On
Animal Rights From the Animal perspective - Jim Willis
Animal Welfare
All About Me
What Katy did
"How could you" by Jim Willis
Jim Willis
makes a connection with the hearts and souls of animals that all humans
should strive for. His writings read as if the creatures he so
passionately cares for penned them. He powerfully reinforces the concept
and importance of the human-animal bond, and that bond is evident in
nearly everything he writes.
We are the animals. We have neither more nor less
worth than the human animal. We were not placed on this Earth for your
use, benefit, or entertainment. Most of us preceded you by millions of
years. We are all, including the human animal, part of the fabric of
Life and we each serve our purpose. For centuries, you have made
subjective assessments of our "value" and "intelligence," and the
intelligent among you have recognized that we are as "valuable" and
"intelligent" as we need to be to fulfill our purposes.
While your championing of our "rights" is often noble, it is also an
artificial human concept. In most instances you are simply seeking to
restore to us what you have taken away - our freedom, our habitats, our
inherent right to live without confinement, fear, pain, abuse,
exploitation, manipulation and destruction.
We are not a replacement for human companionship. We are not your
children. We are not a commodity. We are to be respected for who we are,
and our animal natures and our specific needs must be taken into
consideration. Every attempt to make us what we are not, human - or
worse, possessions - is an insult to the sum and substance of what we
are: Animals. Whenever you acquire us it is your responsibility to
ensure that it is a mutually beneficial relationship for all of our
natural life. You may earn our trust, respect and even love, but you
"own" us by your definitions, not by ours.
It defies logic that despite thousands of years of interaction between
our species and yours, humans still do not comprehend some of the basic
truths - that all dogs have the capacity to bite, that all cats may
scratch, that all horses must run, that cows need pasture, that wildlife
belongs in the wild, that most animals need the companionship of their
own kind, that if you upset the natural order the result may be
extinction or population explosion, and that we all feel pain and
discomfort to the same degree as you.
While we appreciate your efforts on our behalf, we urge you to look to
your own history that shows lasting change is accomplished by reasonable
people, by intelligent debate, by carefully considered legislation, and
by compassion. Anything less may make a mockery of the goals and
jeopardize that which you seek to accomplish for us.
Every use of an animal, for research, for meat, for fur and hide, for
profit, for education, needs to be considered individually. Your ethics
committees may debate those uses, but they frequently do so on the basis
of a perceived "need" and the human assumption that humans were endowed
with the right to make decisions for animals. You have usually
demonstrated by your ignorance that you are not qualified to do so.
There is one basic premise from which taking a life must be considered:
All Life is Sacred. Your academics may debate that, your religious
scholars may argue the point, and your nonbelievers may scoff at
it...however, we believe you know it in your hearts to be true, as we
know it in ours. Our blood runs as red as your own. We kill for
sustenance, in self-defense, from instinct and without malice. Should
your reasons be any less honorable? Imagine yourself in our place, where
the sanctity of life is not ideology but the very instinct of survival.
It is not in our power to hold you accountable for your actions, but
most of you believe you will answer to a higher authority. Your actions
toward animals will not be exempt and turning away from the problems
will be judged as complicity.
We are the animals. Appreciate us for who we are. Protect our habitats.
Spare us pain and suffering. Stop exploiting us for financial and other
gain. Pay attention to our needs and our natures. Fulfill your
obligations as stewards and regard our lives as sacred as your own. In
so doing, you will achieve a harmony that has been lacking in your
lives, and which is abundantly apparent in ours.
