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CRUELTY TO ANIMALS (Investigator 29, 1993 March)
Animal protection organizations which oppose cruelty to animals proliferated in the 20th century. Most people regard the notion of animals having rights as something new. In Britain a series of Acts of Parliament between 1911 and 1964 provided for domestic and captive animals. In Roman times numerous animals were slaughtered with cruelty in the arenas. Galen (130-200 CE), the most famous of ancient Roman physicians, practised vivisection on live, conscious animals. Modern vivisection began in the 1820s. It was popularized by Claude Bernard (1813-1878) who, despite discovering little or nothing worthwhile during decades of cruelty to animals, became famous in France. Reusch (1878) describes the torments Bernard inflicted upon animals. Probably no one in the 19th century thought anything about it as seen by the fact that most reputable journals of medicine published Bernard’s experiments. In the 20th century we still have bull-fighting and cock-fighting and live sheep transport. Millions of sheep are exported annually out of Australia. They are crammed three to a square metre, tier upon tier in huge ships for weeks at a time. Similarly on land. An official report in 1984 on Live Sheep Export Trade said: as two and a half to four and a half days… It is indisputable that sheep die during all phases of the live sheep export process." being chopped off more than l00m live frogs each year to preserve freshness for gourmets and that, with so many frogs being killed, insects are now breeding out of control." (The Advertiser 1987 March 5) People throughout
the ages have regarded animals
as mere possessions which could be treated as the owner wished.
Nowadays,
however, many universities are subject to strict guidelines on using
animals
in research. Cruelty and pain for their own sake are banned.
Considering that concern for animal rights is a modern phenomenon it may come as a surprise that the Bible also has rules and principals for the benefit of animals. In the Middle
East it was, and still is,
common to harness an ox and an ass together. Pulling wooden ploughs in
hard, stony soil, perhaps even uphill on sloping land may be beyond the
strength of one animal. Therefore two animals may be used. However, an
ox and an ass are of different strength and have different pulling
actions.
The weaker animal might undergo suffering and stress.
The Law of Moses stated: This command, as
well as others discussed below,
had the duel purpose of humane treatment of animals as well as the
giving
of a spiritual or moral lesson or reminder to humans. In the case of
not
yoking an ox and ass together the spiritual lesson was to remind Israel
that they should not intermarry with other nations. The Israelites
could,
however, yoke a young ox to a mature one to be trained in the habits of
the older animal. Jesus may have had this in mind as a comparison when
he said:
The Law of Moses
was strict on Sabbath keeping
with death the penalty for breaking the Sabbath. Nevertheless, when the
life or comfort of a domestic animal was threatened the animal could be
helped even on the Sabbath. A sheep or an ox could be rescued from a
pit
on a Sabbath. (Luke 14:5; Matthew 12:11) Cattle could be watered on the
Sabbath. (Luke 13:15) Animals were given a day of rest every week along
with humans. (Exodus 23:12; Deuteronomy 5:14)
Other commands indicating concern for animals, but not limited to the Sabbath, included: of one who hates you lying under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it, you shall help him lift it up." (Exodus 23:4-5) "You shall not
see your brother's ass or
his ox fallen down by the way, and withhold your help from "You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain." (Deuteronomy 2:4; 1 Timothy 5:19) One
purpose behind this last command could
be that a high quality diet would enable the animal to work at maximum
efficiency without losing weight or becoming exhausted. This command
(and
the others) therefore had economic significance besides indicating
concern
for animals.
The Bible portrays God as having concern for animal and bird life: "Are not two
sparrows sold for a penny? And
not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's will."
(Matthew
10:29) "Are not five
sparrows sold for two pennies?
And not one of them is forgotten before God." (Luke 12:6) "These all
look to thee, to give them their
food in due season." (Psalm 104:10-31) Some modern
animal liberationists oppose all
use of animal products such as fur, leather, milk, meat, eggs, fish,
etc,
and advise a vegetarian diet. The Bible, however, does not go that far.
We see then
that the mistreatment of animals
through vivisection or other cruelty or through general disregard is
contrary
to the Bible. The torturers of animals, whether ancient Romans or
modern
surgeons, were skeptics regarding Bible principles.
They were also
"unrighteous", "wicked" and
"cruel" as Proverbs 12:10 states: The Bible Revised Standard Version, 1952. Ruesch, H.1978 Slaughter of the Innocent, Futura. (A) The Bible – its
teachings, ethics and accuracy – investigated on this website:
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