What’s So Wrong About Pierced “Goth” Kittens?
A lot, of course. However, as you can probably guess, there’s a “but” coming.
Painful, unnecessary mutilations performed for humans’ amusement are what garnered a Pennsylvania woman a conviction for animal cruelty this past week. She pierced kittens’ ears (and, in some cases, necks and even tails) and tried to sell them as “goth kittens.” Her response has been that she loves cats and loved these kittens and that this was no different from a parent having her small child’s ears pierced when the child can’t consent. And whatever truth there may be to that, there’s a more on-point set of practices here that many of those so outraged by her actions need to stop and consider.
Painful, unnecessary mutilations performed for humans’ amusement and pleasure — that’s the problem here, right? Yet nearly all who are judging her, from the actual courtroom participants to the people expressing their disgust with her as they sit at home watching the news or chat with their friends online, participate in similar, equally unnecessary mutilations and cruelties every day.
Is what happened to these kittens any different from what we do to animals used and killed for meat, dairy, eggs, leather, wool, and so on? Of course it is — what we do to the latter animals is worse.
Their ears are crudely pierced too, so that they can be tagged with numbers. Their teeth are cut. Their tails and horns are hacked off. Their flesh is burned (“branded”) with red-hot irons. Their beaks and toes are cut off. The males have their testicles cut out. The females are raped, repeatedly. And not just on “factory farms” — most of these mutilations and cruelties we inflict on farmed animals are standard for all farms. Then we send them, all of them, off to brutal, violent slaughter. And in the ways that matter, these animals are no different from (and in many cases no older than) the kittens who so easily gain humans’ sympathy.
So any folks who aren’t vegan or working on going vegan yet but who have a problem with what this woman did to these kittens need to step back and examine their own values — and hypocrisy. The number of animals who’ve suffered for the average omnivore or vegetarian’s tastebuds far exceeds the number of kittens whose ears were pierced by this Pennsylvania woman. What she did was wrong and unnecessary, but the magnitude of suffering that the average person demands, pays for, and participates in with every single meal, every barbecued wing of a chicken, every piece of bacon, every fried egg, every bite of cheese? It outweighs the suffering this woman caused these kittens by leaps and bounds.
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Photo retrieved from Flickr
Stephanie Ernst
Marji
Kelly G.
Deb
Mary Martin
It appears to be a different rendition of the same song: Some protest fur, but wear leather. Some protest bullfights, but attend the rodeo, some think it’s evil to eat a dog, while feasting on pigs…
Having been an “ugly-vore” just a little over 2 years ago, I understand not making the connections… We just have to stay at it – I was reached, I know others can be too!
Oh, and BTW – I’m not an advocate of piercing a child’s body either… I really think that should be a personal decision made by the person who owns the body… But that’s me.
“It appears to be a different rendition of the same song”: Absolutely. And we’re also in agreement about piercing children’s ears before they’re old enough to decide and understand for themselves. Choosing to put kids through something painful that they can’t understand, let alone agree to, for something so superficial, is a practice I don’t understand.
The disconnect continues to be frustrating.
Yes, this is outrageous, but what is more outrageous is that if someone did the exact same thing to piglets or lambs – in some states – there would be no animal cruelty charges levied.
And I think it’s JUST as hideous to pierce the ears of infants. That it is a bizarre cultural norm in no way reduces the awfulness of inserting a metal rod into the sensitive ears of a non-consenting baby. I happened to have thought it was a totally appropriate and valid argument in this woman’s defense…even more appropriate would have been the cosmetic mutilations performed on dogs, lambs, piglets, chics, calves every day.
Gah. The longer I live here, the more I realize Pennsylvania seems to have more of a problem with disrespecting non-humans than most other states. The number of dogs who come in with mutilated ears and tails (home-done cropping and docking are popular here), the number of people who think declawing cats is normal and natural, being the puppy mill capital of the USA, and now this crazy woman. And that’s not without getting into the attitudes of people towards farmed animals.
In agreement about piercing kids’ ears too, but that brings up another popular human-centric bodily mutilation – circumcision. It’s off topic, but I can’t help feel it falls into the same category.
I, for one, agree re circumcision.
Ditto. And a ditto to Marji’s earlier comment too.
I agree. The disconnect is so frustrating. I was disconnected also several years ago. The reason is that the situation for farm animals isn’t discussed. If it’s brought up, it’s as if a social more. People will scorn you, make fun of you, get really angry at you if you bring it up or point out the similarities to the cruelty to companion animals and the cruel nature of factory farming. I don’t care personally if someone gets angry at me for speaking up. So I say it and have learned to do so in a way that people will listen and not have a knee jerk reaction. I learned (and am still learning) to do this because I remind myself, I am not speaking up for my benefit, but for those who can not speak for themselves and whose lifes are treated as commodities. I also get frustrated with those who wear ‘fake’ fur. Even if they can confirm it’s fake, why support a style that harms massive amounts of animals in the most gruesome way.
That last paragraph made me really hungry. I love wings and bacon and eggs and cheese. I think I am gonna go make an omelet and have some wings for dinner tomorrow.