The title of this page is based on Matthew Scully's book of the same name. I do not believe in "animal rights," but after reading an excerpt from his book in The American Conservative Magazine, I began to realize just how badly we have abused our duty to oversee God's other creations on this earth. A quote from the book's introduction:

Animals are more than ever a test of our character, of mankind's capacity for empathy and for decent, honorable conduct and faithful stewardship. We are called to treat them with kindness, not because thy have rights or power or some claim to equality, but in a sense because they don't; because they all stand unequal and powerless before us.

And another:

It is true, as we are often reminded, that kindness to animals is among the humbler duties of human charity—though for just that reason among the more easily neglected. And it is true that there will always be enough injustice and human suffering in the world to make the wrongs done to animals seem small and secondary. The answer is that justice is not a finite commodity, nor are kindness and love. Where we find wrongs done to animals, it is no excuse to say that more important wrongs are done to human beings, and let us concentrate on those. A wrong is a wrong, and often the little ones, when they are shrugged off as nothing, spread and do the gravest harm to ourselves and others.

I had already pretty much become vegetarian in June of 2002 once I learned that many cows actually regain consciousness during slaughter (in the book "What Would Jesus Eat?"), but I hadn't realized just how cruel we are both domestically and world-wide to animals -- whether we produce them for food in factory conditions, make clothes out of them, or just think they would look great as trophies on our walls. Please buy and read Matthew Scully's book.

This page will include articles and thoughts regarding our cohabitants of this earth.

Sunday, January 12, 2003
Marsupials as Soccer Balls

From the London Sunday Telegraph:

SYDNEY, Australia — They are small and round and look like furry footballs — and they are being kicked to death by young Australians for fun. The quokka, a species of miniature wallaby found only in Western Australia, has become the renewed target of a sadistic sport called quokka soccer.

Need I say more? The full article (which will require a free London Telegraph login) can be found here.