Supposedly, humanitarian concern for animals is the reason, yet in his online book Behind The Humanitarian Mask, Manfred Gerstenfeld writes:
The Norwegian quota for the 2008 season is the highest, with over one thousand whales to be killed. These mammals are harpooned and die in an exceptionally cruel way.Now, in Sweden, rabbits are being used for fuel:
Sweden Turning Stray Rabbits Into Biofuel
Stray rabbits are getting a raw deal in Sweden. Thousands of them living in the center of Stockholm are being culled, deep frozen and converted into biofuel for heating homes. Wildlife campaigners have criticized the practice.
Thousands of rabbits, some of them pets abandoned by their owners, are being shot, deep-frozen and burned in a heating plant in Sweden, a professional hunter who works for the city of Stockholm said on Tuesday.
Rabbits are apparently a big problem in that they use Stockhholm's central parks as their feeding ground. Meanwhile--cats, deer, horses, and cows are getting the same treatment.
Naturally, the rabbits do have their advocates:
The practice of killing rabbits and incinerating has been criticized by Sweden's Society for the Protection of Wild Rabbits.According to The Local, a special rifle is used--but there are no claims that the rabbits feel no pain. Instead, as the byline to the Der Spiegel says, the rabbits are Shot, Frozen and Burnt.
"Those who support the culling of rabbits surely think it's good to use the bodies for a good cause. But it feels like they're trying to turn the animals into an industry rather than look at the main problem," Anna Johannesson of the society told Vårt Kungsholmen newspaper, news Web site The Local reported.
This, from the country that forbids shechitah.
And the angel of the Lord came unto me,
ReplyDeletesnatching me up from my
place of slumber,
and took me on high,
and higher still until we
moved in the spaces betwixt the air itself.
and he bore me unto a
vast farmland of our own midwest,
and as we descended cries of
impending doom rose from the soil.
one thousand, nay, a million
voices full of fear.
and terror possessed me then.
and I begged,
"Angel of the Lord, what are these tortured screams?"
And the angel said unto me,
"These are the cries of the carrots,
the cries of the carrots.
You see, reverend Maynard, tomorrow is harvest day
and to them it is the holocaust."
And I sprang from my slumber drenched in sweat
like the tears of one millions terrified brothers
and roared,
"Hear me now,
I have seen the light,
they have a consciousness,
they have a life,
they have a soul.
damn you!
let the rabbits wear glasses,
save our brothers...can I get an amen?
can I get a hallelujah? thank you, Jesus.
life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on...
this is necessary
it was daylight when you woke up in your ditch.
you looked up at your sky.
that made blue be your color.
you had your knife with you there too.
when you stood up there was goo all over your clothes.
your hands were sticky.