Down town in the Country Music Capital - puppies and music.

Today I braved the Christmas shoppers in Tamworth.  It wasn't too bad actually, except for the carpark.    People lose their minds in shopping centre carparks, walking behind vehicles which have poor vision at the back, leaving shopping trolleys to partially block car spaces which are already too small for anything other than a city sized vehicle.  And we're not in the city.  Every second vehicle is a large 4WD with a bull bar on the front making it even larger.

I noticed the newsagency had more horse magazines than I would usually expect to see.  Bunnings was packed with people but the lady selling the charity Christmas cakes was not very busy.  The junior staff at the supermarket were very friendly and didn't begrudge the presence of customers.  I bought a funky skirt for $16.

In the pet store I was pleased to see no animals for sale.  There were three puppies and one cat available for adoption.  They had been surrendered to the RSPCA.  After having a health check, temperament tests and vaccinations they are desexed and microchipped and put up for adoption.  There were two Kelpie-cross puppies from the same litter: one was an extrovert, barking happily at anyone who went by and the other was shy, just sitting and looking out.  We wondered what they had been crossed with because their ears were enormous - perhaps a beagle or some kind of spaniel.  Next door was a Jack Russell pup (called Antonio) who was resting when I saw him.  Each animal has a written history and description of what their temperament is like and what kind of lifestyle they would fit with.  

I spoke with one of the staff in the store and she told me that they also do checks on potential new owners.  She has regularly refused adoption and she told me she is often abused by some breeders who are unhappy with the RSPCA.  I was very pleased to know that this responsible approach is taken to . animals and ownership and that this particular store will have nothing to do with puppy factories.

The staff member also told me that twenty-five dogs had been surrendered in the last week.  It's a timely reminder that pet ownership should be a conscious decision and shouldn't be taken lightly.  Animals are not a commodity or a product.  They are living creatures with feelings and should not be thought of as disposable.  

I didn't ask what happens to the animals which aren't adopted, but I'm sure we all know.

Want a share a bench with Smokey Dawson?
(c) divacultura 2012

At the other end of town, I came across this wonderful sculpture of country music legend Smokey Dawson.  I really like the character of the piece.  Seeing it left me in no doubt that I was in the country music capital!

If this is how Smokey looked in real life, I reckon he would have been a great storyteller.
Look at the life in his face and eyes!
(c) divacultura 2012

The killing of the horses

Last night I cried my eyes out.  There was a story on the ABC's 7:30 about the fate of "failed" race horses in Australia.  (The link takes you to the story - be warned it contains graphic footage of horse slaughter.)

Just moments after the end of the Spring Racing Carnival, thoroughbred racehorses who are deemed not suited to life as a racehorse are sold and often end up at the knackery.  This is euphemistically called "wastage".

Animals Australia has detailed information about what goes on in the Australian horse racing industry on their website.  They say about 15,000 thoroughbred foals are bred each year and about the same number of standard bred foals.

As I started to write this post this morning, I took a call from my brother who is a veterinarian specialising in equine care.  He hadn't seen the report so I told him about it.  As I was describing what I had seen, I was again overwhelmed with sadness.  There's something about horses with their liquid chocolate eyes that gets to me.

He himself has rescued some horses from the doggers, but says that not all the horses can easily be rescued as they are not easily managed and retrained.  He's worked in the US where they have a "no slaughter rule" which has led to other problems.

He talked me about a man he knows who owns a horse abattoir.  He buys horses and sorts through the ones that can be retrained.  As last night's report explains some of the horses are not right in the head and nothing can really be done with them.  The consensus seems to be it is better for everyone if these horses are euthanased.  Even with all this "wastage" the horse abattoir can not keep up with demand for the horse meat, largely for the pet food industry.

Then I started to think about the fact that many animal lovers own pets like dogs and cats.  They require meat in their diets and commercial pet foods contain horse meat - probably made from these failed racehorses.  There is a demand for these products too.  There are other options for pet food, but given how difficult it is to convince people not to buy animal products that are factory farmed, to eat themselves, I have little faith about the possibility of quelling demand for manufactured pet foods.  Even without the demand for pet food, I doubt the slaughter of horses would stop.

So many of these kinds of issues have twists and turns which makes it difficult to take an ideologically pure position.  At the very least, I think it's important that we all understand more about the welfare of the animals we use in pursuits like horse racing.  I don't understand why the killing - if it has to happen at all - is so heartless.  Last night's footage showed two horses in a blood soaked killing pen.  The first horse was shot in the head while the other horse looked on.  When the shot horse fell to the ground, smashing its head against the rails of the pen, the other horse backed away in what looked like fear.

I will acknowledge that I am aroused to tears when confronting scenes of animal suffering.  The horse racing scene in Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" is one of my favourite passages in literature.  He brings the race to life in such an exciting and realistic way.  And then the horse that Vronsky is riding falls and has to be put down.  She is shot on the race track.  I cried reading this passage (even as I write this, I have tears in my eyes.)

Maybe I'm just a sook, but I feel that surely we can do better than this.  Surely this is a poor reflection on us as human beings.  It seems like such a waste.

Boats and cows - where do you stand on the asylum seeker question?

Why do people express more anger about the mistreatment of cattle in Indonesian abattoirs than they do about the plight of people seeking asylum?

This question was posed by Jon Faine on local ABC radio this morning as decent, moral and practical policies to address the issue of people seeking asylum arriving by boat continue to elude the country's leaders.

Many callers protested that they were outraged.  The point was made that the level of outrage expressed by the community to political representatives when Four Corners aired secretly filmed footage of cattle being cruelly mistreated in Indonesian abattoirs was so overwhelming that Government immediately suspended live cattle exports to Indonesia.

Whatever you think about that decision and its execution, it's interesting to see how quickly things can move if there is a will.  There's a direct link between political will and public opinion.

In the wake of over a hundred people drowning at sea as they made their way to Australia to seek refuge from horrors at home, the leaders' rhetoric is still framed around blame for the deaths.   A few politicians of all colours have expressed frustration at this situation and are pressing for a swift response.  There's lots of nodding when they say this.  Sometimes words like "we're prepared to negotiate" are said.  We saw it on Q & A last night from Senator George Brandis.  He repeatedly expressed an interest in negotiating but then reverted to standard Liberal Party dogma along the lines of "our policy is better than yours - send them to Nauru.  It worked for John Howard.".  Genuine willingness to negotiate was not evident.

Labor, represented on Q & A last night by Senator Kate Lundy, also marked clear parameters for the negotiations: "we'll negotiate as long as our framework remains in place".  It was so vague I can't remember what that framework is, but it doesn't sound like serious, open-minded, interest-based negotiation.

This is a win-lose battle.  Sadly, the real losers are people whose situation in their home countries is so dangerous and the global support for these people so inadequate that they desperately put their lives - and money - in the hands of people smugglers.

Back to the question about cows and people....

I contemplated the question objectively and wondered whether cows prompt outrage because they don't have a voice of their own. They can't protest about their situation or speak to the media so people need to do it for them.   A woman called and expressed this very view.  I was nodding in agreement as she said exactly what was on my mind.  Then she said this: "Animal cruelty wouldn't be an issue in Australia if the White Australia Policy had not been abandoned."

I stopped nodding.

What has happened here that there can be such a lack of feeling for fellow human beings? Sadly, the policy response to this difficult question feeds the disconnection.  Boats are demonised. The people on them are painted as rich people who indulge in civil disobedience by destroying their documents. Myths about the legality of the right to seek asylum abound. People drown at sea.

Politics is obscuring the deeper moral question - what is our responsibility to help people in need? How do we help them?