article from counterpunch

[Guest guest]

http://www.counterpunch.org/overton07062008.html

 

Can He Build an Ark?

 

 

By KELLY OVERTON

 

Our next President will inherit a country at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, an

economy in recession, a collapsing housing market and a society that abroad is

more detested than respected. As overwhelming as these obstacles are, the most

critical challenge facing our country is improving how we treat animals. The

majority of the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the medicines we take, and the

personal and household products we use come from, or were tested on animals.

Sustainable solutions to our country’s most serious health and security

threats demand a president who can build a modern day ark.

 

The United States has its greatest opportunity since World War II to improve its

position and reputation as a world leader by providing an innovative and

sustainable solution to a global problem. Human welfare can no longer be

separated from the welfare of nonhuman animals and from that of the planet all

species depend on. The answers to many of today’s most pressing dilemmas; the

costs and effectiveness of health care, the control of emerging disease(s), the

security and safety of our food supply and alleviating water shortages and

catastrophic weather events are directly connected to animal-welfare issues. A

pro-animal agenda will improve human health and safety, increase property

values, and balance and protect an ecosystem that is meant to protect us from

floods, hurricanes and other natural disasters. When it comes to humanity’s

treatment of nonhuman animals we have for too long put the cart before the

horse, cow, and yes, our own safety and security.

 

All species play a vital role in the web of life and human suffering is

inevitable when ecosystems become unbalanced. Recent food shortages from

Pakistan to Nicaragua were caused by rodent infestation due to a staggering

decline in predator populations related to habitat loss. In Nicaragua an

ecosystem went out of balance when declining ocelot numbers left an unchecked

rat population to invade and devour grain stored for human consumption.

Offshore, an 80% decline in the world’s shark population has created economic

loss for fishermen from Vietnam to the Chesapeake Bay, as fish usually eaten by

sharks increase in number and devastate fish stocks and local economies. In the

coming decades the economic and geopolitical repercussions from food shortages

related to declining predator populations will dwarf that of terrorist activity.

We need a president who will end deforestation and habitat destruction, as well

as protect the health and balance of our oceans, the world’s largest

ecosystem.

 

Government and corporate mistreatment of animals also puts American lives at

risk. The use of tax dollars on ineffective animal testing instead of

state-of-the-art medical technologies is delaying cures to breast cancer,

Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other diseases. The horror and shame of factory

farming; an unsustainable and dangerous practice, promises eventual large-scale

food contamination from mad cow disease, avian influenza or e-coli, and the

concentration of food production within limited geographic corridors puts our

food supply and national security at risk from a terrorist attack. Regardless of

one’s feelings about animals and the environment, economically it has become

more expensive to be cruel than to be kind. The financial, security, and human

health repercussions of animal and environmental cruelty are staggering. We need

a president who understands that when we invest in sustainable and compassionate

animal policies we all live healthier and more secure lives.

 

Finally, let’s demonstrate that the United States really is the most

compassionate nation on earth. Two by two let’s march the most abused and

exploited animals to safety, the monkeys and chimpanzees inside biomedical

research labs, the cats and dogs being burned and poisoned in pointless consumer

product testing and the abandoned circus tigers and elephants being shot on

canned hunting ranches. By treating vulnerable animals with reverence and mercy

we will not only save their lives, but also many of our own.

 

Kelly Overton is Executive Director of People Protecting Animals & Their

Habitats. Email: KhoPhaNgan

 

 

 

 

With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first

thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably.