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Animal Welfare Performance Vignettes
Tags: animal, education, humane, welfare
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The Stray Kittens
There are several stray kittens that live in the alley behind your house, but there is no sign of their mother. Some of your neighbors occasionally feed them scraps but no one has taken responsibility for them. You notice that their fur is matted; they have cuts and bruises and sneeze a lot. They cry out a lot, but their mother never comes. Sometimes when they seem people they run away, but only because one of your neighbors was annoyed with the noise they were making and threw a cup of hot water at them to scare them away. You wonder how they will survive when winter arrives and if there’s something you can do to help them. What kind of choices can you make to better this situation?
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The Chained Dog
On your way home every day you pass a small shop where the owner keeps a dog for security. During the day, he ties the dog to a tree out front. You’ve passed by this shop at different time of the day and you always seen this dog out there, so you are pretty sure the dog is chained to the tree from the moment the shop owner opens his doors in the morning until he closes his doors for the night, but never once have you noticed a bowl of water or any food being given to the dog. Today is one of the hottest days of the year in Hanoi, with temperatures over 40 Celsius, and when you pass by the shop you notice the dog seems very weak and sickly. Is there something you can do to help this dog? What kind of choices can you make to better this situation?
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The Strange Boy
There’s a boy that you know that constantly brags to his friends about doing strange things. One day you hear him telling someone that he swung his cat over his head, and threw it out a window in his house. He seems not to show any remorse and in fact, he was laughing as he told his story to his friend. This conversation disturbs you and you wonder whether or not it’s true. You don’t know this boy very well, but you have heard him tell stories like this before. Sometimes, you have also seen him be cruel to younger kids. What can you do to make sure that this cat is not suffering and that the boy is getting psychological help? What kind of choices can you make to better this situation?
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The Caged Monkey
After school you and your friends often go to the park to hang out and play badminton or football. In the middle of the park there is an iron cage holding a monkey. The monkey has been there as long as you can remember and people often stop by to watch it. Some people give it pieces of fruit, while others sometimes throw rocks or sticks at it. When the monkey gets angry or frightened it jumps around and makes loud screeching noises, which some people find entertaining. Today you are visiting the park with your friends and you notice a group of young kids standing around the monkey cage. They are taking turns throwing stones at the monkey, trying to get it to jump around its cage. You can see that the monkey is very agitated and can already hear it beginning to screech hysterically. What can you do to help defuse this situation? What kind of choices can you make to better this situation?
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The Car Accident
You and your friends are enjoying Café sua dá at a sidewalk café on a busy street when you see a dog darting in and out of traffic as it tries to get across the street. Suddenly the dog is struck by a motorbike being driven by a young boy who is going much too fast. The dog flies several feet into the air and comes crashing down in the street with a loud yelp, while the boy just speeds off without stopping. From where you are sitting, you can see the dog is still alive, but hurt. It appears that one of his legs may be broken. He is obviously in pain because he is shaking, but perhaps he is just frightened as the cars and motorbikes continue to drive around him. Is there something you can do to help this dog? What kind of choices can you make to better this situation?
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Indigestion
“Last week my best friend learned that he had been accepted into a very selective and prestigious University program. He invited me and several of our other friends to celebrate with him over dinner this weekend and I was looking forward to it, but now he says he wants to go for thịt chó (dog meat). I don’t know how I feel about that, but suddenly I feel conflicted. I realize that lots of people eat it and its traditional thing to do to celebrate, but I also feel like I want no part of it because I know how those dogs are treated before they are slaughtered. If I patronize that kind of restaurant, I feel like I would be approving of it. On the other hand, this night is supposed to be about my friend and not about me. I just don’t know what to do.”
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Family Trouble
“I recently read this brochure about some of the reasons to consider adopting a vegetarian diet. I never was than concerned about the fact that animals had to die for me to enjoy eating them…I guess we all kind of realize that at some level…but I was completely surprised to learn about how meat-based diets contribute to environmental problems, like global warming and pollution, as well as the various health problems associated with meat and dairy consumption. When I brought up the subject with my parents, my Father became really angry and told me to through that “rubbish” away. He didn’t want to talk about it at all and told me that I had to eat what everyone else ate or I could go ahead and starve! I really want to learn more about becoming a vegetarian but I don’t think my parents will support me.”
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Target Practice
“A friend told me the other day that just last week he was walking home from school with some of his friends. One of these friends had a slingshot that he had fashioned from an old bicycle tire tube and a tree branch. They were all all laughing and joking as they took a short cut through the park, taking turns shooting rocks at tin cans and bottles, trying to impress each other with their accuracy. Suddenly, one of the boys spotted a cat a little further off in the distance and said to the others, “Cans and bottles are easy…they don’t move…let’s see if I can hit that cat over there!” He grabbed the slingshot and began stalking the cat, moving forward away from the group of boys. One of the other boys went him, teasing him that he couldn’t hit the cat even “if his life depended upon it”. Then, one by one, the other boys also went off to join them. Your friend was upset and uncomfortable and wasn’t sure what to do. He called after his friends to “come back” and to “knock it off”, but they didn’t pay any attention to him. He didn’t want to hurt the cat, but he also didn’t want to look weak or to seem like a “killjoy” in front of his friends.”
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