Over the last couple of weeks, there has been much renewed
talk about the banning of live exports after a horrific story coming out of Pakistan
revealed that 20,000 sheep where needlessly slaughtered in a cruel and horrific
manner. I am yet to find one person who thinks what happened in Pakistan is
acceptable, but I can find many people who think we should not stop exporting
there.
Many of the anthropomorphists who oppose the trade will
state that even 1 breach of the ESCAS standards is reason enough to turn our
back on the trade and walk away. Yet these same people are not calling for a
total ban on all surgeons after the tragedy that occurred at Bundaberg
hospital, or a ban on all motor coach transport as a result of the Kempsey bush
crash. Why? Because these people will set the standards so high that there is
no way any person, including themselves, can achieve it.
Which brings us to the Achilles heel of the anthropomorphist
movement, they are never happy with what they get.
Only last week, we saw Animals Australia launch another
campaign against the horse racing industry. In the middle of the spring racing
season, in the wash up from the Melbourne cup, which has become a national
institution, they have come out against horseracing. They are like the
divorced, bitter middle aged uncle you only see at family gatherings that when
asked how he is will answer, “I’m not well” and will then spend the rest of the
evening telling you what is wrong with him and complaining about what every
other person in the room has done to him, right down to when your dad stole his
iceblock from him when he was 3. Eventually you get to the point that when you
see him enter the room, you feign a bout of bubonic plague, just so you can
leave the room.
Don’t get me wrong, I in no way condone animal cruelty and I
enjoy the company of my animals, but I don’t want to spend an evening being
lectured on how dairy farming is rape and to eat an egg is to eat the period of
a chook. It is emotive, sensationalist and often factually inaccurate.
Only the other day, I read an article on “The truth about sheep” on the animals Australia unleashed page
http://www.unleashed.org.au/animals/sheep.php
to read this, you would think that all sheep farmers where cruel heartless
bastards who mustered their sheep once a year to shear them and left them to
their own devices. Like most of the bile and vitriol spewed forth by the animal
rights groups, there is a little bit of fact, interspersed with a lot of
sensationalism, sprinkled with some emotive statements and misrepresentations.
Yes, shearers are paid by the head and want to shear them as quick as possible,
no that does not mean they are roughly shorn. From an economic standpoint
alone, the wool must be evenly and cleanly shorn to receive full value for the
clip and a sheep that is cut about at shearing time takes a while to recover,
and like any animal, if it is happy, it is productive. As a woolgrower, I can
tell you that any shearer who races and knocks the sheep about gets told quick
smart to slow down and do the job properly. Rough shearers don’t last long in
the industry, they soon improve their skills or find themselves not asked back
next year.
I have also noticed that PETA has now come out to allege
animal cruelty on the set of “The Hobbit” http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/jackson-denies-animal-mistreatment-on-hobbit-set-20121120-29n8o.html
It seems the Peta radicals are calling for people to boycott the film when it
opens in cinemas. Good Luck with that, I think the call for those obsessed with
high fantasy boycotting the movie will have as much chance as a cream bun in a
room of fat kids. It’s not gunna happen.
So this brings me back to my initial point, the Animal
Welfare lobby looks like a worthwhile cause at first glance when they are
calling for someone who drowns kittens to be held accountable, but as they go
on, they develop more and more outrageous demands that affect the daily life of more and more
people. They continually demand more, start a new campaign, piss a few more
people off. Yes they will have a win occasionally, but as they continue their
campaigns, they will impact on more and more average Australians in a negative
way. Eventually, there will be no-one left to support them, with the possible
exception of an unwashed Lezzo with dreadlocks, wearing hemp knickers that
smells of pot smoke.
Should we be worried about groups like PETA and Animals
Australia? Absolutely. Will they ultimately succeed? Not a chance.
