SOUTH AFRICAN ANIMAL LAW REVIEW CONSULTATION WORKSHOP
WELCOME ADDRESS
On behalf of Animal Rights Africa I would like to extend a very warm welcome to all of you for attending the first consultative gathering of the animal protection sector on animal legislation in South Africa. A special welcome, also, to all the people who have come from other parts of the country to participate in the workshop today. Your presence here today reflects the commitment to bringing a better life to animals. It is one of the greatest days for animal rights, welfare and protection. We want to give a big thank you to all the presenters – without their participation, valuable contributions and insights this workshop would not have been possible. We also want give a special vote of thanks to Felix Schenier, whose generosity made this significant extraordinary workshop possible.As you may know, ARA is committed to the promotion of inclusive justice , showing compassion across species and building a better future in a post Apartheid South Africa. ARA is self-consciously located in the post-TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) South Africa of renewal and reconciliation, where our experience of prejudice, discrimination and violence enables us to empathise with the suffering of other species. This workshop has particular resonance for ARA because globally animals are facing cruelty on a gargantuan scale. And in our still transforming South African society the current levels of animal abuse, cruelty, exploitation and oppression is a critical and burdensome challenge confronting us all.
Nevertheless, at the same time as there has also been a moral shift - as people become aware and conscious of the fact that animals have active minds, passionate hearts, and moral codes. Animals have a life before they turn into food, trophies, etc. Animals have agency. Indeed, they have their own cultures and traditions. Knowing this demands that we treat them with respect and compassion. We have an obligation to work toward the improvement of the quality of life of all the earth’s inhabitants, both human and other animals. There is an inextricable link between our treatment and slaughter of animals and our treatment and slaughter of other human beings. Human, animal, and environmental exploitation are tightly interconnected, such that no one form of exploitation can be abolished without ending the others.
Concern for humans and concern for other animals are not as divergent as some would think and these concerns do not take place in a social or economic vacuum or outside of political ideology but are framed in terms of social justice and rights discourse.
We need to rethink what it means to be human on Earth. We need to be sensitive to vulnerability – this means special concern for the helpless, for other animals, the poor, the young, the undefended, the marginalised and concern for future generations. Through notions of justice, democracy, reconciliation, inclusiveness and the concept of Ubuntu we can heal ourselves and unite and intermingle in a web of commonality with the marginalised and with what is perceived to be the ‘other’.
More and more people are seeing animals as subjects rather than objects, as intelligent beings rather than brute things or machines, as moral equals rather than slaves. Legislative systems are broadening the scope of animal protection; science (cognitive ethology) is revolutionizing our views of animals through remarkable discoveries about the complexity of their emotions, social life, intelligence, and communication; and philosophy is articulating an increasingly influential argument for animal rights¬ and the elimination of animal slavery and oppression.
So, the bottom line is that the world is changing and South African legislation must reflect these changes.
Existing laws in South Africa allow animals to be treated in ways that demean us as a species. In addition, the State is shirking its legislative responsibility and as a consequence, it has, to all intents and purposes, outsourced and devolved animal issues to under-resourced animal NGOs.
There is no doubt that there is a need to recognise animals as having interests and requiring comprehensive legal protection.
This is why this is a critically important and historic workshop and the task at hand will not be easy but we know that we can rise to the challenge. We are confident that no obstacle will be large enough to block our path. A bright future beckons. The onus is on us to reach for the stars. We owe it to the animals, we MUST act in their interests and we cannot not fail them. We owe nonhuman animals equal consideration of their interests, and that to give them less is speciesism, a prejudice as objectionable as racism and sexism.
I’m sure you are all aware that the so-called “animal protection” legislation in South Africa is ANCIENT – it was essentially drafted during the colonial and apartheid eras and is not only totally out of date and out of step but it does not reflect current societal values.
Alarmingly, the Department of Agriculture has made some moves towards rewriting the legislation with the focus more on USE than on welfare.
The idea for this workshop was thus initiated in order to to discuss the way forward and to:
- lend urgency to the task of addressing the wrong done to animals in South Africa;
- Identify gaps and challenges
- discuss strategies
- ensure that any loopholes in our animal protection legislation are closed;
- strengthen the hands of enforcement
- to lobby for not merely changing the law but changing the law for the better.
Finally, this meeting is an essential and inspirational steppingstone for making positive change, for increasing compassion, empathy, respect and dignity. I am sure that everyone here today wants animals to get the very best deal: so we should not allow their welfare interests to be eroded. The process we have embarked on today cannot be derailed – we must talk with one voice and we must strive to meet the ideal.
Again, a huge welcome, and we wish you successful and productive deliberations!
MICHELE PICKOVER
ANIMAL RIGHTS AFRICA COORIDNATOR
13 AUGUST 2009