I’d like to make it entirely clear. I am against cruelty to animals. And the annual slaughter of dolphins at Taiji cove in Japan is repugnant. It should stop. Along with other barbaric activities like those than are integral to fur farming – cruelty for profit – and fox hunting – cruelty for fun, which seems particularly abhorrent. And while in principle I’m not against all farming of animals, I’d want it to always be done in an ethical and humane manner – which of course is so often not the case.
And I’m certainly unhappy about capturing and keeping dolphins in restricted spaces, training them to do tricks to entertain the public and would like them to live instead unhindered in the oceans. But while I have a basic sympathy with these protesters and their protest I also have some reservations.
I do sometimes feel that the issues about human rights and their abuse are event more important, and wish that all these people would also be as enthusiastic about them, coming out on the streets to protest. Of course some do (and I recognised a few from other events), but I think they are relatively few. And it worries me.
We are – at least in some respects – a nation of animal lovers. A society where animal welfare charities get massive support, both in donations and in the adulation of the media, who at the same time are demonising human beings who need support as scroungers.
It’s a strange world in which we humanise animals to make them into appealing stories for children – most of whom will never actually meet these or other real animals. Real bears don’t eat marmalade sandwiches and nature is often red in tooth and claw. And if dolphins aren’t cuddly it is perhaps a strange paradox that it is largely through their performances in dolphinariums around the world that they have acquired the kind of public image which is now exploited in the imagery of the protesters who are so desperate to save them.
Yesterday while waiting for my train I watched a rat scurrying around on a patch of waste ground. From a distance it looked quite cuddly, but this was vermin. Most people would happily shoot or poison it. The squirrels in our garden are more appealing, with their acrobatic skills and fluffy tails, but until 1957 you could get a bounty (begun as 6d, it had risen by then to a florin or perhaps half a crown) for taking their tails to a police station – it was only abandoned when it was decided poisoning was more effective than shooting. There are still plans for a huge cull, seen as the only way to save our native red squirrels, and opposed by animal charities. I’m not sure where I stand on that one, but given the way the pigeons eat the crops in our garden I might well favour a cull of them.
More pictures at Carnival March to End Taiji Dolphin Massacre
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My London Diary : Buildings of London : River Lea/Lee Valley : London’s Industrial Heritage
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