This didn’t start out to be the
"Opposition-to-Animal-Rights" issue of the BU, but it seems to
have ended up that way, thanks to a recent stir on the boxer e-mail
lists caused by an anti-cropping bill sponsored in the California
Assembly by the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights (AVAR),
and supported by PETA and HSUS, among other radical AR organizations.
Despite that the issue of cropping resides in a very gray area, and
the general non-show public appears to be widely opposed to our desire
to continue the practice, I still believe that we dog fanciers must band
together to fight the AR people with everything we’ve got, on ANY
issue that affects pet ownership. Because IMO, these never-ending
battles are not about cropping, docking, breed-specific legislation, or
pet overpopulation. This war is over whether or not we own our
dogs – whether our dogs and cats and
gerbils are our property…or our peers. And the AR activists have
taken on the dog fancy, not because dog breeders as a group are more
"cruel" than the meat and poultry industries...but
because we're an easier target!!
Think about it: almost everybody owns and loves a pet and can be
convinced with a few photos of freshly cropped puppies that the cropping
aspect of animal ownership is inhumane. Almost everybody can be
convinced with a few photos of sad-faced puppies and kittens peering out
between the bars of their cage in the local animal control facility that
purebred dog and cat breeders are denying those wretched
creatures a loving, permanent home.
Most people eat meat, too, but almost nobody wants to think about how
their Big Mac got into that little styrofoam box at MacDonald's. Or
what went into their Bacon-Doublecheeseburger.
In other words, those in the dog fancy who don't fight the AR
Agenda on this occasion because they don't disagree with (or are
ambivalent about) a cropping ban, will be tied in local and
national legislative knots by the time the AR folks get around
to taking on an animal ownership issue that they DO
strongly oppose!
I feel so strongly about this issue, that I'm going to close with a
(rough) quote from WW II that I think is applicable here:
"When they came for the Trade Unionists, I didn't protest;
when they came for the Jews, I didn't protest; when they came for the
Gypsies, I didn't protest; when they came for me, there was no-one
left to protest."
Outrageous hyperbole when we’re talking about dogs? Maybe. But
remember that Ingrid Newkirk, the president of PETA, once likened the
deaths of millions of broiler chickens in slaughter houses to the
Holocaust (see "The Big Picture"
in this issue)! The AR zealots routinely think in those terms, and so
far, they've had a great deal of success across the Atlantic
on animal issues that go WAY beyond cropping and docking.
Another Letter to California
Assembly.
