By Peter H. Mundy
From the Methodist Recorder (December 2, 1982)
'Please be kind to the cat' may initially arouse a smile, and yet our
attitude to the animal kingdom should be the concern of all thinking
Christians.
In 1980, the Methodist Conference adopted a revised Statement on the
Treatment of Animals which recognised the complexity of the issues
involved, and yet that very complexity should not provide an excuse for
avoiding the careful consideration of what is admittedly a teasing
problem.
The companionship of domestic animals in the home, the close
relationship of shepherd and sheep dog, the dependence of the blind upon
their guide dogs, all present an idyllic picture of care and compassion,
but unhappily there is a more sombre side to the story.
The hunting of animals for so-called "sport" (which brings to mind
the sight of a terrified stag which I observed at a hunt in the early
days of my ministry), the slaughter and export of Dartmoor ponies both
for human consumption and pet food, intensive factory farming with the
consequent deprivation of liberty for calves, pigs and chickens, these
alone should give rise to much heart-searching, while the big question
'Should living creatures be used for scientific research?' is one which
continues to exercise the minds of ordinary men and women throughout the
world and is not just the province of scientists and medical
researchers.
Can we lay claim to be a humane society when we torture and kill
creatures to test shampoos and deodorants? The dreaded DRAIZE test, in
which an irritant is introduced into a rabbit's eye with the resultant
inflammation, has been the target of an intensive campaign in the United
States, while the LD50 acute oral toxicity test used for chemical or
pharmaceutical substances has in the last twelve months been the subject
of Parliamentary debate.
An official report to the Home Office in 1979 by the advisory
committee on the administration of the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876,
categorically states 'LD50s must cause appreciable pain to the animals
subjected to them.' Those with experience in this field testify that the
tests do cause agonising pain,convulsions, bleeding, diarrhoea and
eventually lingering death.
While there are prescribed legal requirements for the testing of new
drugs and the monitoring of medicines, it has not been conclusively
proved that the only satisfactory method open to researchers is by the
use of animals. In 1981, 4.3 million experiments on animals were carried
out in Britain of which only 2.4 million were for the testing of
medicines.
Between the opposing lobbies - the pro-vivisection and the
anti-vivisection groups, there is a middle group � FRAME (Fund for
Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments), and research projects
which do not employ the use of animals are funded by such organisations
as the Humane Research Trust and Air Chief Marshall Lord Dowding Fund
for Humane Research.
Are we a caring nation? Apart from the slaughter of billions of
animals for food, and the hunting of foxes, hares, stags and otters for
"pleasure," the 1981 return of the RSPCA reveals that it killed 180,000
cats and dogs, most of which were healthy, but which had been abandoned.
Reproduced with thanks.
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