Animals

"There will come a day when such men as myself will view the slaughter of innocent creatures as horrible a crime as the murder of his fellow man. Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty". 

                                                                                  Albert Einstein

Today very few educated people would dare to question the common origins of man and animals (if you do please help us work out how we share 99% of our genome with the chimpanzees). Over many thousands of years our evolving intelligence gave us immense power that we used indiscriminately in order to satisfy our own interests. 

We never worried too much about the number of other humans or animals we killed as long as we could achieve our goals. This process destroyed hundreds of animal species and entire civilizations, and still continues today. Now many people started to realize that our planet cannot take more abuse.

If we continue to live the same way life on earth may soon be history. Together with learning how to treat all of us like humans, we also have to ensure the same humane treatment for all animals. The time when we shall stop killing animals for fun, food, fashion, furniture or many other reasons may still be decades ahead, but we have to start preparing ourselves right now. We hope that by the end of this century it will be possible to substitute most industrial animal products (especially the ones for which we kill animals – meat, leather, fur, bone, oil, etc.) with equal or better natural and synthetic alternatives. By this time all abattoirs, poultries, piggeries, tanneries and other animal slaughter industries shall be nothing more than a sad history.

We are well aware that animal liberation is a gradual process and may not happen overnight. There are several things we can do right now, but many other problems require more time, research, investment and education. While we keep our sights on the future emancipation of the entire animal world, we shall focus our efforts on the following areas:

• Provide extra funding and support for RSPCA and other animal welfare organizations.

• Ban hunting except for pest control purposes which shall be carried our by licensed contractors. For more info please see Sport

• Outlaw factory farming (after a notice period of 10 years)

• Stop the fur trade (after a notice period of 10 years)

• Stop building new zoos except for free range ones. Existing zoos shall be upgraded to provide more freedom and care for all animals and converted to free range if possible. Zoos shall be used as education centers promoting animal freedom and not show business.

• Ban use of animals in circuses, rodeos, fighting, racing and other events (after a notice period of 10 years)

• Stop the pet trade (incl. commercial and backyard breeding) after a notice period of 10 years – animals shall no longer be captured, enslaved and sold for profit.  If you need a companion or just wish to care for an animal you can obtain one for free from RSPCA, pounds, shelters and hundreds of other organizations.

• Many injured animals (we kill and injure thousands of them in road and other accidents) desperately need our care and this is possibly the best way to show our love and affection. Letting them free after they recover (if they are wild) is a proof that we truly understand and respect freedom.

• Support and encourage research in food, clothing, fashion, furniture, pharmaceutical and other industries focused on developing non-animal products, methods and alternatives.

• Restrict and regulate animal testing with a view of abolishing this practice as soon as alternative test methods become available.

• Ban the breeding and importation of certain dogs known to be of high risk to the public. Dozens of children, elderly and other people are attacked each year, while very few owners are prosecuted.

• Provide financial and other government assistance for all industries negatively affected by the proposed new laws in order to ease any adverse social impact on employment and loss of investment.

• Many of our parks, beaches, schoolyards and other public places are invaded by overwhelming numbers of dogs and now resemble excrement “mine fields”. We shall introduce legislation making all pet owners responsible for their pet’s behaviour and sanitation when they are in public areas. Every pet owner shall be provided with free sanitation equipment and information kit. Those who ignore regulations, public safety and hygiene shall be liable for heavy fines and other penalties.