Anti Bothar Campaign Launched

national | animal rights | news report Friday November 17, 2006 13:07 by Anti Bothar Campaign PO Box 4734, Dublin 1.

A new group, the 'Anti Bothar Campaign', has been formed which aims are to highlight the cruelty to animals that the Bothar charity encourage and participate in- in the hopes of stopping them from promoting this cruelty ever again.

WHY THIS CAMPAIGN WAS SET UP:

It was brought to our attention that Limerick charity Bothar currently have a catalogue out for Christmas, asking people to purchase animals to send to families in third-world countries as gifts.

The fact that Bothar are encouraging people to participate in the live export and certain death of so many innocent, defenceless, intelligent animals is disgusting. This is why we have decided to launch a campaign to highlight the immeasurable cruelty involved in what they are trying to do.

Animals are sentient beings that should be respected and loved, and should not be seen as 'commodities', as was so heartlessly put it in their catalogue.

It was also misleading to see how Bothar advertised these 'gifts' with pictures of children holding, cuddling or petting the animals- as if they were beloved family pets. Quite encouraging for unaware people. I wonder would so many people donate if the pictures were of the animals being slaughtered? Or even skinned carcases? Maybe an emmaciated, beaten animal tied to a fence in the scorching sun? Think about it.

All animals are individuals with feelings- they experience love, happiness, loneliness, and fear- just as people do.

THE ANIMALS BOTHAR ARE SENDING TO THEIR DEATH THIS YEAR:

Cows, Goats, Camels, Rabbits, Hens, Sows, Yaks, Fish, Sheep, Guinea Fowl and Honey Bees.

FACTS:

Fish, like all animals, feel pain. Hauled from the water, fish experience an excruciatingly painful decompression followed by a slow, distressing death by suffocation.

Apart from all the ethical reasons as to why no one should sponsor the torture and death of an animal, here are some environmental reasons:

In the UK, raising animals for food requires almost one-third of all of all raw materials and fossil fuels used in the UK. (Producing one hamburger uses enough fossil fuels to drive a small car 35 kilometres and enough for 17 showers).

In addition to the pollution generated by fossil fuel consumption, animals raised for food produce 80 million tonnes of excrement each year. This excrement, swimming with parasites, anti-biotics and pesticides, befouls our air, pollutes our water, and destroys our topsoil.

Eighty per cent of agricultural land is used to raise animals for food. A vegan diet requires about 1/6 acre of land per year, whilst a vegetarian diet requires three times as much, and a meat based diet- an unbelievable- 20 TIMES AS MUCH!
Whether fish farming or commercial fishing, the fish slaughter industry is destroying fragile aquatic ecosystems at rate unparalleled in all of human history.

Also, all meat, eggs and dairy products contain high concentrations of saturated fat and cholesterol, which have been irrefutably linked to heart disease, cancer, and strokes- the three leading killers in the world. A vegan diet provides all the protein and nutrition a person needs- without the ill effects of meat and dairy.

Why introduce the killing of so many animals and the consumption of meat to mostly vegetarian countries? You've read the facts above, are Bothar really doing them a favour? How much more food would be available, and how much more healthy would those people be if they lived on a vegetarian diet.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

We hope that the majority of people will realise that you can't stop human suffering with the deaths of animals, and so we ask that you please discourage family and friends from supporting Bothar and that you please contact Bothar and ask them to stop this cruelty to animals immediately. Ask them to replace their catalogue with one that would actually help those people, like instead asking people to buy animals for those less fortunate, why not ask people to sponser bags of grain to grow crops? There are hundreds of vegetarian options for people to sponser. Why not even ask people to sponser a share in the cost of building these people homes?

Bothar Contact Details:

Bothar,
Old Clare Street,
Limerick.

Tel. (061) 414 142
FREEPHONE: 1800 268 463

Fax. (061) 315 833

Email: info@bothar.org
maureen@bothar.ie