[Editorial Note: Six months before this rescue, a similar one was conducted in Lyle, Tennessee. 650 dogs were placed in a very short time. Meanwhile, the state reports nearly 2100 children remain languishing in foster care awaiting adoption .]
Big News!!! A redneck in Virginia has been arrested for breeding dogs in unsanitary and “inhumane” conditions. Hundreds of “concerned” citizens have been calling and traveling to Virginia to help out and adopt these poor animals. The Humane Society of the United States [HSUS] claims a victory for animal rights. All is well in fantasy land.
I find this rather confusing, and deeply disturbing. This writer has been following the reprehensible conduct of our 
President and Congress in enacting a decent bill to protect children’s health. Oil prices spiral up, Detroit is collapsing, and Wall Street imploding. The Chinese vomit cheap garbage upon us, and every day American troops are maimed or killed supporting a war of lies. Where is the outrage here? Yet the well intentioned whacko’s line up to help out a passel of dogs and protect their rights.
This writer spent over an hour reading word for word the American Constitution and the subsequent Bill of Rights. No where–not in a single line–were animals or any rights given to them by God or Government mentioned. Yet I am informed by my legal counsel, Cheatham Steele & Tortwheazel that there are literally thousands of laws on the books protecting CERTAIN kinds of animals from mistreatment. A little research revealed that only the cuddly and amusing kind are protected.
Pigs are more intelligent than dogs. Yet they live in conditions that make the aforementioned hillbilly’s dog farm look like the Marriott. Chickens are not necessarily the most clever of animals, but the vast majority that find their way to our plates have lived in horrid conditions, and been treated in a manner that society cannot even think about meting out to a convicted serial killer.
The Kafkaesque dimension of this became clear with the realization that animals that we eat have few rights. Those we take close to us as pets often have more rights than human children–and in quite a few cases are treated much better. If for instance I have a Vietnamese pot bellied pig and take it into my back yard and whack it in the head and butcher it, I will go to jail. If it’s a plain old pig (and zoning has no issue) and the same thing is done, we will be having a pig roast. Be sure and bring the beer!
American society, turning its back on real human relations has decided to consume pets–in a figurative manner. To get these pets, people necessarily breed them. We worry about how they are bred and raised–and what their heritage is. Shame we don’t have the same concern for the travails of the humble chicken, or even better, America’s children. The puppies from Hooterville received new housing faster than the Katrina victims. They received veterinary care, and were given toys. Without any wait, citizens are lining up to adopt them sight unseen. Something is horribly wrong with this picture–considering social service agencies cannot place foster children, nor stop abuse due to case overloads.
I hold nothing against dogs–I have one right now that is the epitome of faithfulness and stupidity. These are special creatures. The dog is the only animal known to which one can give one pound of food and it will produce five pounds of excrement. Perhaps scientists should study this phenomenon for clues to solve the energy crisis. Seeing that corn is headed to a shorter more expensive supply due to diversion for ethanol production (to feed all of the new models of gas hog), dogs might find a role in replacing cattle as a meat source. Grantee my dog might not like this—but other cultures eat them–and if we did, ergo, they would have fewer rights and the newsworthy situation in Virginia would never have been brought to light. Animal rights whacko’s could then concentrate on something less compelling, but perhaps more meaningful–such as improving the human condition.
© 2008
