Animals and Animal Welfare

The Animal Rights movement is generally misunderstood and occasionally even ridiculed. To a certain extent this perception can be traced to the actions of a few considered a ‘lunatic fringe’. To a larger extent this perception can also be ascribed to the human tendency to ridicule that which one does not fully understand.

Non-human animals have many of the same feelings we do. They experience contagious joy and the deepest of grief, they get hurt and suffer, and they take care of one another. They have a point of view on what happens to them, their families, and their friends. Nonetheless, in innumerable situations their lives are wantonly and brutally taken in deference to human interests.

In the second half of the 20th Century, worldwide meat production increased roughly five-fold; per capita consumption more than doubled. Even though the industrialisation of farming has allowed vast numbers of animals to be reared in relatively small areas, those kept in factory farms cannot forage for their own food or live on scraps or waste products — as was traditionally largely the case.

Millions of views worldwide watch “The Apprentice” with Donald Trump. It replaced survivor as the most popular TV program in 2006. Talk about a dog eats dog world – blaming, shaming, moaning and belittling from the candidates up and from the leaders down. What happened to spirit in the workplace? What happened to taking ownership for what we create?

In the previous edition of Biophile, my article “Holistic Pet Nutrition”, highlighted the nutritional and medicinal properties of herbs for our companion animals. We could not praise enough the healing and nutritional values that these herbs contain and their extensive mineral wealth. Unfortunately, a few weeks later, a leading Cape Town newspaper published a biased, untruthful and unfair article pertaining to the dangers of onions and garlic in pet food:

Somehow it was easier that way. And, after all, I only knew her for a few hours. We met on a rowdy, dirty street in Alexandra Township, Johannesburg. She was crouched in the corner of an apartment block of cages which stank of feces and fear. Her eyes were closed, and her body motionless.

Say NO to Animals in Pet Shops is a campaign originally founded in Australia by June Bird (of Adam and the Ants fame) and Dave Casey in 2002. The campaign has since gone from strength to strength gaining the support of many people who oppose the practice of selling animals from pet shops.

Many years ago, the writer and wilderness advocate Laurens van der Post wrote poignantly that “We have to become once again not only the voice and the reason of this wounded earth of ours, but also its healer and defender…” and through these words, encapsulated an urgent environmental issue of our time.

I was watching out of an upstairs window when I noticed that one of the horses in my neighbour’s paddock wasn’t there anymore. Instead of that mare, there was a new horse. The first question that popped into my mind was: how long is this horse going to last?

The latest spate of deaths owing to contaminated pet food has highlighted the importance of understanding your pet nutrition and correct feeding. Do you really know what goes into your pet food?
Do you fully understand the medical dangers of incorrect feeding?

Raising animals for human consumption is nothing less than animal abuse

Apart from the government stipulations regarding the listing of the guaranteed analysis and the contents, there’s a good chance that what you think is in your pet’s food… isn’t.

My wife Lynn and I have been vegans for approximately a decade, and vegetarians for much longer. We became vegetarians because we like animals and feel that it is wrong to eat them or have them enslaved so that we can take food from them.

M.E.R.C.Y. Animal Rescue began life as the Waterfront Cat Sterilisation, Feeding and Monitoring Project dedicated to the ending of the feral cat breeding cycle at the popular Victoria and Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town, as well as providing for the sustentation and medical care of these neglected creatures.

We see pictures of whole grains, prime cuts of meat and human grade vegetables on the bag, and we assume there’s some chef in a pet food kitchen cooking up the best for our loved ones. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. Most of what makes up dog and cat food comes from the rendering plant.

My father was the Chief Justice in Botswana in the late sixties and early seventies and I remember walking into his chambers, as a young woman, and being concerned for the anxiety that was etched on his face. I asked if something was wrong and he showed me the court document he had on the desk in front of him.

The concept of a natural, diet for our pets is no new revelation. Our parents, grandparents and great grandparents, certainly would have fed our pets some delicious and nutritious meals from left overs from the table.

A spotlight has recently been shone on the South African Navy’s underwater explosions in False Bay during the peak of the whale season. The Navy believes that the official Southern Right whale season runs from August to November but recent studies show that it is somewhat longer than this.

Millions of cows, pigs, sheep, and goats are slaughtered for their skins every year. They are castrated, branded, dehorned and have their tails docked without anaesthetics.