Jasper: happy, healthy, and beloved
Animal Rights: the issue is on my mind tonight, as I read the blog and website of Dan Piraro, the cartoonist of Bizzarro. I went to high school with Dan, and my brother dated his sister. (We are practically related.) I remember marveling at his even-then-amazing talent, an art-loving ninth-grader to his senior status. The site, Bizarrocomic.blogspot.com, is funny, quirky, and occasionally thought-provoking, just like the cartoons. Dan is, as ever, a wonderfully creative, humorous, and intelligent person.
In his posts and comments, clearly Dan is a big proponent of animal rights. This viewpoint is articulately and sometimes humorously presented. There are compelling arguments and links to activist sites. He is unhappy with anyone who is a vegan “just for health reasons”. He scolds those who rescue cats and dogs, then head home to a chicken dinner. (Hmm… that would be me!) I have known folks who shared this view, and became advocates for organizations who, say, rescue animals from the slaughterhouse steps, spray baby seals green to ruin the pelt, and protest rodeos.
Ok, I am as enthusiastic an animal lover as anyone. I take in unwanted, underprivileged waifs to the absolute limit of my space and finances. This is how I acquired 3 dogs, 3 cats, and a horse. Generally they eat better than I do, and visit the vet whenever they sneeze. Raised in the city (as animal rights activists usually are), I once also became a vegetarian, rescued turtles, worried about mistreated chickens, sent money to Greenpeace,and attempted to Save America’s Wild Horses and Burros. My family and friends remember those days, I was truly a fanatic.
But times have changed- while I still don’t want dolphins to die in tuna nets, I also understand some of the principles of the livestock industry and wildlife management. And yes, I enjoy the occasional Whopper. Living in the West, there are lots of cattle ranches, abundant wildlife and the inevitable hunting, I have come to a certain understanding of how “real life” works. I am not a totally heartless meanie. I still think leghold traps, baby seal clubbing, most animal research, and raising food animals in tiny cages is cruel. However…
Alas, all God’s creatures must die eventually. It is a natural part of life. Furthermore, animals kill each other all the time, and are not particularly speedy or nice about it. They seldom dispatch prey as swiftly as hunters and packing plants do. I have observed this in the wild, and believe me, it is often a messy, painful, grisly experience for the victim. And…unless you are at the very top of the food chain, there is pretty much a 100% chance that somebody will eventually kill and eat you. Ever look at the statistics of how many wild animals of any species born actually live to adulthood? And they don’t get to die of old age, either. Where does one draw the line at which ones merit saving? Rodents? Insects? Slugs? Microbes? All are living animals, who evidently can feel pain. Having raised chickens, I struggle to believe they are an advanced life form and thus cannot ever be my sunday dinner. There are religious sects in India, I hear, who sweep the ground before them as they walk, lest they tread upon a bug. Plants are living beings too, you know. I have rescued more than one neglected houseplant. The cattle one sees on the ranches here in Idaho have everything a cow could want… space, grass, babies, relaxation. They seem very content. I prefer to buy grass-fattened beef and free-range eggs. I like to think that the creature I eat had a reasonably nice life before it died, which is all any of us can really hope for.
Equus Callabus, the horse, my favorite. Some countries use them for food, thus creating a small market for the ”cull” horses here. Horses are large animals, high maintenance, and very long-lived. You’d better understand their needs and be devoted if you’ve got ‘em. The animal rights activists are working hard to produce legislation prohibiting the slaughter of horses. Though Black Beauty still makes me cry, I disagree with this viewpoint, here is why: The recession has hit the horse industry hard. There are lots of horses around who are of little value, perhaps not even useable, whose owners cannot afford to feed them. Fancy, well-bred animals are kept for show, race, and competition. Ordinary blue-collar horses can find jobs as pleasure mounts for everyday folks, like me. Sadly, since horses proliferate easily and often, there are thousands and thousands of horses in the US which fall into the “marginal” category- untrained, behavior problems, dangerous,unsound for use. You can’t even give them away. They are as expensive to maintain as any other equine. The packing plant only pays a small sum, but the horses’ lives end quickly. With all the legal hassles preventing this type of transaction, people simply neglect them, starve them, or just abandon them somewhere. It is cheaper to do this to a poor old lame horse than to pay several hundred dollars for costly euthanasia and landfill fees. There are not enough “sanctuaries” to put them in, nor adequate funding. Some would require a lot of surgery, hoof care, or medications to even live comfortably at all.
Which brings me to another animal rights hotbed, saving the wild horses. On Animal Planet and PBS, mustangs are shown running wild and free, an icon of the American West. It is suggested as cruel to round them up and remove excess animals from the range and have adoptions. Thousands of unadoptable animals live on bare dirt in pens in government-funded ”sanctuaries” to live out their lives, bored, restless, fighting, because it violates Federal law to destroy them. Our tax dollars are spent for projects such as these while schools suffer and the unemployed cannot feed their families. There is a wild horse range nearby, the Challis Herd Management Area : http://www.blm.gov/id/st/en/fo/challis/wild_horses_and_burros.print.html. It was a shock the first time I went to the BLM corrals to view feral horses fresh off the range. Never before had I seen such sad parasite-riddled animals- bones clearly visible under hides scarred from fighting, skinny mares raising stunted foals, pregnant again. They really needed to come out of there (the range), apparently nothing left for them to eat… and surely any native wildlife in the area suffered hunger as well. Some of my friends, proficient horsemen, adopted a few of these animals. With a whole lot of time and dedication, a couple of them turned out to be good saddle horses. I can honestly say that for about 75%, the project failed, the horses making unpredictable, untrustworthy mounts if even trainable. Under the Wild Horse Act, they cannot be sold for a period of time, and never for slaughter. What to do with the poblem animals? Most folks prefer to buy a tame, healthy horse and start from there. They are cheap these days, my own horse was a freebie. I do not have a problem with removing excess animals from the area, adopting out those that qualify, and humanely destroying the rest rather than turning the old, sick, and lame ones all back out to starve/weaken the gene pool or be put into crowded confinement for the rest of their lives. Documentaries do not tell you the real story. If my own saddle horse, Jasper, ever became unrideable, I would be in a dillema. He is a just a big, friendly gelding- I am a clerk and starving artist but spend my hard-earned bucks to support him, as I love to ride so much. He would make a very expensive pet for the next 20 years, what with pasture rent, fencing, irrigating, hay, farrier and vet costs. It would be sad to part with him, but I would simply have to.
I watched a reality show called “Animal Cops” one time. The officers chased down animal cruelty cases, rescuing the victims and prosecuting the offenders. Sounds like a noble cause, right? One time, they found a large boa and a separate cage with a rat (evidently kept as a future meal for the snake) in an abandoned apartment. The show went on to make a big deal of how they rescued and rehabilitated the snake as well as the rat, finding eventual good homes for each. They named the rat “Ricky” or something, and showed him being snuggled by a child. Horrors, he narrowly escaped death-by-snake. Well, my thoughts raced. Even as they saved that rat, just what were they feeding the snake to restore its health? Different rats? Snakes don’t eat tofu. Isn’t that silly?
I could go on and on. The wolf hunt here in Idaho is under enormous protest by animal rights activists. Wolves are not really big cocker spaniels like on your Sierra Club calendar, nor evil Red-Riding Hood eaters. Just efficient, deadly predators, doing their thing. Transplanted Canadian grey wolves have flourished here, and multiplied beyond all expectations. They like to add livestock to the menu now and then, and kill domestic dogs, coyotes, bobcats, foxes, and other smaller predators whenever possible. It is OK with me if a few of them fall to hunters. Only a sustainable number are taken, and hunting ends when the quota is reached. If they are chased around in the woods they will retain a healthy fear of humans, which is also fine. Making cozy with large carnivorous wild animals is not a good idea- just ask Timothy Treadwell, the crusader for bears in Alaska, who, along with his girlfriend, was killed and eaten by one of his bear buddies.
I support conserving wildlife, and providing domestic critters with all they require for a good life. Too bad that cows and pigs have to die eventually, but I am afraid that in a natural situation this would also be the case. Sorry Dan, but I eat fried chicken and have friends who are hunters: witness the elk steak in my freezer. (Don’t worry- there are still plenty of elk out there for the wolves and mountain lions.) It is good that there are people like you, crusading for animal rights. Even if many of us think the fringes are crazy, you keep the pendulum more towards the middle and help to regulate blatant cruelty in many arenas. I just wish you guys didn’t stir up so many problems. Sometimes the very animals you want to save suffer because of your well-meaning but perhaps somewhat misguided efforts- shall we release the packing plant animals on the wild horse ranges so they can all starve together? Is it really inefficient and wasteful of the earth’s resources to raise meat animals? (Cattle out here are busy turning abundant range grasses into protein… the land cannot be otherwise farmed). Shall we continue to keep cats and dogs, thus support the (pet food) meat packing plants, but become vegans and protest leather shoes and such for ourselves? I can love animals, while still eating cheeseburgers and hanging around with hunters. Vegetarian? No problem. Eat whatever you want, I won’t bug you about it. Help me understand. Love the Bizarro cartoons. God bless you.
