Justice for Cody - Further thoughts on animal welfare

Animal welfare is something that I truly believe that we need to take seriously in our society and the infliction of cruelty towards animals remains a major injustice and is one in which we are obligated to tackle. We have all been touched by the atrocity of what happened to Cody. It was a senseless and despicable act of violence inflicted on a defenceless family loved pet. In the context of the reaction to this abhorrent crime, I believe however we all need to think a bit deeper about how the same lack of empathy, which allowed people to inflict this cruelty on Cody, is also missing from those who inflict cruelty on other people. In addition, I believe we all need to consider much more broadly how we treat animals in our society.

As Jonathan Safran Foer outlines, "cruelty is not only the wilful causing of suffering but indifference to it." He adds, "cruelty is dependent on having an understanding of cruelty and the ability to chose against it or chose to ignore it." The reality as we all know it is that our society is responsible for grievous inflictions of cruelty towards animals for pleasure in blood sports, through testing of cosmetics on animals and through our enslavement of animals in circuses and sea parks. 

As Foer further highlights our economy has been designed in a way where animals in the factory farming process are treated as simply another factor in the profit maximisation business model, which calculates how quickly they can be made to grow, how tightly they can be packed, how much or little they can eat, how sick they can get, and ultimately how close to death it can keep animals without killing them. It is not an exaggeration to say that the factory farming process pushes many animals well beyond their biological limits.  I for one don't blame farmers for the existence of this system. As the proportion of our income spent on food has fallen over the years the farmers have had no choice but to produce food at a reduced production cost. 

Within the natural environment it is also important to acknowledge that largely due to the demands that we place on our planet to fuel our endlessly growing economy, 200 species of plant and animal life go extinct every day. I'm sure I wouldn't be alone in considering this not only in the category of cruelty inflicted on the natural world but as a moral tragedy on an epic scale.

It is important to point out that I do not wish to be perceived as judging anyone or indeed ignoring the reality that I am not also implicated in acts of cruelty towards animals in my being part of the system. What I would like to do, however, is simply ask that we all consider whether cruelty, which is sequestered and hidden from our view and consideration is any more acceptable than the cruelty visible before our eyes. Surely it is only right that we ask ourselves what level of cruelty against animals is justifiable and on what basis do we justify it? Some say we should base our decisions on the level of intelligence. Yet, dog lovers out there know their animals have a sense of intelligence and experience emotions in uncannily similar way to us. And scientists know that such intelligence is not unique to dogs. The intelligence of other animals is well documented. Dr. Stanley Curtis for example has highlighted the increadible cognative abilities of pigs by training them to play video games with their snouts. And as Foer details scientists have even discovered intelligence in fish which enables them to "build complex nests, form monogamous relationships, hunt cooperatively with other species, use tools, recognise each other as individuals (and keep track of who is to be trusted and who not), make decisions individually, monitor social prestige and vie for better positions. They even use machivellian strategies of punishment, manipulation and reconcillation, have long term memories and are skilled at passing knowledge to one another through social networks." I agree with Foer when he says if intelligence is our justification for overlooking maltreatment of animals I believe that we need to ask whether our reasoning really stands up to scrutiny.

My second concern is how our treatment of animals is reflective of our broader treatment of each other. For is it not exactly the same lack of empathy which enables those who inflict senseless cruelty towards animals which also enables people to inflict cruelty towards the elderly or children or people from different races and religions. While everyone rightly demanded justice against the perpetrators of the horrible crime against Cody it is also important that we remember the many people in our society who have been victims of violent crime and who have suffered result as a consequence of the cruelty of other people. This link between cruelty towards animals and the infliction of cruelty on vulnerable people is widely acknowledged. As the philosopher Immanuel Kant stated, “We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals. He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men.” We must recognise that animals belong to the most vulnerable of all the downtrodden in our society and animal rights represents the purest form of social justice. Tackling this injustice and understanding the causes of animal cruelty will enable us to better understand and reduce cruelty in our society overall.

As individuals I believe that we can make a difference to this world. We not only vote come election time but each and every time we purchase a product and all of us have the ability to set examples and influence the behavior of our friends and family. It is also important that our elected representatives take action to reduce the cruelty prevalent in the system. As Jonathan Safran Foer states, “It shouldn't be the consumer's responsibility to figure out what's cruel and what's kind, what's environmentally destructive and what's sustainable. Cruel and destructive food products should be illegal. We don't need the option of buying children's toys made with lead paint, or aerosols with chlorofluorocarbons, or medicines with unlabeled side effects. And we don't need the option of buying factory-farmed animals.”

In addition to our work at the Assembly against Animal cruelty the Green Party in the European parliament has been active in bringing in legislation and campaigning on a wide range of animal rights issues including:

• Ensuring that the regulation on the treatment of animals in live exports is strengthened and enforced with the objective of banning live exports.
• Brining in a ban on the cruel and unnecessary practice of animal testing of cosmetics.
• Supporting events to highlight the horrific reality of the foie gras industry.
• Pushing to ensure that the EU ban on confining pregnant pigs to sow stalls for their entire pregnancy is enacted.
• Calling for radically reform the Common Fisheries Policy to tackle the by-catch of birds, dolphins and porpoises.
• And Ending the imports of wild birds for the pet trade.

The ability of politicians who believe in pushing for animal welfare depends on your support and I would encourage you to take animal rights into consideration the next time you make your choice at the ballot box.

I hope that we can all find it in our hearts to open our eyes to injustices that exist in this world. Let’s employ the gift of humanities unique sense of reason and consider if what we are doing is right and ask ourselves how we can all change to make the world a better place.