[In reply to email on subject … see LETTERS]
he whole business of control of animals is one of the centres of the abysmal way we treat other species on this planet.
Of course, before Human Beings rose to dominate Earth, there was nobody around to ‘control’ wild animals.
How did they manage without us? Well, somehow they did manage, which immediately tell us our interventions are not needed.
They will overpopulate the Earth, will they?? In fact the glaring truth is that the only species currently overpopulating this planet and causing extreme problems is … yes, US. So why are we feeling the need to control other species, when it is ourselves we ought to be regulating, for the good of all?
I actually used to be convinced by the people who say ‘we need to manage the countryside … we need to cull animals for their own good”. But I no longer buy into it. This ‘animal control’ ethos is an excuse for those who love it – love killing – to keep on doing what their ancestors did … hunt for sport, hunt for money, hunt for some kind of self-aggrandisement.
Yes, there are those who think we need to eat animals, but I honestly think that in a hundred years or so from now, if the Human race still exists, it will no longer be eating the flesh of dead creatures … it’s inefficient, inhumane, contributes in a major way to CO2 emissions (more than all the cars in the world !) – and – and this will of course be the deciding factor … it will be too expensive.
In the meantime … I think our job is to educate if we can … but there is massive tide of ignorance and prejudice and barbarity to overcome, and most of the time I feel oppressed by it.
Cheers and thanks
Bri