Wanton Acts of Cruelty
I was at the laundromat the other day and saw a calico cat saunter through the premises. I asked the lady custodian of the premises if the cat was hers. She replied that it used to belong to some people in the row of shops opposite but they've since moved away and she now feeds the calico. I indicated a large patch of scarring on the calico's side and ask if it was incurred in a fight. Lady custodian told me that someone in a shop nearby had thrown boiling water over the calico and scalded her.
The behaviour of some people leave me speechless with disgust. Although I understand their annoyance at animals that steal their food and foul their premises, it is we, human beings, who have committed the greater wrong. We've domesticated cats and dogs and invited them to share our homes to be our pets and companions but the moment they become "inconvenient," we thoughtlessly toss them out into the urban lanscape where they have no means of survival other than by stealing and scavenging. And when they are doing merely that which they need to do to survive, we label them nuisances and try to justify all sorts of unspeakable acts committed against them in the name of "pest control". If we don't want to incur the responsibility of looking after animals, we shouldn't have domesticated/bought/adopted them in the first place.
But domesticated/bought/adopted them we have, and if only animals had legal rights, it will be said that we have violated our social contract with them. They are merely mitigating their loss by scavenging and stealing for a living and animal rights violaters would then be treated the same way that human rights violaters are treated. If only animals had legal rights. I look forward to the day they will (although I won't be holding my breath waiting for it).
The behaviour of some people leave me speechless with disgust. Although I understand their annoyance at animals that steal their food and foul their premises, it is we, human beings, who have committed the greater wrong. We've domesticated cats and dogs and invited them to share our homes to be our pets and companions but the moment they become "inconvenient," we thoughtlessly toss them out into the urban lanscape where they have no means of survival other than by stealing and scavenging. And when they are doing merely that which they need to do to survive, we label them nuisances and try to justify all sorts of unspeakable acts committed against them in the name of "pest control". If we don't want to incur the responsibility of looking after animals, we shouldn't have domesticated/bought/adopted them in the first place.
But domesticated/bought/adopted them we have, and if only animals had legal rights, it will be said that we have violated our social contract with them. They are merely mitigating their loss by scavenging and stealing for a living and animal rights violaters would then be treated the same way that human rights violaters are treated. If only animals had legal rights. I look forward to the day they will (although I won't be holding my breath waiting for it).
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