To anyone who says: I want a fish, I want a bird, I want, want, want .... BAT couldnt have said it better. Here is the answer: Give the gift of respect, compassion and life. Adopt, don’t buy. Kati Loeffler / IFAW 26 September 2014 A recent campaign in South Africa that encourages people to adopt animals rather than buy them elicited the following post from a woman named Frances: “i dont support animal trading but out of curiosity, if all animal trading is stopped, how will a person then be able to buy a fish, a bunny for their daughter or a hamster for their son in primary school? where would anyone be able to buy a budgie or cockatiel? just wondering? shouldnt anyone then be allowed to keep any pets? even if we are good people that treat pets with love and care?” Frances, I am very glad that you asked this question. It is one that confuses many good people like yourself who know that they can provide a responsible and compassionate home for pets, and who want their children to grow up experiencing the joy, empathy and responsibility of sharing their lives with an animal. When we buy animals, we subscribe, in the very act of purchase, to the perspective that animals are commodities to be consumed and discarded like so much coal, bananas, or bits of plastic. The consumer attitude undermines the very values that you would like your children to learn in sharing their lives with a pet: The value of the individual. Empathy for another living being. The inherent value of Life. Respect. When we buy animals, we support the horrendous cruelty of the animal breeding industry. We support the attitude that a certain percentage of the animals die, like so many cabbages that are culled before they are stacked on the supermarket shelves. And these animals don’t just die. They suffer. Their mothers suffer. Their fathers suffer. Their siblings suffer. Suffering and death are further augmented in the “exotic” pet industry, which thrives on the largely illegal wildlife trade. Animals are torn from their homes in the wild and sold as pets, or sold to breeding farms. The majority of these animals suffer severely from disease, psychological distress, malnutrition and injury before they die. The industry – and the consumers who support it – do not respect these animals as individual, sentient beings who are part of a family, community, and larger ecosystem. These individual lives become no more than lumps of plastic. Yes: please do ensure that your child grows up in an attitude of respect, responsibility and compassion by sharing his life with animals. Rescue. Adopt.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 17:45:57 +0000
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