Saturday 3 December 2011

This is a response to the article titled “Pris sur le vif - Chiens de race" which appeared in Week-End, 4th Dec 2011.


This is a response to the article titled “Pris sur le vif - Chiens de race" which appeared in Week-End, 4th Dec 2011. I tried emailing this to the newspaper but, sadly, its quota is said to be "exceeded". However, I posted this comment on an unrelated article, hoping they will redirect it to the relevant person:

I am writing because I am extremely shocked by the vicious and wrong approach adopted against dogs in this article. How can a newspaper blatantly write articles which so clearly have no notion of animal welfare at all? The article even talks of using "baton" (wooden stick) against dogs!

 And the ending line about putting dogs first is just so stupid as to be unfit of any intelligent journalist. Yes, a compassionate government should put people and all animals first, and it is time that you, journalists, try to even briefly think about the intelligence and sentiments of the people who might be reading your newspapers. How can a journalist write such a biased article which outright propounds that human beings are the supreme beings on the planet and that animal (dogs) are inferior to them? This is false and shows that no amount of thinking, creativity, originality, research or even generosity of thought went into the matter. An article should reflect the journalist's maturity and intelligence and I'm afraid that if your journalisist write so very biased and downright anti-animal welfare stuffs like that, then I won't be able to trust any valid report you may have. In my eyes, the Week-End newspaper (Le Mauricien) has lost a great part of its credibility and be sure, my family and friends will know about that too!

An article such as this very clearly adopts a brainwashing approach which again seeks to vilify dogs. Relentlessly, the media is trying to portray animals, especially dogs, as nuisances when it is a shame that such a word can even be used linked to any living being. Does your journalist have no notion of the sanctity of life?
In a small country such as ours, we need to be promoting the cause of animal welfare, and responsible journalists ought to do greater research before publishing anything. Is there no sense of responsible journalism nowadays? Have you no idea that to some people their dogs and other pets are like their sons, daughters, and friends without whom they cannot live? And in such a scenario, wouldn't one want all the animals in Mauritius to be attributed certain protections from abuse and cruelty, and this article is very clearly verbal abuse against dogs!

This extremely silly piece of writing seriously undermines all the laudable work done by organisations such as PAWS. You are not in any way furthering animal welfare or encouraging people to take some time and try to understand dogs and not to vilify them. Man's best friend does not need to be made victim of such silly propaganda. They are so much more noble, and absolutely DOES NOT deserve to be treated as inferior to man! That last line of your piece of writing is grossly uneducated, misguided, and shames this whole newspaper which condoned it.

 Human beings, on an everyday basis, use and abuse animals in all sorts of ways, and yet, a human being can still afford to write such a discrediting and unspeakably nonsensical piece? This has truly shocked and saddened me. I am disappointed with the level of writing and how a newspaper can publish stuffs like that without thinking at all. Indeed, we should put animals first in all our considerations because without them we cannot live! They are vulnerable beings which need to be protected. Of course, an issue such a responsible ownership must be advocated, this is very important, but there is absolutely no need to malign dogs and write such outrageously biased articles! Such a shame, Week-End, such a big shame. Is that article a legacy to your children and population? Is that the level of intelligence and reasoning you want to bequeath to the citizens? I hope you remedy to this by expounding much more about the need for animal welfare and anti-cruelty legislations, which are increasing concerns worldwide, instead of hoisting such stupidities upon your readers! 

“We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals... In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.” -- Henry Beston 

Sincerely,
A very disappointed and disgusted reader,
Rajshree Boyragee

The above is what I tried to bring to the attention of the newspaper.

 Many newspapers in Mauritius do not seem to care about issues such as animal welfare and often come up with articles thoroughly biased against dogs. Where our fellow four-legged creatures are concerned, they are tried without any benefit of a doubt attributed to them. It is high time all of us, the local media included, start thinking about how our animals can be protected. Countless aberrant abuses and cruelty against them go unreported and are hardly ever mentioned in newspapers!

We, humans, live in a world together with animals, and yet, our local newspapers hardly ever feature those magificent beings in favourable lights. Animals are used and abused for a variety of things and we do not think about them at all...but on the occasion of a dog biting someone, everyone jumps on the conclusion that the animal is at fault or ought to be put down immediately or even taken away from its family (fair trials for animals are unheard of and would probably be scoffed at by many). So many forget the cruelties and endless persecution suffered by animals on Earth because of the beyond cruel ways men treat them. It is true that there are many irresponsible owners and everyone should strive to educate each other about what responsible ownership entails; however, there is no reason for an animal to be so promptly vilified just because it is an animal. And there is of course no need to say stuffs (such as the said article proposed) about the government needing to change its slogan and that instead of putting people first, it should put dogs first. This is shamefully misguided, inappropriate, and shameful bias towards our innocent animals.

Yes, A TRULY COMPASSIONATE NATION, puts its ANIMALS on the same footing as the VULNERABLE GROUPS in society which need extra protection. YES, animals ought to have rights such as not being made victim of cruelty, and YES, animals are equal, IF NOT SUPERIOR, to men, because animals DO NOT SUPPORT wars, bloodshed, nor hatred. Animal-kind are so much more better evolved than human beings in so many ways. They are peaceful, compassionate, loving, and so very wise. We need to wake up, people, to the fact that the country needs animal welfare legislation as well as campaigns which promote compassion!

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