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From Autumn 2009 Issue
The Awful Sin Of Selective Compassion
Photo By Doreen Thompson
Supporting ‘Wales Against Animal cruelty’ In Betws-y-Coed
Selective compassion is not enough. So many who
indulge in barbaric blood ‘sports’ - as well as those who proudly
further vivisection! - are to be found deeply grieved when a pet horse
or hound dies. They appear to see such creatures as an extension of
their own family! Indeed, you only have to visit several stately homes
before finding in some corner a miniature pet cemetery. Indeed, such a
sacred corner stood within the private estate in which I was privileged
to live as a youngster.
What is more, the late Lady Marchbanks of Coldstream
also held a special building for wild cats of whom she was deeply fond;
though my mother, when a young child, was terrified of them! Such feline
fondness by ‘M’Lady’ did not, however, prevent her and her titled
husband from enthusiastically indulging in blood ‘sports’; and, as a
youngster I well remember having to stay indoors when the hunt was
taking place, lest one be trampled under foot. Meanwhile, my half cousin
– three years older than myself - was treated differently. She’d been
initiated in to the whole macabre affair by having the blood of a foxes
heart spurted all over her face. A practice my stern yet loving Granddad
– a retired Quarter Master Sergeant – ‘blew his top’ over. ‘It could
turn a young child’s mind!’; he affirmed. But at the time, as a mere 8
year old, I wondered what on earth he meant.
Of one thing I feel sure: those who have attended the
animals war memorial service these last two Remembrance Sunday mornings
are far removed from the type that go out with their horses and hounds
to pursue either deer or foxes; and, equally, they have not been the
dishevelled type who wear balaclavas while rudely yelling abuse at
officers of the constabulary. They came across as refined, dignified and
cultured folk who sought no prominence for themselves but rather a
genuine desire to join in Christian worship for our departed animal
brethren: the innocent victims of man made brutal wars. Yes, in the
words of centenarian Harry Patch - uttered shortly before his death -
‘wars (that) solve nothing!’
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