By Jason Baker
The fear is lifting in the Washington, D.C., area. The snipers who allegedly
gunned down 14 people in the last month are behind bars. As authorities sort
out the prosecution, we should remember the victims–all of the innocent men,
women and children who were just going about their lives-filling their cars
with gas, cutting grass, stepping onto a bus or walking to school.
Can you imagine the fear? Not knowing where or when the shooter would strike
again. People were afraid to step outdoors and newspapers warned shoppers to
walk in a zigzag pattern across parking lots and not to linger in open
spaces. One of my colleagues who lives in that area was out early one morning
last week and was stopped by a little boy who was so terrified that he begged
her-a complete stranger-to walk him to school.
Talking to her, I began to realize that these people are now experiencing
what many innocent animals feel every single day of their lives: constant,
unrelenting fear. Fear that they will be suddenly singled out and beaten or
killed.
Animals who are hunted live in a constant state of alertness or alarm,
forever having to "zigzag" their way through life in case a person with a net
or gun or spear sneaks up on them.
Animals in laboratories also experience this "hyper-alertness," which results
in constant strain on the nerves. Because if you look at it from an animal's
point of view, this is what experimentation is all about. Not science or
medicine or knowledge. It's about pain and deprivation. About someone
deciding that they must feel pain and death today. Recent studies have shown
that this strain affects the nervous system and the immune system, and that
it shortens animals' lifespans, making results of tests on the animals faulty
at best.
So, too, animals in circuses and traveling shows never know when the "sniper"
will strike. They already endure being forced to live as they never would,
away from family and all others of their own kind, locked in cages or
confined by chains, carted from place to place. The fear of the whip and the
club is their
constant companion. They would never perform tricks if they didn't fear they
would be punished severely for refusing.
Animals we see every day know this fear, too. Stray dogs are met with a kick
or an curse. Cattle going to slaughter see their fellow beings dying slowly
in a pool of blood.
We can do something about the "snipers" in our midst so as to relieve the sum
total of fear in our community. We can insist that animals who mean no harm,
who, like the people now terrified of being hurt and killed, are not
tormented or beaten, but afforded the opportunity to live peacefully in the
world. We can do our best to make sure they are greeted with gentleness
rather than violence.
We can teach our children the social value, too, of never supporting
industries that harm animals like circuses and roadside zoo; choose healthy
veg food over meat always, and "pleather" or cotton over leather; and avoid
products that are tested on animals. If each of us makes a few changes, we
can touch the lives of many and make our neighborhoods refuges not target
ranges.
Jason Baker is Director of Asian Campaigns for People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals (PETA
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