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World Animal Day, a worldwide celebration of
animals...
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... but which animals?
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World Animal Day, October 4, falls on the feast day
of Francis of Assisi, the great 13th century Italian
saint. He was an animal lover and his teachings emphasised
respect and compassion for all creatures. Because of his
great love for "our humble brethren", Saint Francis of Assisi
was chosen as the patron of animals and his feast day as
the most appropriate date on which to celebrate World Animal
Day.
Around October 4 each year, vegetarian societies, humane
societies and societies for the protection and welfare of
animals organize activities designed to promote consideration
for animals and improve our attitude towards non-human species.
But which species?
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But which animals? St Francis of Assisi wasn't picky.
It is said that he spoke with the birds, kept company
with sheep and he is particularly famous for making
friends with a ferocious wolf. His principle was simple
- respect for life, in all its forms.
"World Animal Day was started in 1931 at a convention
of ecologists in Florence as a way of highlighting
the plight of endangered species. Since then it
has grown to encompass all kinds of animal life
and has been widely celebrated in countries as diverse
as Australia and Malta, Singapore and Lithuania."
So says the UK-based official World Animal Day website,
www.worldanimalday.org.uk,
which offers an online diary of World Animal Day events
worldwide. Interestingly, this suggests the day was
originally focussed on endangered (ie wild) animals
- not companion animals. Even more curious is the
explicit reference to all kinds of animal life, since
an examination of the events described on the site
would seem to indicate that this is a misnomer.
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In Australia, World Animal Day is still largely seen as
a celebration of companion animals (pets). Sadly, such activities
allow us to do the easy bits - affirm our love of and concern
for the animals we already care for, without examining or
challenging our values or behaviour towards other animals.
Locally, the best-known event on World Animal Day is the
'Blessing of the Animals', a church service in which people
are invited to bring their pets and have them blessed. Elsewhere
in Australia, RSPCA Victoria marked
WAD 2005 with a "WAD Kids Celebration Day at the RSPCA
Education Centre" and a Gala Evening at the Park Hyatt.
(Did the "three-course meal with wine" include steak?) In
the NT, the RSPCA held a Family Fun Day, while in Brisbane
it organised a Blessing of the Animals. The Bendigo Animal
Shelter, in Victoria, held a 'Paws for a Cause' Family Celebration
Day with attractions including "cutest dog, cleverist dog,
etc. competitions; dog wash, weigh and worm; responsible
pet ownership information stand; Wildlife Rescue display;
sausage sizzle [!] and lots more. A great way for the whole
family to celebrate World Animal Day." (1)
In 2004, Australia Post brought out a "World Animal Day"
stamp featuring cute cats and dogs. Their website explained:
"The Cats & Dogs stamp issue was created specifically
with the Australian love of animals in mind. 'With the
highest level of pet ownership in the world, we are a
nation that loves our moggies and doggies,' [a spokesperson]
said." 2
The same web page stated: "World Animal Day, on October
4, was created to recognise the importance of pets in people's
lives." and that "The objectives of World Animal
Day are to highlight the enjoyable aspects of pet ownership,
while at the same time enable groups associated with animals
to promote responsible pet ownership." (3) Hmmm... funny,
but this doesn't seem to tally with our information!
It's a shame that most Australians are not as soft-hearted
concerning other animals (furry or otherwise) as they are
about "moggies and doggies". Why do we love and care for
some animals, and eat others? World Animal Day is a good
chance to stop and think about our speciesist attitudes
and the arbitrary way our society conveniently chooses to
classify some animals as pets, others as food, still others
as "wild" or "exotic", and so on.
Speciesism is a handy belief structure which allows us
to maintain the separation of animals into those which we
have learnt to know and love - and perhaps feel we "couldn't
live without", versus those for whom caring about them would
mean (shock! horror!) examining our own habits and giving
up something which we're accustomed to.
Unfortunately, this situation is not limited to Australia.
A quick glance at the list of events worldwide publicised
on World Animal Day website shows that the trend is reflected
much further afield. The Philippines Animal Welfare Society
organised two Animal Blessing services and a Mass for the
Animals. In Israel, Spay Israel organised a week-long 'Spay
Marathon', while spaying and neutering were also on the
agenda in Japan. The Lithuanian Zoo held a festival for
children for World Animal Day. In Hama, Syria, a "day for
handicapped children with animals" was organised. In the
Ukraine the day was marked by the opening of a new , heated,
cattery and puppery, while in Gulpen, Netherlands, there
was free swimming for dogs (and their humans) in the outdoor
pools at Mosaqua Sub-Tropical Swimming Paradise. Kathmandu,
Nepal, enjoyed "a huge WAD celebration in the form of 'Party
Animal'", including "a music concert, dance party, free
pet mobile clinic, a fashion Show for pets and their owners,
Mr & Mrs Mixed Breed (Nepali street dog!) show, events in
and around the zoo, stalls & Fun Zone, lucky draw, free
Kids Corner, and much more." (4)
All of these events may in themselves be laudable, even
important, but none of them address the single towering
issue of animal welfare: the food machine. As with the events
held in Australia, one wonders how many of the participants
went home to tuck into the animals on their plate, and even
whether the sandwiches served to school children at WAD
celebrations in Turkey and elsewhere contained ham or chicken.
Can animal welfare be isolated from vegetarianism?
The World Animal Day website's "Mission Statement" sets
out what they contend are the aims of World Animal Day,
although it's not clear on what authority they do so. The
stated aims are:
- "To celebrate animal life in all its forms
- To celebrate humankind's relationship with the animal
kingdom
- To acknowledge the diverse roles that animals play
in our lives - from providing food, through being our
companions, to supporting and helping us, to bringing
a sense of wonder into our lives
- To acknowledge and be thankful for the way in which
animals enrich our lives" (5)
These objectives would appear to be somewhat problematic,
and to contain some serious internal contradictions. Is
it possible to "acknowledge the diverse roles that animals
play in our lives - [including] providing food", yet at
the same time "celebrate animal life in all its forms" and
"be thankful for the way animals enrich our lives"? Perhaps
so - if "enrich our lives" is intended in the maliciously
simplistic sense of "enrich our gravy"!
The Mission Statement seems above all to want to perpetuate
the comfortable - comforting - myth that animals willingly
and happily "give up" their lives to feed humans - as if
they had a choice! It's a charming mental image - all those
happy, caring, selfless animals, and the wonder-filled humans
thankfully and humbly... tearing into their flesh!
As long as animals are seen as a food source, this will
inevitably result in widespread suffering, exploitation
and degradation of animals. It is simply not possible to
reconcile a concern for animal welfare and a respect for
animal lives with support for, or complicity in, their exploitation
for food.
Activities aimed at teaching and cultivating the values
of compassion and care for animals, or aimed at stamping
out cruel practices not related to food production, are
undeniably important. Yet while animals remain trapped at
the heart of the 'food machine', such activities can only
touch the tip of the iceberg, while suffering and degradation
on an unthinkable scale continue. Conversely, through the
widespread adoption of a plant-based diet which does not
rely on animal-derived foods, the majority of animal suffering
would automatically be wiped out.
It's just not enough to take your cat to the vet, or give
your dog a pat and a doggie treat, and then tuck into a
ham sandwich - or cry out about saving the whales, then
tuck into a tuna salad. If we are serious about compassion,
ethics and respect for life, we, as a society, must examine
our attitudes more deeply and become conscious of the contradictions
we are harbouring and the realities we're ignoring.
There is one foolproof and straightforward way to care
for animals: don't eat them! Every person who becomes vegetarian
spares the lives of thousands of animals.(6) In addition
- and perhaps even more importantly - every person who becomes
vegetarian refuses to be part of the consumer demand which
drives the machine of inordinate pain and suffering for
animals.
To be vegetarian is to refuse to condone the mistreatment
and exploitation of animals. The immense market forces which
drive the economy and turn animals into commodities seem
beyond our control. But at bottom, they are driven by consumer
demand. The demand for meat drives the breeding and killing
machine, sustains its distortions and manipulations, maintains
its economic viability. Going vegetarian is something that
each one of us can do. We CAN stop the machine, and each
person can contribute, immediately and positively. In the
words of philosopher Peter Singer:
"Becoming a vegetarian is not merely a symbolic gesture.
Nor is it an attempt to isolate oneself from the ugly
realities of the world, to keep oneself pure and so without
responsibility for the cruelty and carnage all around.
Becoming a vegetarian is a highly practical and effective
step one can take toward ending both the killing of nonhuman
animals and the infliction of suffering on them." (7)
World Animal Day - a chance for change
World Animal Day offers an opportunity to reflect on our
treatment of animals, the roles they have played in our
history as well as in our current lives, and the contradictions
inherent in our attitudes towards them.
Are animals born to serve human beings - to be exploited,
bred, killed, eaten, detained and treated in whatever way
suits our whim or convenience? The accepted moral standards
and the legislative provisions which underlie the protection
and care of - at least some - animals in our society clearly
indicate that as a community, we do not consider this to
be the case. Once we establish this, it's difficult not
to proceed to the argument that the same principle ought
to apply to all species. The concept of "animal welfare"
surely has its essence in a belief that animals are not
born to serve a human "purpose" (pet or food source) - they
have the right to exist in, of and for themselves.
World Animal Day would appear to be the perfect opportunity
to ask the world to stop and think about animals - ALL animals
- and what animal rights and animal welfare really mean.
In particular, it is difficult to see how animal welfare
or animal protection organisations - especially those who
claim explicitly to be concerned with the protection and
welfare of all creatures - can continue to justify a commemoration
of World Animal Day which is essentially a celebration of
household pets. Surely, of all the animals in the world,
they are least deprived of special attention and protection!
Unfortunately, perhaps, over the years a variety of other
"Days" have sprung up around World Animal Day. October 2nd,
Ghandi's birthday, has been proclaimed World Farm Animals
Day, whilst October 1 is recognised as World Vegetarian
Day, and more recently November 1 has become World Vegan
Day.
This plethora of events around the theme, and also the
date, of World Animal Day, seems likely to contribute more
negatively than positively to the struggle to improve the
fate of animals. Instead of focusing activist energy into
one occasion, it fragments it into many scattered events.
The chance to focus efforts to raise public consciousness
is perhaps dissipated in public confusion over the many
Days and dates.
Most importantly, perhaps, the various days segregate ideas
which belong together and which are less effective without
one another. World Farm Animal Day has become a focus of
radical activism, perhaps because its specification renders
inescapable the link between animals and food. However,
its separation from World Animal Day perpetuates the pernicious
perception that farm animals are in a "completely different
category", and are to be considered separately, while we
continue on World Animal Day to happily celebrate some animals,
while completely ignoring the fates of others.
Similarly, a shift of focus by vegetarian groups and activists
worldwide to World Animal Day, rather than a separate Vegetarian
Day, could lend more focus and bite to the promotion of
vegetarianism (World Vegetarian Day seems to have been a
blurry and ineffectual affair since its long-debated inception).
Moreover, it could increase the effectiveness of World Animal
Day, firstly by emphasising the link between animal welfare
and what we eat, and secondly by offering a highly practical
and effective aspect which could see World Animal Day transformed
from a warm and fuzzy, but totally ineffective occasion
- a frolic in the park for pet lovers - to a day on which
we seriously pursue the challenge of putting St Francis's
philosophy into practice.
There are, of course, animal welfare issues of grave importance
which don't relate to food. Fur production and animal testing
are examples of issues which sadly seem to receive even
less attention on World Animal Day than vegetarianism. (Could
it be because they, like animal-based food production, are
the basis of lucrative industries?)
Meanwhile, the fact remains that as long as the use of
animals for food continues on a mass scale, animal suffering
and animal death will continue to be perpetrated on a scale
impossible even to imagine. As long as we eat meat, animals
will suffer. As long as World Animal Day ignores vegetarianism
and perpetuates speciesist attitudes, it will continue to
be a lost opportunity to improve the lives of billions of
animals worldwide.
World Animal Day should and must be a day for shining light
on the animal foods industry, and a day for a worldwide
boycott of meat. It should and must be, by definition, World
Vegetarian Day - otherwise it can only be, at best, sad
and ineffective, and at worst, a nasty hypocrisy with the
potential to be seriously counterproductive. 
© Vegetarian Action October 2005
- www.worldanimalday.org.uk
- 'Events Diary', Australia & NZ (accessed 12/10/05)
- http://www.auspost.com.au/BCP/0,1080,CH4064%257EMO19,00.html
(accessed 24/6/05)
- ibid
- www.worldanimalday.org.uk
- 'Events Diary', Asia (accessed 12/10/05)
-
http://www.worldanimalday.org.uk/index.asp (Home page),
(accessed 12/10/05)
- Pope, Suzanne. Vegetarian Lifestyle, Adelaide:
Animal Liberation (SA), 1993, p.14.
- Singer, P. Animal Liberation, Second Edition,
London: Jonathan Cape, 1990, p. 168-9.
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