Protestors guilty of bullying (Letter, Dominion Post 15 May)
The standover tactics employed by the noisy rabble outside Wellington’s Le Canard restaurant (May 12-13) are repellent in the extreme.
As self-styled “professional people with sensible jobs”, they should know that the concerns they have with the production of foie gras lie with producers in France, not with a restauranteur going about his legitimate and “sensible” business.
They are not only creating a public nuisance but are also guilty of bullying, an action that shows a lack of probity greater than that involved in over-feeding a farmyard bird.
The arrogance of [members]… of Speak up for Animals, … those who know what’s best for everyone else, including all non-human organisms (although apparently excluding micro-organisms) should be resisted at every turn, irrespective of their warped beliefs.
Letter to Editor by Allen Heath, Woburn. (Dominion Post, p. B4 Abridged)
Allen Heath is a biologist of some standing, so it is surprising that he has deliberately chosen to forget his 5th form biology and spout out the old chestnut about there being no difference between micro-organisms, plants, and sentient animals. Dr. Heath knows full well that behavioural, anatomical and physiological studies point toward the presence of pain, and higher emotions in the animals we use for food, but not in plants or micro-organisms. I am sure as a good Darwinian he is also aware of the evolutionary arguments favouring consciousness in animals but not plants. His deliberate obtuseness is therefore particularly repellent, and puts the reputation of my profession into disrepute.
Dr, Heath thinks that legal protest is bullying. He perhaps rails at people ramming opinions down his throut, without considering the nature of what is rammed down the throat of innocent geese, twice a day for two weeks, causing swelling of the liver, postural difficulties, rupture of the oesophagus and other difficulties, in order to provide titbits for the wealthy.
His comments on econmics are also faux-naive. I am sure Dr Heath realises as well as I do that there are two parts to any economic transaction – supply side and demand side. By influencing the demand for products of cruelty, we can influence supply. Since we are based in Wellington, not France, it makes sense to concentrate on the demand side. We are insolidarity with French animal activists who are tackling supply sides.
Dr Michael Morris