WORDS & PICTURES that after their money has been used to support an ownerless dog for two weeks then the dog is destroyed. The child might have simply thrown their money away — it just prolonged the unpleasant existence of a dog for a number of weeks. In conclusion I would like to say that although I do not believe in cruelty to animals, I think that there are more important things to worry about in the world. Perhaps veal calves should not be transported over long distances but truckxlrivers should certainly not have their cab windows smashed. It is definitely wrong for animals rights activitists to attack the home of the owner of a transportation firm whose lorry has just run over a protester. Arguing with a heavy goods vehicle is extremely dangerous and when you play Russian Roulette you sometimes get the bullet. There are things of far greater importance than animal rights for people to concern themselves with. Nikolai Shepherd
ANIMAL RIGHTS Animal rights is a subject that has featured a lot in the news recently. It has seemed almost impossible to pick up a paper or turn on the television without the veal trade or a similar subject being the centre point of what you are reading or watching. I have found a simple solution to this. I no longer read any newspaper articles about animal rights nor watch a programme about the subject on television. There is also a simple explanation for this. Animal rights has become something that the British are obsessed with. The protection of animal rights is no longer something to which we are happy to donate our small change. It is now almost a religion. Whenever we see an animal rights campaigner collecting money it is no longer enough to fish around in our pockets for a coin. We are expected to remove our wallets and place a crisp banknote in the collection tin. The reason why I am perturbed by this obsession with animals is this: people are more important than animals. That is a conviction which no one will remove from my thoughts. I believe that we should spend more time worrying about people and the charities that support them. Spare a thought for the war veteran who cannot afford to put his heating on because too many people chose to support the new dog sanctuary instead of buying a poppy. If it wasn't for people like him there would be no animals because they would have been wiped out with the rest of us when the Nazis invaded. Spare another thought for the disabled child who cannot go to the seaside. The charity which normally caters for his needs is unable to do so this year because too many people have given money to the local hospital for injured birds instead of them. Spare a final thought for the small girl in Ethiopia who will die of malaria because instead of donating money for vital medical supplies in Africa, many people have contributed to the R.S.P.C. A. 's vast cash surpluses. In the final article about animal rights I read I was informed that the R.S.P.C. A. has a cash reserve of twenty million pounds yet still they ask us for money. Let them spend what they already have before they come begging for more of our hard-earned money to support their bureaucracy and obsession with dogs which will be put down within two weeks.
Nikolai was awarded the fourth-form essay prize for this piece.
Unfortunately, there will always be animal cruelty. I do not wish to condone animal cruelty but it is a sad fact that there will always be some unpleasant members of society who get some perverse pleasure out of animal cruelty. The various animal charities have enough sources of income without preying on young children. Asking children to give up their pocket-money to help fluffy, vulnerable animals isn't on in my opinion. Of course a young child is going to want to support a helpless-looking dog such as those we see in adverts by giving up his or her pocket-money. However, the child is not informed
Graham Kershaw
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