Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Unbelievable...

Hi folks...it's turning out to be an unbelievable week...the British weather never fails to amaze me...on this little island of ours it's weird how varied it can be from one end of the country to the other...my heart goes out to all those affected by the relentless rain and horrendous flooding in the south whilst here in the far north we've had the rare treat of dry Spring like sunny blue sky weather and it's even harder to believe considering that not too far away as the crow flies...the Cairngorm ski-centre has 7 metres of snow...
I know in the past I've had one or two rants about life's little annoyances and I know this blog is really all about crafty things but on this occasion I'm making no apologies for the need to let off steam at this outrage...yet another case of man's inhumanity against a poor defenceless animal...I can't begin to describe how incensed and upset I am at the unbelievably sad story of Marius...the young "surplus to requirements" giraffe fed his favourite breakfast by his keeper on Sunday morning and then shot with a bolt gun...not by humane lethal injection because that would have contaminated the carcass...
then his body was "autopsied -skinned and dissected"  in the presence of visitors to the zoo including young children...ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE...before the carcass was thrown to the lions. Copenhagen Zoo chose to ignore the 20,000 signature petition...pleas from animal rights groups and offers from zoos across the world to give him a home...apparently he wasn't genetically valuable...well excuse me but am I missing something here...with all their scientific knowledge why then did they allow the conception to go ahead in the first place...perish the thought that it was because while young and cute Marius probably attracted lots of visitors to the zoo. If the Danish Government has any morals or human decency they will close this establishment down...I for one would not be sorry to see the Director and all his staff looking for new jobs...in my book there is NEVER EVER any excuse for putting a young healthy animal down. There are lots of issues here that need addressing and I'm left wondering...

What justification is there for having zoos in the first place...what gives us the right to keep animals in captivity living a totally unnatural life...forget all that tosh about ensuring the survival of endangered species...zoo animals would not survive if released into the wild so their fancy ethical breeding programme means absolutely nothing in the scheme of things and you have to ask...are these animals incarcerated merely for profit or to satisfy the gene pool fantasies of scientists. Resources would be far better utilised helping the dedicated individuals who are devoting their lives in protected areas across Africa to ensure the survival of these beautiful and unique animals.

and even more worrying...why would anyone consider the butchering of an animal acceptable Sunday afternoon entertainment and to let young children witness such a monstrous spectacle beggars belief...(according to Copenhagen Zoo...it was educational...the whole life and death thing) REALLY...what planet are these people on...nightmares and traumatised for life is probably a more realistic scenario

This is not Ethical Breeding in any shape or form...it's Controlled Breeding where only the perfect are allowed to survive...is this the message we want to pass on to future generations...I don't think so...scarily reminiscent of a certain meglomaniac away back in the 1930's who was determined to cleanse the world of imperfection causing the Second World War and the loss of millions of lives...when will we ever learn that when man interferes with nature...bad things happen and we all have to live with the consequences.
I'll leave you with a thought provoking excerpt from Brian May's Soapbox...guitarist with Queen and passionate campaigner for animal rights...

“If we’re serious about science, we can’t be led by emotion.” - says Bengt Holst … of the Copenhagen Zoo.
This is a common, but, I believe, mistaken view given by scientists. They fail to understand the difference between 'emotion' and morality - or common decency. I am a scientist. I do not subscribe to the view that science absolves us from behaving humanely. How interesting that Copenhagen was the scene of a similar ethical dilemma when Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg realised that their scientific knowledge could give their leaders - in the Atom Bomb - the power to wipe out hundreds of thousands of lives. Being a human being is more important, in my view, than being a scientist.

Amen to that Brian...I've been so upset over this and when something's bugging me I just need to share...so thanks for listening...hopefully I'll be back on track with the crafty stuff for tomorrow.
Hugs Kath xxx