Hello friends!
Are you aware that today is World Animal Day? I don't know how many people know of it ...at least in my country this is not at all popular. However it's about a century that world started celebrating this day ...it was 1925 when it first started in Germany. So may be, it's popular in the Western world.
Tell me if it is celebrated by the common man in your country.
In my opinion, the whole concept behind this World Animal Day is archaic and misguiding. This day is mostly patronized by animal welfare organizations. In India too there are a handful of animal welfare organizations that try to celebrate this day.
However I respect and advocate animal rights but I'm against the concept of World Animal Day.
Why I'm against World Animal Day
It may sound paradoxical but World Animal Day actually works against the long-term interest of animals.
Since most people in this world are principally against cruelty towards animals and want to support welfare measures for them to some extent. Therefore, it's easy to convince majority of people and encash such compassion & empathy they have got towards these innocent creatures. So most animal welfare organization easily collect donations by marketing their animal welfare initiatives. This day is also used for their fund-raising campaigns, events and concerts.
The stated mission of World Animal Day is:
To raise the status of animals in order to improve welfare standards around the globe.
Major issues highlighted on this day are:
- Abandoned pets
- Blood sports
- Eating live animals
- Eating live seafood
- Intensive animal farming
- To mitigate invasive procedures on domesticated animals
- Puppy mill
- Wild animal suffering
But this selective approach of partially addressing a problem is detrimental to the larger interest of animals. Welfarists consider extreme cruelty as unavoidable but are okay if less cruel procedures are used. So how such a stand will ever help in eliminating animal cruelty altogether?
How eating live animals is unacceptable but eating them after killing is justified?
Why farming is acceptable but intensive farming is not?
Blood sports like bull-fighting or cock-fighting are unacceptable but sports like horse racing, elephant rides, aquariums & circuses are acceptable?
It is because of this welfare approach that many animal organizations actually started promoting the consumption of free-range chicken, organic grass-fed beef, ahimsa milk, ahimsa silk etc. They were even successful in enforcing stringent slaughterhouse rules like stunning an animal before killing, transporting comfortably & treating them humanely before slaughtering. WTF!
Instead of stopping the slaughter altogether, you are asking only for some welfare measures! This is a defeated mentality. These kind of welfare mindset has accepted that they can never be successful in eliminating cruelty and exploitation of animals so they put efforts to reduce the suffering. And what's very cruel and what's the acceptable level of suffering is very arbitrary. This is decided taking into account that animal-consumers should be happy and vendors too not get too annoyed. After all, it's where animal welfare organizations get their donations from!
Don't be apologetic. Stop being a welfarist, if you can't advocate fundamental animal rights.
Some animal rights activists and organizations too have started promoting their awareness program on this day. But it's better to reserve that for other day and completely oppose this day. Else it just confuses the people more.
When you are talking about rights to life, you can't talk about peaceful or humane slaughter. Period.