Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1515804
IT might be slightly 'cliché', to start an article about animal wel- fare with one of Mahatma Gan- dhi's most famous quotes on the subject… but what the heck? 'Cli- chés' become 'cliché' for a very good reason, you know (and be- sides: I happen to be running a lit- tle late this morning; so the earlier we get this show on the road, the greater the chance I actually meet my mid-afternoon deadline.) So without further ado, here goes: "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." And there you have it: Mahatma Gandhi's most instantly-recognis- able epigram; a quote so famous, it has since doubled up as a slogan for countless animal shelters, ani- mal advocacy groups, and animal rights NGOs, worldwide… …even if, apparently, those words never actually appear any- where, in any of the 98 volumes of the 'Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi'. [Quick digression: according to the Hindustani Times, "this is a quote attributed to Gandhi by an unknown author who wanted to cast the Mahatma in a romanti- cised light". And hey, you never know: this information might one day win you a million euros… if it ever crops up as the winning ques- tion, in 'Who Wants To Be A Mil- lionaire'!] Useless digressions aside, how- ever: there are a couple of other disclaimers that have to be made, before this show can progress any further. The first is that: regardless whether or not Mahatma Gandhi ever said those words: they still remain the opinion of only one, single, solitary human being. And no matter how widely-shared that opinion might be… it can still al- ways be challenged by anyone who happens to (for whatever rea- son) think differently. Secondly: there is always going to be a certain element of 'hypoc- risy', involved in actually applying that maxim to the 'moral progress' of any real 'nation'. To put that another way: Gan- dhi, as far as I am aware, was 100% vegetarian. I myself am no such thing; and nor, I wager, are around 90% of my readers. Effectively, this means that our own 'moral progress' should also be judged by how we treat all the 'animals' (and 'animal-products') that we ourselves consume, in the course of our daily lives… And what can I say? It's like be- ing judged in a trial-by-media: you're 'found guilty', before the case even begins… So, erm… maybe it wasn't such a good idea to start with that Gan- dhi quote, huh? After all: cliches can also become 'problematic', for equally valid reasons. But still: we're here now, aren't we? And as far as I can see, there's only one direction out of this 'other fine mess I've gotten myself into, this time'… How about, then, we all just ad- mit to being hypocrites, for the time being… and accept that we are ALL at least just a little 'guilty', of the gross crimes being per- petrated against animals, in this country, on a daily basis… … so this way, we can free our- selves up to concentrate on the only aspect of Malta's animal welfare sector that I have – com- pletely arbitrarily, I freely admit – CHOSEN to focus on, for the purposes of this article. 'Abandoned animals'. That is to say: all the countless 'cats and dogs' (and yes, all sorts of other critters) that routinely turn up on the doorsteps of Malta's severe- ly over-crowded animal shelters, every single day of the week. And not just the ones which al- so turn out to have been 'shot', or 'beaten', or 'starved', or 'mauled by other (equally mistreated) dogs' (or even 'roughly treated by Ani- mal Welfare officers, during a res- cue'….) Again, there are perfectly good reasons why those cases are bound to attract far more media coverage, than others… even if we all know, at the end of the day, that they represent just the 'tip-of- the-iceberg'. [Note: another thing about clichés, is that they're a little like 'Pringles'. Once you pop, you can't stop…] But just to give you an idea of the sheer scale of the crisis, faced by the Animal Welfare Department maltatoday | SUNDAY • 11 FEBRUARY 2024 10 OPINION Going to the dogs… Raphael Vassallo There are perfectly good reasons why those cases are bound to attract far more media coverage, than others… even if we all know, at the end of the day, that they represent just the 'tip- of-the-iceberg'