We have to acknowledge that we are not alone in the world and we share it with a million other species of animal, fish and reptile. We need to recognise what an ultimate privilege it is for us to have these extraordinary manifestations of nature to observe, learn from and most of all cherish.
That people of low intelligence hunt, kill and enslave these beasts is one of the greatest crimes mankind is capable of. All hunting would be banned. All of it. Hunting of any sentient creature would be made illegal. The barbarians who are willing to slaughter a magnificent elephant for his tusk, believing it to contain mystical properties, will be stopped. Including the rich barbarians from the west, who deceive themselves that by shooting a magnificent lion, leopard or rhino they somehow affirm their masculinity.
Schools around the world will teach young people not only how valuable wildlife is, but even more so the values we should cherish, such as compassion, sensitivity, care and awe.
The fashion industry’s obsession with the skins and coats of big cats, snakes and crocodiles will be outlawed, and those who slaughter animals on an industrial scale for their beautiful coverings, will be punished with imprisonment.
We should instead study and respect these magnificent creatures, not skin snakes to make fancy cowboy boots and jackets.The meat trade must also be totally overhauled. The imprisonment of millions of chickens in factories that are like cells, injecting them with hormones, poisoning them with chemicals, debeaking them, is a horror beyond that depicted in the wildest film.
If any consumer experienced just five minutes in a slaughterhouse they would never eat meat again. If they witnessed the sheer terror these poor creatures face being loaded up in lorries, sometimes sent by road on massive journeys to countries that want their animals delivered “live,” they would march down the streets of our cities to demand that we ban this disgusting trade. If all the land needed for cattle were turned into agriculture, we could feed many, many more people.
I have been brought up on meat, on chickens and on fish and have been thoroughly institutionalised, but I now try to reduce my brainwashing, and try to appreciate the wonders of the Earth and the natural world. I would bring in a law to protect the great lungs of our planet, the precious and fast diminishing rainforests. How can countries not value these stunning miracles of fauna and wildlife, and how can they not protect them with every means at their disposal?
The answer is, of course, a frightening lack of imagination, of intelligence, of awareness, of sensitivity. Barbarians are slowly but surely destroying the world, and their greed is too stupid and too monstrous to see that they are bringing their lives and those of their children to an end. The Amazon, so seriously depleted, must be preserved—the world’s wealthiest nations will have to make a contribution to help safeguard it.
We are emptying the seas and poisoning our magnificent oceans with plastic—all plastics are to be banned and replaced with biodegradable material. Factories that use nearby rivers to unload their poisonous pollution would be fined and threatened with closure. Countries that still hunt the mighty and wondrous whale would have sanctions imposed upon them. The filthy trade in shark fins denies any pretence we have of being allowed to call ourselves human beings. To cut off a shark’s fin and throw the poor beast back into the sea is inconceivably cruel. Condemn it. Shout it from the rooftops, invoke our greatest artists to make their voices heard. Tell our singers, who command audiences of tens of millions, to make their voices heard. Your outrage will be heard all over the world and it will reverberate in schools and churches, in mosques and synagogues.
Look at the power our beloved Princess Diana wielded, and Prince Charles and now their son William, as he expresses his anger at the barbaric slaughter of African wildlife.
The human conscience is the greatest weapon we have, greater than missiles and armed soldiers, greater than bullying despots and petty dictators. Those perpetrators of evil will perish in the dustbins of history, but the words of the people will last forever. Let your voices be heard, raise them loud and shake the heavens with your courage and indignation.
