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I’m very disappointed at the Philippines’ lack of concern for animal rights or prevention of animal cruelty. People are always harping about how it’s good to be “socially involved”, but I’d rather save animals than do charity to those who are less fortunate than I am. In the first place, I don’t like helping people I don’t know or don’t care about; their problems are none of my concern. Even if roles were reversed, I would feel uncomfortable if a total stranger offered me their charity.

Animals, however, are an entirely different matter. Against a human being who threatens to harm them, abandon them, or destroy their natural habitat, claws and sharp teeth can’t always save them. While there are hardly any reports of animal abuse on the news in the Philippines, that doesn’t mean that crimes against animals are non-existent over here. And it’s depressing to note that a lot of people wouldn’t feel guilty about hurting an innocent critter because they’re “just animals”.

Since the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) appears to be dead, I shall dub myself an animal rights activist and use my blog to protest against cruelty to animals. With this in mind, let me encourage you all to do a good deed and save some animals this Easter.

Any Christian or person living in the Philippines knows that today is Good Friday. Which means that two days from now, it will be Easter Sunday.

What usually happens on Easter Sunday?
Easter egg hunts.

Who participates in Easter egg hunts?
Little beasts people like to call “children”.

What kind of prizes are given away during Easter egg hunts?
Bunnies and other live, baby animals.

According to this website, bunnies are not as easy to take care of as they seem to be. While they may seem happy spending their days twitching their noses, rabbits need as much care as a young child. They have to be toilet-trained and constantly supervised while they are out of their cages. A feeding-routine and cage-cleaning routine needs to be established - and rabbits do tend to crap quite a lot. Aside from this, rabbits are social creatures and thus need daily exercise and plenty of attention. And guess what? They live up to ten years. Having a pet bunny means ten years of this kind of vigilant care for a decade and cute as they are, I doubt anyone will be up to the task.

But even with yaya taking care of the rabbit, they still do not make ideal pets for kids. They are very delicate creatures and can get hurt if a child handles them a little too roughly. Unlike cats and dogs, bunnies don’t show any affection to the hand that feeds them. Since watching the rabbit’s nose twitch doesn’t really count as real interaction, children will eventually lose interest in them and end up abandoning the pet. Now isn’t that cheerful?

Aside from bunnies, ducklings and dyed chicks are given away to children as consolation prizes and are far more difficult to care for. Ducklings need to be kept warm and dry, which can be quite a task since they like to make a mess with their drinking water. They need a constant supply of fresh waterl if they don’t get drink right after they eat, they could choke and die. And even with proper care, these little animals can get easily killed by neighborhood predators, e.g. cats, dogs, and rats.

So what can be done to prevent easter animal cruelty? Discourage your kid siblings, cousins, or your own children from attending Easter events that give away live animals as prizes. Let them know that pets aren’t mere playthings; they require proper care and attention and therefore, need responsible people to look after them. If they insist on getting something cute , cuddly and forgettable for Easter, buy them stuffed toys instead. (Or, get them candy. Candy always makes everything bad go away.)

Children just aren’t mature and responsible enough to properly care for high-maintenance pets like bunnies, and a busy adult has no time to look after them, either. So save a bunny and boycott an Easter egg hunt!

Relevant links:
Bunnies at Easter: A Sad Story
Chicks and Ducks and Bunnies
Easter Bunnies Face Sad Fate after Holiday Excitement Ends
Where do Bunnies Go after Easter?
Welfare Warning on Easter Bunnies

* Writers have very fragile egos. Or rather, (since generalizing is evul) people like me who consider themselves writers have very fragile egos. I haven’t written any fiction in a little over a month and it’s depressing because my worth as a human being is defined by what I love doing: the fact that I can supposedly churn out writing. When you’re a writer who can’t even string a decent sentence together, then what the hell are you?

No, blog entries don’t really count as “writing” for me. Even though I do put a lot of thought in what I put down here, it’s so easy to write about things that already exist. My feeling depressed about not being able to write, for instance, is something that’s easy to verbalize because I am simply decribing something that’s troubling me. (I don’t think I’m doing that well enough though but give me a break, it’s almost 2 a.m.) With fiction, it’s an entirely different matter. You have to make people believe that something that exists as an idea in your head is actually a genuine human emotion or experience. And that is something that can’t be done just by simply stating the facts in a flowery manner. In other words, writing short stories is a lot more complex than just bitching and whining about what a talentless slob I am, which is pretty much the only writing I can do right now.

It’s getting so bad that I can’t bear to read anything else except stupid anecdotes from somethingawful.com. When I read somebody else’s fiction, I get plagued by thoughts about how this author is better human being than I am even though I think his/her stories are stupid and convoluted as fuck. And it makes me feel even worse. For instance, take this story by Chuck fucking Paluhniuk. This guy is the most pretentious piece of shit I’ve ever come across. All of his stuff is nothing but, “Look at me, I’m such a clever writer. My characters jabber away like 16-year old punks on meth and I know that Arabian men like to masturbate with a rod jammed up their dickhole!” Then again, do I really have the right to bitch about how much I hate this guy and his writing? He’s got a million books published. I don’t.

*sigh* Maybe I should just try to get sleep. This isn’t exactly doing wonders for my self-esteem.

* Though I gotta admit, digitally defacing his book cover made me feel much better.

The 2nd Philippine Blogging Summit shall be on Tuesday, April 18 at the U.P. College of Law, U.P. Diliman, Quezon City from 9 am to 5 pm. Same as last year, this event is FREE! (register here)

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