The sacrifice of the innocent...

I've just finished reading War Horse by Michael Morpugo. I have to say that it was a brilliant book. The story is inspirational and moving. The characters intriguing and identifiable. The message clear and strong. All in all an excellent book. A portrayal of our debt to our four legged friends.

What is shocking is what happened at the end of the war and the fate of the brave horse who fought alongside their masters during a gruelling world war.

They you see, were not brought back and paraded through the streets as heroes. They are not remembered each year by a grateful nation on remembrance Sunday. They have no graves or memorials or even proper mentions of their plight.

This is because they were sold. Auctioned off in France. Many finding that their war story ended in a French slaughter house. That's the honour they were bestowed. That's where after all their hard work they ended up. That's how the army big wigs valued them when it came down to it.

These were the same horses which were said to be the saving grace of endless tired battalions of men. They took water, guns and ammunition to the front line. Fearlessly trudging towards no mans land amongst gun fire, shrapnel and carnage.

They brought back the sick, the wounded and the dead. Often making several trips a day though mud and danger.

Above all else they brought a glimmer of hope and affection to men and boys who had been kept away from home for far too long fighting a battle over which they had no power or desire.

They too should be held up for their outstanding bravery. The part they played was considerable and impressive. Without them the war would probably have been lost.

Thats not to say that horses didn't suffer a similar fate on the other side also. For both sides they were invaluable. They were treasured at the time. So how could they be so quickly discarded?

The fact is that humankind have an opinion of superiority. We as a race feel that we are better than the animals who share our earth. For us they are a commodity to be traded, used and then discarded.

The army officials making the decision that they were to be sold were not on the front line. They did not see the hardships endured for the benefit of the nation. They were removed from the situation. It wasn't their horses that weren't coming home after all...

They felt that they were able to make a decision to trade the horses. They thought not of their fate and if they did, then they didn't care.

This attitude is played out time and time again.

The comedian Ricky Gervais is currently battling to prevent the expansion of a dog breeding 'factory'. The dogs being bred are to be used in vivisection. They are being created simply to be destroyed. Who are we to make such decisions about the life of another being? The objective of course is money. The drugs trade is a multi billion pound industry. They simply want a cheap way to test their new drugs so that they can be marketed as safe.  So that people feel 'safe' buying them. But what of the sacrifices made to achieve these objectives?

Gervais has received lots of tweets in support of the protest. Lots. He has also received some that are directly against the prevention of such a facility being expanded. One man tweeted that it was because an animals life is not as important as that of a human. Who are we to play God and make such arrogant suggestions?

My point is that we are guilty of constantly abusing the assistance that we are given by our four legged furry friends (and our 2 legged winged ones too!). If it were not for them we would not have guide dogs, cart horses, mining canaries and many more useful roles which they fill.

We should rejoice in their ability to handle tasks, which we are often unable to do. We should not underestimate the influence that they have had over our lives both in the past and present.

The dogs being bred at the facility could easily be trained to be sight/hearing/mobility dogs or even companions for the old, sick or lonely. Why create their life simply to destroy it?

We live in an age now where none of this is necessary. Their are other methods which could be used to achieve the same purpose. Sure they cost more in terms in monetary value but surely their is nothing more valuable than life itself?

We should always be mindful of the sacrifices made by all other living things to enable us to live our lives.

Its estimated that 6 million horses were used in World War 1. These were shipped to battle from all corners of the globe. In Britain, pet and farm horses were requisition for the cause. Often taken from the families that had loving cared for them for years.

Few of those returned to their countries of origin. Some were left to wander around no mands land until they were claimed by starvation and exhaustion. Many as i've mentioned were sold for meat at the sadness of their mounts.

Many more horses have of course been used and lost in conflicts both bfore and after the first world war. Its easy to highlight the plight of the WW1 horses as it was the first time that tanks largely replaced the cavalry and therefore the loses were greater and more instantaneous.

I for one will be forever thankful for the sacrifices of the war horses. They will be remembered as they should be. As heroes.

A meaty issue...

A meaty issue....

I’ve been vegetarian since I was 4 years old. That's pretty much as long as I can remember. I can’t remember a time when I ate meat. Its never been an issue for me.

I'm nearly 6 foot and certainly not skinny. I’ve never lacked nutrients or had any deficiencies. I carried my daughter to 42 weeks and she weighed a very respectable 9lbs 10oz. Clearly not eating meat hasn’t done me too much harm.

Why then must people continually try to sway me to eat meat? Why must every meal with new people have to start with a heated debate about whether or not I should even be vegetarian. How my choice has impacted on their lives and why I really should just give it up now.

The thing is I want to be vegetarian. I choose not to eat meat. Its my absolute right to choose not to eat meat. Its also my right not to have to explain why i don't every 5 minutes.

At university fellow students took pride in trying to get me to eat meat. People more recently have also thought that it would be ‘funny’ to trick me into eating meat. They've tried to 'hide' meat amongst other food stuffs in the vain hope that i'll just munch it all down and not notice. What is the point in that?  Its not funny. Or big. Or clever. In fact its selfish and ignorant and disrespectful. Those people are no longer friends of mine.

I’ve encountered a lot of brief vegetarianism. That's people who are vegetarian for a very short period of time. They tend to have very radical views. They lecture fellow vegetarians on what they should and shouldn’t eat and generally make it all a competition as they strive to be vegetarian of the year. Invariably they are eating meat again before the year is out.

My objection is being questioned relentlessly about it. I bet I have more arguments for why I'm vegetarian than why people eat meat. I think the problem people have is that they think its different. That in some way I'm purposely being awkward. I'm not. If its a problem then that's fine.  Its never been a problem for me.

So I’ve decided to once and for all answer questions I'm popularly asked. I'll be referring people here as and when these questions crop up. It's like a 'frequently asked question' section of my life. I hope it helps you too should you have any questions or want any ready made answers.

Here goes;

1.       Why are you vegetarian?

I'm a vegetarian for moral reasons. I simply don’t agree with killing another animal for our own purpose. I cant bring myself to eat flesh for this reason. That's all it is. I'm the only vegetarian in my family. These are my views, not theirs. I'm not ‘new age’ or ‘hippy’ or trying to be trendy. That's just the way I think and the way I am.   

Because I’ve been a vegetarian for so long, its not something which I wake up and think about each day. Its not a conscious thought. Its just the way that it is. That its always been.

I like being vegetarian as I couldn’t bear to eat meat. That said its my individual choice. I respect that other people want to eat meat and that's just fine by me. I'm not trying to ‘recruit’ other members to the veggie club. I'm quite happy in my own world, even if I'm the only member. After all if it makes a difference to me then it makes a difference to the world.

2.       Do you wear leather?

No.  Leather is a by product of the meat trade and I’d quite happily do without both of them to be honest. Most shoes are now no longer leather as it’s become expensive to produce in comparison to man made products.  That said again i can appreciate that other people want to wear it. Similarly i would never wear fur....but thats another issue not for now.

3.       Don’t you lack nutrients?

No. I never really have. Not even as a child. Whilst pregnant I took iron tablets towards the end of my pregnancy as I had  very slight iron deficiency. This was a lot less of a deficiency than some of my meat eating friends when they were mothers to be. As I’ve already said, she was born naturally at almost 42 weeks. Cant have been that bad for her then.

4.       But we’re meant to be carnivores and eat meat?

Actually we’re omnivores. That mean

 we eat meat AND vegetables. In fact we eat a lot more meat now than we have ever done and this is likely down to the ease and relative cheapness at which it can be obtained.

 If we actually had to go and hunt meat ourselves would we eat so much? I doubt it. Clearly we can survive without meat as many hundreds of people manage to survive without any vegetables. I’ve seen them on Jeremy Kyle.

Lions are carnivores. An entire pride only hunts once about every week and they share the kill. Even they eat less meat than we do now!

5.       But our eyes are at the front of our heads and that means we're designed to hunt?

This is one of my absolute favourites. How often have you seen people actually going on a hunt? Or in anyway getting involved in the slaughter/preparation phase? Errr never that's when!

 When it comes down to it people like their meat in nice pre prepared packaging with as little connection to where it came from as possible.  How many people would want to actually kill their own meat? Very few I would venture to guess.  This has to be the lamest argument ever!

6.       If we were all vegetarian the cows/sheep/pigs just wouldn’t exist. Surely that would be worse?

Really? Hmmmm. Breeds we don’t eat still exist. They dont automatically become extinct because they're no longer on our menu. We don't eat human flesh and we're not extinct...

The fact is that yes they wouldn’t exist on such a mass scale but that's because we wouldn’t be mass farming them. There’s a reason meat is so cheap and usually that's to the cost of the livestock.

 I think I’d be happier if there were fewer animals living in better conditions than more animals living in filthy cramped conditions.

We have more animals now than ever before. That's because we are told that we need meat at every meal. We don’t. We never had it before. Previously people kept there own cow or pig and maybe some chickens and ate meat relatively scarcely. There was a lot less wastage that way as well.

7.       So you don’t eat dairy?

Yes, yes I do. That's because I'm a vegetarian, not a vegan. I eat eggs, cheese and drink milk. All free range of course and preferably organic.

8.       So you eat fish?

Errr no I'm really a vegetarian. That means nothing with a face. No meat no fish and also no chicken (yes I know that's meat, other ‘vegetarians’ however often still eat chicken!!) Why class fish as a different type of produce to meat? Essentially I couldn’t bring myself to eat anything which had to be killed first.

9.       But surely the vegetables are killed?

Another old time favourite. If you think that and have it on your conscience shouldn’t you be the vegetarian?

There is a diet called fruitarian where people only eat produce which has naturally fallen from the tree. Each to their own. This isn’t however my view.

Ill quite happily eat vegetables and fruit as they are different to meat and fish. Entirely different. For one they do not have brains. They don’t have eyes. They don’t breath through a respiratory system.

So yes they are a living organism but they can be completely distinguished from meat and fish. Even Buddhist monks eat fruit and veg.

10.   Will you make your baby be vegetarian too?

I used to get asked this about my dogs. The answer is the same for both. NO! It was my choice to be vegetarian and if my baby wants to eat meat when she’s older then that's fine. The same goes for if she doesn’t. The point is that it has to be her choice.

I also cook meat often for my partner and family. Its their choice to eat meat and mine not to.  I'm not going to try and ‘convert’ them to vegetarianism. I think that would do the image more harm than good.

My point in this blog is basically that whatever people believe they should or shouldn’t eat is fine. It shouldn’t be a point of debate. I don’t preach at others about eating meat and I don’t want to be preached at in return.  Live and let live! (quite literally from my point of view!!)