01/28/01
Oh No - Tally Ho!
My news-junkie style of reading the daily papers confuses my wife:
I pore over one, scan another, and often another, pausing only
at headlines I’ve failed to utterly consume.
One article recently stopped me dead: I must have missed it in
print, on TV and on the Web.
The British House of Commons appears ready to ban that most British
of all “sports”—the foxhunt. Think of it: there’ll always be an
England, but it may not have hunters in red riding to the hounds.
Will the world survive? Probably.
But there’s been quite a dust-up recently over animals, their
rights, our responsibilities and how we both fit into Creation.
Religion is hardly on the fringes of this fringe effort: PETA—People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals—has managed to catch the
attention of some Christians with their goofy claim that Jesus
was a vegetarian and we who would follow him should, by extension,
also be vegetarians.
Then, a few weeks ago, there was a piece in the Vatican newspaper
which called for a “more just” relationship between humans and
animals. That didn’t just mean a longer grace over your steak.
Neither did it mean sitting the cow next to you at the table while
you both munch on sprouts.
Rather, the author of the piece, a long-time official of Cardinal
Ratzinger’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was calling
for humane treatment of animals that humankind uses as a raw material
for food, medical experimentation, clothing. Unnecessary suffering
should be avoided as should such aggressive acts as bull-fighting
and, we can assume, fox hunting.
In that latter “sport,” popular in England for 400 years, riders
and dogs chase the hapless critter until it’s exhausted. Then
the dogs pounce upon the fox and tear it to shreds. Sporting,
wot?
Anti-hunting and animal rights supporters, however, have too often
turned to violence themselves to make their point. Anti-fur forces
throw red paint at fur fashion shows. There have been bombings.
All that’s also clearly wrong.
Remember, also, the Law of Unintended Consequences: banning fox
hunting could force destruction of thousands of hunting dogs who
could not be kept as pets. Jobs, too, opponents point out, would
be lost.
The solution: time, and a growing understanding that “having dominion
over the animals” does not mean wantonly abusing that right.
—Tom Sheridan,
Editor and General Manager
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