Without animals, we are nothing

By Cathy Doodnauth

Picture a life without your eggs and bacon in the morning. A life without that steak on your dinner plate. A life without your dog cuddled up next to you. Isn’t it hard to imagine? All normalcy of life is gone, left with emptiness. That’s what we’re heading towards if we don’t address the issue of animal rights and animal cruelty. If we find it so hard to live without them, whether on our plates or by our side, why do we treat them as if they’re less than us? If they inhabit the same world, I believe they deserve at least a few rights. Yet instead, they are being hunted unnecessarily; or captured for entertainment; or killed for the one fact that they are not useful to us in some ways. It would be different if we left the animals well enough alone. But no, we choose to include them into our cruel lifestyle.

Let’s rewind a bit. It’s no secret that I love animals. I’m that girl; the one that checks websites to ensure no dogs are killed in movies (via Does The Dog Die). The shocking thing is that animals are rarely hurt from even filmmaking these days. They’re most likely hurt in real life, through the ruthless cruelty of humans. The Cove is a documentary that brings the dolphin abuse in Taiji, Japan, to the eyes of the public. From the moment it began, I was swept into the story that Richard O’Barry tells. This is an investigative documentary; they want to find out who was killing of thousands of dolphins daily and why. What they find is disgusting. Thousands of dolphins are herded towards the coast, where they’re taken into captivity or killed for their meat. This film is so effective because it informs the public of what happens to the dolphins by showing it to them—not just writing about it. The audience sees what is happening with their own eyes through hidden cameras. And yet, they do not see it all. Dolphins that are unfavorable for captivity are taken to a different part of the cove and slaughtered. The slaughter, while filmed, did not make the final cut of the documentary. Leaving out this piece speaks louder than including it would have. It says that it was so horrific, so graphic, so inhumane and cruel that the creators had to leave it out. This exclusion is more effective—the audience is made aware that the act is too graphic for even a documentary. While researching The Cove, I came across an article that left me shaking: the director of the cove released the footage of the dolphin slaughter that did not make the film. Be careful; the footage is graphic and disturbing, to say in the least. I barely watched one video before tearing up and taking it off.

Humans treat animals as if they are dirt. It’s not all humans—there are some decent people out there, fighting for the rights of those who cannot fight for themselves. But many do not even bother. If there is ever one piece of literature to read, even if you view animals as below human capabilities, it’s a short story by the talented Alice Walker. Reading this particular short essay entitled “Am I Blue?” could potentially change the minds of those against animal rights. Featured in Living by the Word, a collection of short essays, Walker’s story of a neighboring horse is a very effective piece of literature. Her use of imagery is masterful—I was totally, unashamedly crying while reading it and I’m sure most readers were. One of my favorite paragraphs that show her skills of painting a picture in the reader’s mind:

“We were soon in the habit of feeding him apples, which he relished, especially because by the middle of the summer the meadow grasses—so green and succulent since January—had dried out from lack of rain, and Blue stumbled about munching the dried stalks half-heartedly. Sometimes he would stand very still just by the apple tree, and when one of us came out he would whinny, snort loudly, or stamp the ground. This meant, of course: I want an apple.”

Walker’s methods enable the readers to truly see Blue in this scene—you can see the lonely horse, in a dry brown meadow waiting by an apple tree for visitors. You can feel his sadness and his loneliness. Her imagery makes an impact on the audience; it makes them feel the emotions of a lonely horse. Walker’s words are anthropomorphic as well. Throughout the short story, she humanizes Blue in a way that makes the audience see how similar we really are. The strongest connections happen when she discusses Blue losing his partner, after having a companion for the first time in his lonely life:

“He galloped furiously, as if he were being ridden, around and around his five beautiful acres. He whinnied until he couldn’t. He tore at the ground with his hooves. He butted himself against his single shade tree. He looked always and always toward the road down which his partner had gone. And then, occasionally, when he came up for apples, or I took apples to him, he looked at me. It was a look so piercing, so full of grief, a look so human, I almost laughed (I felt too sad to cry) to think there are people who do not know that animals suffer.”

Including this piece made her work even more effective. The audience sees Blue acting as a human would in the same situation. It’s no secret that love-struck humans always go crazy after losing their love, their companion, their best friend. Blue acts the same—he is unbearably sad and he can’t do anything to get his partner back. When I read this, it broke my heart. Blue isn’t aware that his partner was taken away after he “did his job” for the human owners. He doesn’t know why she is gone, only that he can’t find her. And it’s driving him insane. Having this animal in such confusion and pain makes me cry; it most likely does this to anyone that reads it. But showing that Blue is capable of these emotions show that he is not that different from a human. And I think that message is the most important thing Walker could have included. Animals are not that different than us…so why do we hurt them like we do?

Relating to animals is not a new idea. Humans often use their traits to define themselves, with similes such as strong like a bull or quick as a fox. Julia Corbett, author of Communicating Nature, is able to touch on these relations in chapter seven. “…when we gaze at animals, we hold up a mirror to ourselves.” We act out cruelly against any species that is not human. But we know, deep inside, that we are not so different from the animals we oppress. We ignore this feeling, but as Corbett says, we still seem to need the animals around us. We still keep them around in zoos, in our homes, in the movies—but as long as humans ignore the instinct that we are the same, the injustices will continue. 

Linda Hogan is also able to discuss human similarities to animals in relation to the wild wolves of Ely, Minnesota. In her essay collection, Dwellings: A Spiritual History of the Living World, there is a short story called “Deify the Wolf.” Here, Hogan tells her story of a trip to see these wolves in their habitat. First off, the story feels very poetic; Hogan is able to set a mood of wonder with her imagery, and the audience sees themselves in the woods as well. “There are evergreens here, and thin, spare birch with cracks that look like dark eyes staring out of their white trunks.” It’s as if the audience is in those woods waiting for the wolves with her. She goes on to discuss the wolves being caught in leg traps, who just want to be free again. It is her that she really relates them to humans:
                 
“…the other names that give these wolves significance because they want to live and we can identify with that; these wounded wolves are like us, freedom and life mean something to them, something important, as it does to us.”

Like the wolves, humans want freedom and independence. We want to live our lives how we want, as do the wolves. When we are oppressed, we fight to be free and go after those who restricted us. But when the wolves do it, we don’t understand them. When they kill for revenge, we find it mindless. But aren’t they acting as we do? This point that Hogan makes is what makes the whole story effective. She makes it clear that we are being hypocritical; that we don’t let animals act by instinct, even though that is how we humans act.  We oppress them, but we still relate to them. As long as there are similarities, there needs to be respect. And right now, there is absolutely none.

While researching animal cruelty and hunting, I came across a jaw dropping fact about a favorite animal of mine: the inhumane hunting of polar bears is legal in Canada. Legal. As in, people are allowed to kill polar bears, an animal on the endangered species list! Just reading through this article was enough to set me fuming. It’s as if we want them to go extinct. Is it is not enough that the human’s increase in carbon output is ruining the habitat of these bears? Do we really need to allow hunting for their fur as well? Letting these animals be hunted will lead them to extinction faster than the melting ice caps would alone. Canada’s policy is completely ridiculous, and I urge anyone and everyone to sign this petition to get Canada to change this law! 

Many animals being abused are wild, innocent creatures hunted relentlessly. Sadly, the animals in captivity are being abused mercilessly as well.  One animal, hurt in both, has faced extinction repeatedly due to the hunting for its ivory tusks and the entertainment as a circus animal: the elephant. But there is still hope for this animal, and faith somewhat restored in humanity, all because of one fourteen year-old girl: Juliette West. In the documentary filming her journey to save the elephants, How I Became an Elephant, West sets an example for the rest of us. If one fourteen year-old girl can travel across the world, meet the famous Elephant Lady, and fight for the elephants, we can at least protest and sign petitions. This documentary is effective because it takes you behind the scenes of countries like this, where elephants are used for labor. To get things done, humans use the strength of elephants instead of their own. To use their strength, humans hit, chain, and pull the elephants inhumanely. Seeing the scenes exposed like this add to the effect of the film. Seeing a teenager fight for the elephants is definitely effective—it makes me want to hop on a flight and go save them all as well. These sweet, innocent mammals do not deserve the treatment they have been getting. I do not want to see them extinct just because humans are cruel to everything living in the world.

The way we have treated animals for the past few centuries is seriously horrifying. Even today, where there are some laws enacted to protect animals, there is abuse, cruelty, negligence, and slaughter still happening (like Canada’s policy on hunting polar bears.) But thankfully, not everything is so depressing. As we all know, circuses are well=known for the animals they train to do tricks for human amusement. Very recently, the Ringling Brothers have announced that they will no longer use elephants in their circuses! It is a small victory and a small step towards the future, but it is the beginning. This ban will definitely make Juliette West and the Elephant Lady happy. Hopefully, more and more organizations worldwide will ban the cruel usage of animals. This is the beginning. We can continue moving forward from this point on, at a rate faster than we have before. We can end hunting of all animals and save them from extinction. All we need is the union of all who still have a shred of humanity, and we could finally treat animals the way they deserve to be treated.