resources”.
And every day, many of the inhabitants of Daajing Giids — including those virtue-signalling about how much space Tango has to run about in, buy eggs laid by battery hens and body parts from pigs kept their entire lives in cages so small they can’t even turn around.
And the hardware stores continue to sell devices which trap small animals’ legs with glue, causing incredible pain and suffering — devices which are so obviously cruel that they are illegal in most civilized countries.
The problem of course, is that companion animals’ needs are taken seriously, whereas the suffering of animals whose bodies are going to be eaten — or who, for whatever reason, are regarded as “pests” or “vermin,” is ignored completely.
Sarah Wardringham
Daajing Giids