Create your own blog

Hunter Mark Mifsud Bonnici, who has recently taken the habit of posting off-topic comments on hunting in The Times' blogs, has recently suggested (on Fr Joe Borg's blog) that The Times allocates a blog specifically for hunters.

Of course, for one to expect The Times to allocate a blog for all single-issue campaign is to expect too much.

However, all is not lost for Mr Mifsud Bonnici, for if he takes some time to browse the internet, he will find several free services for creating one's own blog. I use Blogger. And who knows? If he does create his own blog (and not wait for others to do his own work for him - the ban on spring hunting means he probably has more free time on his hands), I might consider putting a link to his blog at www.animalrightsmalta.blogspot.com.

How about that, Mr Mifsud Bonnici?

Shooting turtle doves

So David Borg Cardona first builds up a whole argument saying turtle doves should be shot because they are a plague to Libyan farmers, and then shoots down his entire argument by saying:

"Can any of the anti-hunting clans or organisations convince me that the shooting of a few thousand turtle doves over Malta during spring is going to affect the millions of doves or deplete the species that inhabit North Africa, some of which cross the Mediterranean in April?"

Animals: Slaving or serving?

It says a lot when people have to resort to misrepresentation to "prove" a point. Raymond Zammit (Hunting Dogs And Slavery, April 5) says that I claim that we should set all "domesticated" animals free. Then he contradicts himself a few lines down by quoting me as saying that "we should... not set all dogs free where they cannot cope on their own".

While Mr Zammit's claim that according to me, anyone owning a pet shop is a slave trader is true, it does not follow that anyone owning a pet is a slave owner, or any vet is a slave doctor. This is clear from my claim that we should care for the "domesticated" animals already in existence. Some people adopt homeless non-human animals for altruistic reasons (ask the animal sanctuaries), and not simply to have them as possessions.

As regards Mr Zammit's "worry" about the extinction of "domesticated" animals, he falls in the same trap as has Mark Mifsud Bonnici (April 1). Since I am not suggesting that any animal be killed, it follows that by claiming a right of "not-yet-existent" animals to exist, he would be advocating the "right" of sperm to become animals.

A non-existent "animal" has no "right" neither to exist nor to not exist. The thinking that it would somehow go against rights not to bring animals into existence would bring us to the absurd conclusion that humans have an active duty to have as many offspring as possible (since doing otherwise would deny millions of sperm their opportunity to become human).

Mr Zammit worries about animals bred to be slaughtered for meat, becoming extinct. I would think that such animals would rather prefer not having lived at all, than living a short miserable life that is ended by the knife (not to mention their offspring taken away, being constantly raped to produce offspring for slaughter, etc). But then again, logic is not the speciesist's forte. The only reason why such people are surprised at my views, saying things like "how's that for championing animal rights" only goes to show they have absolutely no idea on the issues. I would suggest a list of books that may be found at www.animalrightsmalta.blogspot.com.

Mr Zammit replies to my question regarding how dogs can be expected to hunt high-flying birds by themselves. His answer, much to my satisfaction, is that they can't.

Regarding hunting being the purpose of hunting dogs or else we would not call them so, Mr Zammit should note that pre-abolition slave traders also claimed that to be slaves is black people's purpose in life, and that it is right and proper it should be so, otherwise one would not be justified in calling them slaves.

However, just as calling slaves so does not make it justified to treat them as slaves, similarly, calling dogs hunting dogs does not necessarily make it justified to use them as hunting dogs. The treatment of anyone as property makes that someone a slave.