Dominionism revisited & animals, of course, pay the price

 

As I type right now, the media are all agog about the coming-up Kentucky Derby race – part of the so-called “sport” of horseracing.  More accurately: “horse-killing.”

 Last year’s “Triple Crown” races (the Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes) were the worst of the worst for horses (beautiful sentient beings who are involuntarily trained and forced to run in circles).  In 2023, seven horses died during Derby week, then in the days after, five more were fatally injured.

The overriding question behind an investigation by the NYTimes: Why were “so many horses, supposedly in peak physical condition, breaking down so frequently?”

In answer, “The Times found that reckless breeding and doping practices, compromised veterinarians and trainers, and decades-long resistance to changes that could save horses’ lives have placed a multibillion-dollar ecosystem in peril and put the social acceptability of one of America’s oldest sports at risk.”

Especially horrible for the horses involved, of course, this ugly (and criminal!) situation goes far back in racing history.  Despite all the platitudes offered by the countless uncontrite people involved, thoroughbreds continue to be treated like commodities rather than athletes.

Some “sport”!       https://tinyurl.com/4wdmzvbf

Day after the 2024 Derby:    https://tinyurl.com/yd47pmhw

                                                                                                     New animal abuse

It thrilled scientists, medical practitioners and patients when a recent “landmark transplant” operation appeared to work.  A kidney from a genetically modified pig was implanted in a woman who declared she was “at the end of her rope” without it.  (Of course, the “donor pig” had utterly run out of rope in making that possible.)

This is a hard situation to understand, and even harder to accept.  After two seemingly successful attempts at animal-to-human transplantation, the future for pigs looks very grim.  No doubt they will be in even more demand than they are (and historically have been) already.  Poor pigs: bound to be tapped for another human purpose, this one, besides being slaughtered and eaten in myriad ways.

Time for a reminder:  Dominionism is the worldview or belief held by one species that it has a divine right to use animals and everything else in the living world for its own benefit.   

Sort of siblings

Dove or pigeon?

My last post mentioned a pigeon who liked landing on people’s heads.  Did you too think the pigeon looked like a dove, and wonder how to tell the difference?   

It’s easy: While there’s no real scientific difference between them, doves are generally smaller than pigeons – and nowadays, they get “better press” than pigeons.  (Think only of the image of a white dove with an olive branch in its mouth – a symbol of peace.)

Cat & Pat

I think my cat Jersey has secretly been listening to Cox & Box, a one-act comic opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan (later of Gilbert & Sullivan fame).  Two men both rent the same lodgings, unbeknownst to each other. 

Jersey

Returning from work, one sleeps at night, then gets up and goes to work.  Soon after, the second man returns from his night job and goes to bed.  And so on.  This works for both of them -- until they find out what’s going on.

In cold weather after I get out of bed, I've noticed that Jersey has curled up in my flannely warm spot, where he sleeps for hours.  So now I wish him a good morning and a good rest -- and make the bed later.

Protest to save geese

The words alone are awful: gas chamber.  In any era, with any kind of living being, those words conjure up horror.  Or they should, even when Canada geese are the innocent victims of this dreadful practice, which reportedly is widely used here.

Of course there are humane alternatives; it’s just that people either don’t know, or want to know, them. Which is why the Animal Protection League of NJ (aplnj.org), which offers a proven humane alternative, will sponsor another protest at a place with that “ignorance is bliss” outlook.

Please click this link, then mark your calendar.  https://conta.cc/3WfMYSV

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