Alright, so this post will be a little bit interesting. It is my responce to an e-mail "petition" that is being circulated. I received it from a member in the family. At the end is supposed to be the list of people signing the petition. But that is being left out of this blog, but in the e-mail itself. Keep in mind that this is copied from what I had sent in the e-mail and I have not edited it.
SIGN the PETITION, SAY NO and Send it around. On the island of Réunion it has been recently found that dogs are being used as live shark bait. The Fishermen (Fishermen My ASS) round up the dogs and tie its legs up with wire then put i hook through its nose. If you have a heart you'll pass this on... these little guys need your help!! how can u say no?
(This is not part of the original e-mail that is being sent around.)
You probably don't know me. I, just about guarunteed, don't know you. Listen to me for a second and then you can make your opinion.
Let me ask you a question. How many of you actually looked this up on the internet to see if it was true or not? Hm? Not too many, I would presume. E-mails like this spread like viruses and few people will take the time to read up on the information contained. Some of you, are not at the age where you can even understand what the situation itself is. Some of you have said that it is selfish to hurt the cats and dogs in this way. But what you don't realise is that is YOUR opinion! Did you know that there are so many cats and dogs on this island that they are treated like vermin, for the most part? Having a dog on this island is comparable to having a Degu (a breed of rat that is a "specialty" pet here in Canada) in Italy or rabbits in Australia. People in those places do NOT have the same views that you do! Please, take that into consideration. Who are YOU to tell someone how THEY should THINK and BELIEVE. You have absolutely no right to do that. And if I were a mean person, I would shame all who wrote comments condeming those peoples' behaviors.
Now, to finish with my last point. For those of you who, by random chance, actually looked this story up on the internet (on reliable sources that is), the people who have been using cats and dogs for sharkbait are the "rogue" fishermen. The ones that don't give a d**n what they do, they just want to catch the sharks anyway they can. For those men, an easy way is to use what is redily available and there is an abundant supply of. Dun, da dada! Which just happens to be, cats and dogs. Wonderful how that works isn't it? This practise is also NOT widely used and NOT a common practice.
Finally, condemn this practice as much as you want. Sign this little e-mail "petitions." You won't make any significant impact. You merely show others that you are...condemning the practice. Many people do and many people don't. But this is NOT the proper way to speak out for animal rights. This is the lazy, almost, cover my ass way. Someone can ask you, "Do you support animal rights and if so, how have you stood up for those rights?" And you would say something along the lines of, "Oh yes! There was this one time that I signed an online petition to save the little dogs and cats." Wow, great to know you care, but that does NOTHING to help the cats and dogs. Go to the Animal Rescue League (my prefered between the League and the SPCA, because the League is bigger here and I work with cats from there) or the SPCA and donate your time. Money is always needed, but someone needs to be there to give the dogs a little bit of hope that someone will love them.
Next time, something like this is presented to you. The FIRST thing you should do, is research! Make sure what is being said is true. Secondly, look at the geographical issues that are surrounding that information. (The political (power), environmental (nature), economic (money) and social (people)aspects. As well as location, location, LOCATION.) Then, make the decision to sign or not to sign.
If you would like to read more about dogs and cats being used as sharkbait and the ideas and issues surrounding it, check out National Geographic. They have a really good article on it. But, make sure to read both pages.
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Nicely said, Jessi! I agreed with everything you said there.
ReplyDeleteIt seems a bit ironic to me that I didn't read the attached article, but I would never participate in something like that without doing at least some research.
I almost entirely thank Ms. G. if it wasn't for World Issues, and the fact that forwarded e-mails are really a pain in my behind now, I would have just gone along with it and signed and sent it along.
ReplyDeleteWell, I read it and kinda put some of the facts from it in what I said.