Sun Wukong
Well-Known Member
@Dan: "Defend"? Not at all: cruelty is cruelty, no matter where it takes place, and as such wretched wherever it occurs.
What redpanda, Taccachantrieri, I and others wanted to point out, is something else: "Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?" Luke 6:41
Nobody skins dogs alive in public in western countries (anymore)- but millions of pets, may they be fish, small rodents, reptiles etc-are more and less slowly torturted and killed every year by millions of Western private households, literally behind closed doors-mostly due to utter ignorance of the keeper. Horses, bought for spoiled teenagers, spend at least 23 hours a day indoors in small stables, 7 days a week. Budgies are squeezed together in tiny cages, filled to the rim with plastic rubbish. Private persons keep and breed chimpanzees for commercial purposes (TV shows, movies...) near Berlin or LA. Greyhounds are killed when not bringing results in commercial racing. Ducks and Geese are still force-fed in Belgium and France for Foie gras...etc. etc.
The real big current issue in China in regard to animals is not animal welfare (although it's a big issue); it's conservation of whole species (especially the "not-so-cuddly fraction of fish, turtles, snakes, amphibians) and habitats. Even if it may sound cynical-but what is more important: "saving" an individual-or a whole species/habitat? And for the later, we need to cooperate with the Chinese, and not poleaxe them.
The difference between "the West" and "the East" is (still) a different public concept and valuation of animal welfare in general; in certain cases, however, animal welfare is also subordinate in "the West"-especially when it comes to profit.
What redpanda, Taccachantrieri, I and others wanted to point out, is something else: "Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?" Luke 6:41
Nobody skins dogs alive in public in western countries (anymore)- but millions of pets, may they be fish, small rodents, reptiles etc-are more and less slowly torturted and killed every year by millions of Western private households, literally behind closed doors-mostly due to utter ignorance of the keeper. Horses, bought for spoiled teenagers, spend at least 23 hours a day indoors in small stables, 7 days a week. Budgies are squeezed together in tiny cages, filled to the rim with plastic rubbish. Private persons keep and breed chimpanzees for commercial purposes (TV shows, movies...) near Berlin or LA. Greyhounds are killed when not bringing results in commercial racing. Ducks and Geese are still force-fed in Belgium and France for Foie gras...etc. etc.
The real big current issue in China in regard to animals is not animal welfare (although it's a big issue); it's conservation of whole species (especially the "not-so-cuddly fraction of fish, turtles, snakes, amphibians) and habitats. Even if it may sound cynical-but what is more important: "saving" an individual-or a whole species/habitat? And for the later, we need to cooperate with the Chinese, and not poleaxe them.
The difference between "the West" and "the East" is (still) a different public concept and valuation of animal welfare in general; in certain cases, however, animal welfare is also subordinate in "the West"-especially when it comes to profit.
