AUBites - Wildlife Protection vs Animal Rights

Last week's issue of Outlook featured two pieces about animals. An article about creating a law that protects animals under the school of animal rights, and this comic below.

One of the things I get constantly is,: "But you love animals!!!!"

Here's the thing, I as a person with a deep background in Zoology living in Lebanon know of what is exactly the purpose of the passing the law of protecting animals as in them having rights. The main purpose is to protect feral cats and dogs found in the city. There is no intention what so ever towards any wildlife. What people don't know is that these feral cats and dogs do much damage to native animals more than good, protecting the ferals is crushing any last hope for protecting native animals.

Now you might say that protecting animals would protect the native animals. But not many know that there a species of wild cats in Lebanon which is the jungle/swamp cat (Felis chaus) which has suffered dramatically by cross breeding with the feral cat (Felis domesticus). Also golden jackals (Canis aureus), Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes), Arabian wolf (Canis lupus arabs) are all under threat from cross breading with feral dogs. This is not to mention all the other animals that are the weaker links of the food chain creating competition to other native species. Overall, they are just pieces of destruction to the overall biodiversity of the Lebanese ecosystem.

Something else which is very important that people sadly prefer to help animals over people. Millions people suffer from injustice, illnesses, and other problems. Yet they still want to help the mutts that roam through the garbages. When will they ever get the human sense of that there is a priority to life, why not help the orphans in orphanages or the elderly? And still they say that they can stop over-population of cats and dogs by neutering them... All the money they spend to neuter a cat can be used to support families.

If it came to me, I'd kill all feral cats and dogs, and use their meat to feed gulper sharks (Centrophorus granulosus), arabian wolves (Canis lupus arabs), and striped hyenas (Hyaena hyaena) which are all endangered species and create a program or support an existing program to promote wildlife and work on that.