Do you care at all?

By Dr David WEST 

This article is being written around two weeks after the one that appeared in MT (8 July 11), by Dr RN Gopee concerning the sad, but inevitable death of his beloved dog, “Foxy”, who was luckily a very old, and well cared for, beast of 18 years. A close neighbour’s dog, “Patsy”, of similar age, apparently came into their house one evening to “bid farewell to his owners”, and promptly disappeared for good.

In my lifetime of over 70 years, I have had so very many dogs and cats, most of which have now either died, or been killed, or had to be “put down” for various medical reasons, that I very much share his sorrow. But, sorrow, as such, is no excuse whatsoever. My personal job in life is ONLY looking after animals in the best way I can. Nothing else counts at all for me. Only MY personal ACTION counts. Sorrow as such, alone, is valueless. So, if you lose a pet – find another, fast. Currently I have 18 cats and 7 dogs! All live in very large garden cages, but with access to the house, as needed. Clearly, the dogs do not co-habit with the mogs!

I also wrote, some two weeks ago that, when after returning home from shopping, I found, right in front of my car, writhing in the middle of the road, a young cat about three months old, in the early throes of death. I picked up the poor beast, put it on the passenger seat – only to find it expired a few moments later. It had no doubt suffered a severe cranial injury, and had not been offered even a small godamn of help by the driver who hit it. Had I met that driver…

This provoked a most violent article from me, destined for MT – which I find to be the only single Journal in this goddamned country that is at least somewhat objective and not violently politicized. If MT is clearly Hindu, then so am I.

That article was so violently worded, and decorated by extreme Anglo-Saxon expletives in relation to Mauritians, that I felt obliged to request MT to drop it entirely. That was done; hence the present sequel.

I had planned to add more to this article, which would have mainly been about the treatment I would like to see meted out to those who abuse animals so cruelly, but I guess the reader will have got my drift by now. I am most strongly against methods of slaughter used on conscious animals. I am told that, at least in Germany, pigs to be slaughtered are caused to walk up a long carbon dioxide-filled tunnel, before their throats are cut open under the resulting anaesthesia. I would not extend such courtesy to those who, in effect, torture animals here, but would otherwise use similar methods! 


* Published in print edition on 5 August 2011

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