Sanctuary

1416:

The next logical step after going vegan is to lobby, to provide animals with sanctuary, but that would be seem like a departure from reality in most people’s eyes.  The costs would be prohibitive, which is what the owners of black slaves, some two hundred years ago, might have said to any suggestion that they should be provided with bedding and proper shelter.  It would be considered unrealistic idealism.

A retirement plan for ‘working’ animals, instead of executing them, is the very least we owe them.  And this is, hand in hand, a move away from using them as food.  Ultimately, this would mean the closure of all animal farms.  Most people wouldn’t seriously consider it.  But some are doing just that.  Along with the uptake of a vegan lifestyle, the idea of ‘farm sanctuaries’ is already being considered.  Some in USA have been in operation for over two decades.

What if we don’t consider this?  We’ll be caught up in an endless cycle of barbaric, polluting and wasteful activities, resulting in the destruction of everything we hold dear.  By maintaining abusive practices and refusing to give up some of our personal comforts, we hand the big problems on to future generations to solve.

What’s involved with establishing animal sanctuaries?  Certainly a change of attitude and certainly some financial investment.  They would be expensive to set up because there are still so many animals alive who need taking care of.  But as the ‘domestic’ animal population decreases, by operating a deliberate non-breeding programme, so the expense reduces as numbers of animals reduce.  Sanctuaries may be the only way to provide safety for animals.  But it presupposes a great altruistic attitude-change from a lot of people.

Those who go this way, who pioneer sanctuaries for farm animals are the true heroes of our age.  They have chosen to become altruistic, and have adopted a non-speciesist attitude by moving their support from imprisoning to sanctuary, from killing to caring.