Harassed because they care
I REFER to the letter “Name and shame abusers in public” (The Star, Oct 5).
I wholeheartedly support the proposal that animal abusers should be shamed in social media and all other media possible.
The writer’s story is terribly tragic but it’s nothing new, however. This uncaring attitude towards animals is ongoing.
In my experience, any effort to care for strays is condemned and would attract negative comments and even harassment. It is ironic that in doing good, we are routinely stalked! And this is the most basic of charitable works – caring for God’s creatures.
Every religion, at its core, teaches its followers that we are stewards of God’s creation. But these animal abusers would say they are “very good people” and brand us as the “wicked, evil ones who are doomed for damnation!”
I too have neighbours (coincidentally, one of them is a teacher at a national school) who started to stalk, harass and threaten my family when we began feeding a family of stray cats that were abandoned by another family who had moved away. They never complained when the cats belonged to someone.
They fixed sensor lights on their porch to show us they were watching our every move (our CCTV camera captured them peeping into our compound at least 17 times in under one hour on two occasions), took pictures of us doing our daily chores in our garden, threw sticks at the cats taking refuge under our cars (damaging the cars), threw firecrackers at the cats and kittens, played drums at 3am and almost beat up one of my family members after an attempt at peaceful negotiations turned violent.
The teacher and her mother said they could do anything they wanted to us as long as whatever we did displeased them.
The harassment became even worse after they colluded with other animal abusers in the neighbourhood. The irony is we have lived here for 30 years while this family moved in just a few years ago. One bad apple has destroyed the neighbourhood, and their harassment has been ongoing for almost four years now.
The writer asks how anyone could be so cruel and ponders if it is the food they consume, the education system or the shows they watch. In my opinion, these animal abusers genuinely believe they are good people.
Their sick and twisted mentality is given a further boost by the public’s collusion with them, putting animal rights activists or just kind and compassionate animal lovers in the minority.
I have seen kittens being flung across the road for cars to smash into, cats that were poisoned dying in front of my house, and water being thrown on these helpless animals when it’s raining. All of this is happening because the animal abusers complained about the presence of strays in the neighbourhood. Fact is, the strays have always been around and no one ever bothered with them before.
Animal abusers rarely stop at just abusing and torturing animals. When there is no more fun in killing defenceless strays, they might escalate to bigger, more challenging things. And after dealing with my neighbours for the past four years, this has certainly proven to be true.
From hurting the animals, they turned next to humans. Even with the law on our side (with the Animal Welfare Act 2015 in force), they continue with their brazen acts because they do not think they are wrong.
Multiple police reports have been lodged but there is little change. We installed the CCTV system but the harassment continues.
The writer asks if there is any way she/ he could report such cruel abusers while still maintaining her/ his safety. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to call out on animal abusers while society still protects them.
The writer’s friend could have shared her story in animal rights forums and lodged a report with animal rescue groups that could have rescued the dogs even though there is no guarantee that the neighbour would not go out and purchase another one.
It is very disturbing that these so-called righteous folks, who are grandparents, parents and educators, are animal abusers. But evil does not discriminate between age, race or creed.
How would these “people” ever raise their children or grandchildren to be kind? After all, kindness starts with the smallest things, and this attitude has to be nurtured from young.
In my case, the teacher (and her parents) taught her children to hurt the cats and kittens by throwing firecrackers at them. They laughed in glee whenever the firecrackers landed on a cat/ kitten.
The writer spoke of a baby in her friend’s story; how would the teacher/ abuser bring up her child?
Clearly, there is an urgent need to address these issues. We must step up efforts to inculcate kindness towards animals. Perhaps schools could do their bit by inviting animal welfare groups to conduct talks, seminars, workshops, and even host an Animal Welfare Day.
If we do not teach children to be kind, what is to become of our society in future?
A public register of repeat animal abusers could also be drawn up and those who are in it should be barred from ever owning another pet.
There should be a live feed in the media to name and shame abusers. On a bigger scale, this would affect their jobs and even their reputation. I cannot imagine anyone wanting to hire someone with such a record.
But the final and most powerful factor is the public’s voice – it is time we stood against cruelty and injustice towards innocent creatures. There must be total intolerance towards cruelty to animals. It must be shown to all that the Animal Welfare Act is not a farce nor a fly-by-night piece of legislation. It is here to stay and it certainly has bite.