Animal cruelty

This morning, I came across the following story of animal cruelty: forty horses and seven donkeys were found starving and freezing in a field not far from Cork.  In the field three carcasses were also found by the animal rescue people; those horses had been let to die.  Here is a link to an article on this story and here are some photos the rescue put up on its Facebook page.

Stories about abandoned animals pop up every day and a few people work on rescuing them and giving them a better life.  People buy animals because they are cute, but don’t take responsibility for them and, once it’s time to go on holidays, will just let them on the side of the road.  These are living beings and I see this as atrocious as killing people: the suffering of human and animal beings is too often afflicted by other human beings.  We are all residents of the planet Earth and we should respect what it gives to us, starting by other lives.

I am in touch with my local rescues, but I feel so powerless.  What can I do?  I already have four cats (three of them are rescued cats) and I can’t afford to spare more money to donate to those charities.  As always, I try to do what little is in my power and that consists mainly of spreading the word.

I find that in Ireland, attitude to animals is still quite backward.  There are still many farming communities who will see cats as useful to kill mice, but won’t hesitate to shoot a few if there are too many of them hanging around.  Laws of nature?  I do not think so.  I find it cruel to see all those cats reproducing and then suffering or being killed.

I know there are more important problems in the world.  However, I think that many of them stem for the same thing: something is wrong in human nature.

What about the bees?  This is another story I heard of this morning.  I do not know if you are aware of this, but bees are essential to our eco-system.  However, governments keep allowing the release pesticides that kill them.  What are we doing to our planet?  Seriously, can’t people realise that we are destroying it?  What are we going to leave to our children (although I don’t have any – there are enough people on this planet and not enough resources)?  Thus, today, I signed a petition in order to revoke the French decision of authorising the release of one of those pesticides.  If you feel concerned by this or other global issues, I would recommend that you have a look at the Avaaz website. 

And, as I am at it, I would like to remind you that the 26th of March is the day the Earth Hour will take place.  Time to think about what you can do to make a change and time to act!  Take the pledge!  In order to make the hour a bit longer this year, I will run a feature on this blog in the month preceding the event.  Everyday, I will write a post (there might even be a few guest posts) about tips and thoughts about the environment.  It is all about becoming aware and then acting.

Sorry for the long rant, but I can’t always keep quiet.

If any Irish readers come across this post, I list here a few animal rescues who do a great job: Cork Animal Care Society, Glansillagh Animal Rescue (Cork), Cottage Rescue (Tipperary), DAWG (Cork), The Donkey Sanctuary (Cork), the ISPCA, Galway Cat Rescue, Cork Cat Action Trust.