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gemfyreI also hate the fact that humans think they are superior. I thoroughly believe that humans should be as available for experimenting on as animals. Oh but that's "unethical", bah, it's more noble than using a helpless animal.
My main problems lie with some of the laws (well ones in Australia anyway, dunno the laws anywhere else). You have to wade through miles of red tape just to get an animal into a classroom or lab to LOOK at, and even then you may not be approved. I mean sheesh, what is wrong with just looking and maybe touching a little?
At TAFE we wanted to get frogs in. We had lizards and fish and needed frogs to round out the unit but CALM (Conservation & Land Management) would not let us have one. Something about this nasty fungus going around and killing amphibians. I don't get that at all. We were going to take one or two frogs from the environment, care for them properly for a few weeks, then place them back. I don't see how that could worsen the fungal problem.
One thing that REALLY pisses me off is the stupid law that says things must be euthanised after being used for an experiment!! I mean WHAT!!?? You claim to be animal welfare and here you saying we must put down what could possibly be a perfectly healthy animal?? I don't understand that one little bit. If anything an animal should be used to it's full extent before it's death. Then no more animals than neccessary are used. It's pathetic.
And then there's vermin. Rats, mice, cane toads, rabbits, cats (feral ones, not pets) are all major pests. You should be able to catch them from the wild and use them. I felt no sympathy towards the cane toads I dissected last year (they had been pithed, brain dead but the nerves were still responsive - it was required for the experiment). I'm sure in their native environment they are as beautiful and well adapted as the next creature. But we need them OUT of Australia, and welfare is even anal about protecting them.
And ducks.
Bloody domestic ducks on the waterways, pushing native waterbirds out of their nesting sites.
People who give a shit about the wild animals take steps to remove the ducks, either by removing them and turning them into pets, or by killing them. And all the ignoramuses are like "Oh no you can't go killing all the ducks you heartless person!! What will we throw bread to??"
Well 1) there will still be PLENTY of ducks and other waterfowl, but it will be native and 2) you shouldn't be feeding them anyway. It takes away from their ability to look after themselves and uneaten bread in the water is a breeding ground for botulism that will kill your precious ducks anyway. (Admittedly, I do sometimes enjoy feeding waterbirds, but only on the dry land, never in the water, and when they stop eating it I stop giving it to them).
I used to feel a bit like this over cats. I'd hear about people shooting feral cats and I was like "I'll look after them!" But now I'm a tad more educated. A cat becomes wild two generations down the track and cannot be a pet, it will rip your arm off. They are a plague to native species, they can't be poisoned or trapped easily (because they are the beauty that is cat), the ONLY way to get rid of them effectively is shooting them unfortunately. However the bastards that go around killing pet cats, they deserve more than disemboweling. And idiots who are too arrogant or stupid to sterilise their cats if they are not prize breeders. *grrs*
In a perfect world we would have stayed hunter gatherers and everything would still be in balance. Unfortunately we discovered agriculture and machinery and became r breeders when we're meant to be k breeders and just completley fucked the world up.
Many vital discoveries were made in the past, before animal welfare laws were more stringent and especially in Nazi Germany. Sure, the world is probably a better place now those things are no longer allowed, but I sometimes wonder what knowledge we are missing out on because of our desire to "higher" or "more moral" than animals. Animals don't have morals, that's the point. An animal will only do something if it benefits itself and the passing on of it's genes. If that benefits other animals then great! If it doesn't, oh well then, at least I am surviving.
[rant over]
My main problems lie with some of the laws (well ones in Australia anyway, dunno the laws anywhere else). You have to wade through miles of red tape just to get an animal into a classroom or lab to LOOK at, and even then you may not be approved. I mean sheesh, what is wrong with just looking and maybe touching a little?
At TAFE we wanted to get frogs in. We had lizards and fish and needed frogs to round out the unit but CALM (Conservation & Land Management) would not let us have one. Something about this nasty fungus going around and killing amphibians. I don't get that at all. We were going to take one or two frogs from the environment, care for them properly for a few weeks, then place them back. I don't see how that could worsen the fungal problem.
One thing that REALLY pisses me off is the stupid law that says things must be euthanised after being used for an experiment!! I mean WHAT!!?? You claim to be animal welfare and here you saying we must put down what could possibly be a perfectly healthy animal?? I don't understand that one little bit. If anything an animal should be used to it's full extent before it's death. Then no more animals than neccessary are used. It's pathetic.
And then there's vermin. Rats, mice, cane toads, rabbits, cats (feral ones, not pets) are all major pests. You should be able to catch them from the wild and use them. I felt no sympathy towards the cane toads I dissected last year (they had been pithed, brain dead but the nerves were still responsive - it was required for the experiment). I'm sure in their native environment they are as beautiful and well adapted as the next creature. But we need them OUT of Australia, and welfare is even anal about protecting them.
And ducks.
Bloody domestic ducks on the waterways, pushing native waterbirds out of their nesting sites.
People who give a shit about the wild animals take steps to remove the ducks, either by removing them and turning them into pets, or by killing them. And all the ignoramuses are like "Oh no you can't go killing all the ducks you heartless person!! What will we throw bread to??"
Well 1) there will still be PLENTY of ducks and other waterfowl, but it will be native and 2) you shouldn't be feeding them anyway. It takes away from their ability to look after themselves and uneaten bread in the water is a breeding ground for botulism that will kill your precious ducks anyway. (Admittedly, I do sometimes enjoy feeding waterbirds, but only on the dry land, never in the water, and when they stop eating it I stop giving it to them).
I used to feel a bit like this over cats. I'd hear about people shooting feral cats and I was like "I'll look after them!" But now I'm a tad more educated. A cat becomes wild two generations down the track and cannot be a pet, it will rip your arm off. They are a plague to native species, they can't be poisoned or trapped easily (because they are the beauty that is cat), the ONLY way to get rid of them effectively is shooting them unfortunately. However the bastards that go around killing pet cats, they deserve more than disemboweling. And idiots who are too arrogant or stupid to sterilise their cats if they are not prize breeders. *grrs*
In a perfect world we would have stayed hunter gatherers and everything would still be in balance. Unfortunately we discovered agriculture and machinery and became r breeders when we're meant to be k breeders and just completley fucked the world up.
Many vital discoveries were made in the past, before animal welfare laws were more stringent and especially in Nazi Germany. Sure, the world is probably a better place now those things are no longer allowed, but I sometimes wonder what knowledge we are missing out on because of our desire to "higher" or "more moral" than animals. Animals don't have morals, that's the point. An animal will only do something if it benefits itself and the passing on of it's genes. If that benefits other animals then great! If it doesn't, oh well then, at least I am surviving.
[rant over]
