Animal pokeys – Andrew Azzopardi

A week or so ago I ‘dared’ share my thoughts on animal welfare on my Facebook Page - and I was bludgeoned - “Surprise, surprise!”

Notwithstanding the abuse and the bullying (because people in this country are never happy to hear a different opinion from their own), I will keep speaking my mind. You know how it is, I have ‘ għandi xi ngħid’ printed all over my face and that won’t change anytime soon!

The bullying in this country is blight and it comes from all directions. We just cannot agree to disagree. Not only that, people take criticism personally or turn it personal.

For example, in my post on animal welfare and my take on private zoos, there must have been over 400 comments that attacked and insulted me. But then again, once you go public with your views it’s something we need to take on the chin – it’s how this country is cast.

Aside, my take is unswerving. Zoos and aquariums shouldn’t exist unless it is proven and confirmed that they are temporarily hosting rescued creatures needing treatment after which they are transitioned back to the place they belong to. Furthermore, we should not allow exotic animals to be bred in captivity. Intergenerational bonds are broken the moment they are traded. Apart from that, their instincts should not be interfered with. Nothing in this world can justify that a leopard, a lion, a tiger, a shark are to be retained as pets, not even if their enclosure is sizeable (which it often isn’t) or if the zoo keeper subscribes to the benchmarks stipulated by law. That is nowhere near virtuous.

The same fact that they are in a palisade is undignified. Zoological parks are a cash cow, generating money for their owners. Animals should not simply be a commodity to satiate our egos and pseudo-entrepreneurship. I hope that we come to terms with the fact that this is off beam and that they should be fazed-out and transitioned back to their habitats. Then we have the poignant argument thrown about that zoos serve therapeutically. Bollocks. Who says that simply patting an animal is enough? Animal assisted therapy is much more than that. It shouldn’t be left to simplistic arguments whereby people who manage these animal pokeys decide what the therapeutic needs of children with disability and drug addicts are. Petting in zoos have also been linked to so many diseases namely; E. coli, cryptosporidiosis, salmonellosis, psittacosis and Q fever to name just a few. Thankfully, the consultation document that has just been launched seems to be recommending the removal of this practice.

Animals also experience tediousness and anxiety due to confinement. There is evidence that shows that animals in captivity risk being scarred psychologically and even physically.

The Government should be more daring.

The Commissioner for Animal Welfare needs to have some teeth, stronger legislation and better leadership. Having commissions that simply sit pretty is getting on my nerves. These Commissions should set out away from the system and not become part of it. They should have the autonomy, the standing, the personality and the leadership to serve as mechanisms for change. The Commission needs to take in cognizance the welfare of animals and not sit quietly in a corner as the magnates spin the wheel of fortune, breed cats and other exotic animals, get rich and spend the rest of the day hounding people on Facebook!

So just to sum up;

I’m against animal cruelty.

I am against the fact that animals designed to live in the wild are now placed in cages or enclosures that are definitely not second nature. Whatever custodians say, at the end of the day they are not in their natural habitat and need to be sent back to the wild through a government funded re-integration programme.

Catching fish should be done in a concerned way and only if it serves as nutrition.

I really cannot understand hunting as a sport and hobby. Maybe we are forgetting that we are in the 21st Century and there is something called decorousness. Splattering blood, feathers and flesh and referring to it as a sport is difficult for me to fathom.

I cannot see the amusement here. Hunting as a means of food supply I suppose is acceptable. Food is one thing but sport crossbred with the delicacy of blasting animals out of thin air, that I have a problem with. Much as I would like to see me morph into a vegan I still cannot get away from that predisposition.

Breeding animals for food is another issue that is dubious. For example, the way cows are placed in farms and the way chickens and rabbits are farmed is, needless to say, an act of savagery. I feel blamable because I have not managed to detoxify myself from this scavenging.

I am against politicians that shift goal posts and because they are threatened by the zoo-lobby, back pedal.

Having a public consultation take off (notwithstanding the dubious reasons why it was interrupted) is a step in the right direction. This will see a potential overhaul from the 2003 regulations. Notwithstanding, the proverbial ‘better late than never’ and ‘too little too late’ seem to apply equally. We are in time to steer the ship – it is now up to us to rise above our personal needs and respect the common good.