Letters to the Editor
-
I wag my tail
I am a journalist (group editor, The Indian Express, New Delhi). Why do I say this right at the beginning? Because I know how hard it is to get a story/an analysis out on treatment of animals in the mainstream media. So Salon carrying Kerasote's account was for me as special as every "animal" story in the mainstream media -- someone else cares, someone else cares to look at the facts, be objective, and because of that convey the essential truth about animal mistreatment: how can we do this?
China, as Kerasote argues, has a mind-numbingly cruel infrastructure for "processing" dogs and cats. There are PETA videos, and those from other organisations, freely available on the net -- I risk dysfunctionality when I see them, can't handle them.
China is glacially indifferent to others' critique of its animal treatment, and when it deigns to say anything, it points to "cultural" differences. Which is why it is so important that Kerasote points out that the issue with dogs and cats is somewhat different. Yes, all cultures kill and eat animals. Yes, tragically, humane salughter is almost a contradiction in terms -- although, it is economically feasible -- everywhere, including in my country, India. But this is true, too: in China and in general in East Asia, something more than industrial organisation of food is involved; you see conduct that may even stir the soul of a meatpacking veteran in other countries. So the mainstream media has to write about this. Not sentimentally, but with logic.
I am fortunate enough to work in a newspaper that has a happy institutional bias towards treating animals well. My editor has 19 dogs, all of them rescued from the street. I have seven dogs who have equally fascinating and heart-warming pedigrees. The Express reacted vigorously when in Bangalore -- yup, the city that's supposed to be taking American jobs away -- civil authorities started a dreadful, illogical and cruel programme to kill all strays. That's physically impossible, and idiotic given that other Indian cities run successful animal birth control pogrammes.
I will take a lot, a hell of a lot, for China to comprehend that something odd is happening at the farms where dogs are skinned alive -- please go to the PETA site and see the video. Articles like Kerasote's are part of that long process. To him and to Salon, I say, If I had a tail, I would be wagging it furiously.
Saubhik Chakrabarti
Group Editor
Indian Express, New Delhi