I’m a celebrity…get me out of here…
…so how do they think the animals feel then?!
Confinement, fear, injuries…what fun! what entertainment! This show has it all – for the animals ritually exploited in this predictable format.
A ‘ploise explain’ question for Chris Brown…How can you, as a vet who is supposed to care for ALL animals, countenance a show that treats creatures as objects of entertaiment, just because we humans have deemed them to be ‘disgusting/ worthless’?
With the notable exception of the ‘celebrities’, every single animal on this show has evolved to perfection over millenia, filling its own vital niche in the real world wide web.
Even much maligned mosquitoes are an essential part of the world’s ecosystem, providing food for other animals at all stages of their lifecycle.
Of course mozzies are vectors for some serious diseases and are about as popular in the bedroom as a snorer/farter combined. All farmers/gardeners will sometimes feel like ‘it’s us against bloody &*%$ them’ (from experience!). But these are individual battles and each should be chosen wisely…noone wins if we are always at war with the ‘other’…and this also includes how we treat humans who are different to us.
Some ways to treat insects and reptiles better…
- store buckets etc upside down so critters don’t get stuck inside and die,
- put spiders and flies outside (a glass and a piece of paper works for spiders, a large soft cloth like a t-shirt is a good way to catch flies at a window;
- try not to wash insects down the drain, and if you see one drowning, rescue it;
- snakes are much more beautiful with their head attached to their bodies, and they will get away from you a lot more quickly this way too!
- don’t keep reptiles as pets unless you really know what is best for the animal.
Let’s show integrity…instead of dumb fear!
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This week I would like to offer my apologies to the animals and people of South Africa for what we are inflicting on them. (I would also like to offer an apology to the critters that end up as the food for carnivorous rescue animals of all types 😦 …I have had mice, rats and crickets as companions, they were all lovely, and definitely individuals with different favourite rest spots and foods… I will try and do something nice for them later!)
Background to Save Me Reptile Rescue
I have been rescuing animals all my life. Even as a child people would bring injured cats, dogs and birds to me. All my life I have been doing my best to rescue rehabilitate and rehome animals. The number of animals, I have rehomed over the years are countless.
One day I fell in love with a bearded dragon I named Draco. Draco was with me all the time, he went shopping, visiting friends, on holiday, to the bush. Draco died of old age at 10 years old, and I miss him every day.
Over time I have come to realise there is a need for reptiles and exotics to be rescued. There are many institutions who rescue cats and dogs. It’s also easier to find a cute kitty or puppy a home rather than a “scary” lizard or a snake
It brings me great pleasure when I meet a person who “would never touch a snake” and ends up leaving with the thought that “its actually quite beautiful”. I want all people to understand that snakes are not evil. In fact they are vital to our eco system.
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So to paraphrase from their site…all creatures great and small…let’s love them all!
P.S. Speaking of reptiles, this morning I went out before sunrise with a torch to pick some grapes and was surprised by a velvet gecko up in the vine, munching away on them…maybe it’s a closet vego…haha!!
52 charities - 52 weeks 