Celebration of Suffering in Sainte-PerpétueBy: Stevan Harnad The treatment of the animals at this festival has just been condemned by the SPCA of Montreal. “This Festival,”writes Jean-Jacques Kona Boun, DMV, “fails to respect the 5 fundamental rights of animals specified by the l'Ordre des Médecins Vétérinaires du Québec” [translation: Pigs, piglets, hogs, sows and boars are forced to endure terror and torment. Frightened animals are penned in, chased, jumped on, pulled, pushed, battered and bruised by humans without a thought for their panic or pain. Videos from past Festivals show terrified, desperately squeeling creatures being dragged and dropped into containers with no concern for trauma or injury, forcibly held down in watery mud where they cannot breath, attacked from behind and pounced on from heights by people twice their size, some of the humans wearing helmets to protect themselves, with no thought of protection or mercy for their victims. Images : 1 2 3 (mailto:http:// These innocent animals have no idea why they are suddenly being pursued and terrorized and brutalized by screaming crowds of violent human beings. Celebrating dominance over helpless animals can only traumatize the more sensitive children and encourage abusive behaviors in the more aggressive children, which can in turn lead to violence and criminality in adult life. Research in psychology and criminology has repeatedly found that people who commit acts of cruelty against animals are likely to hurt their fellow humans too.* *Ascione FR & Arkow P (Eds) (1999) Child abuse, domestic violence, and animal abuse: Linking the circles of compassion for prevention and intervention (http://books.google.ca/ This wanton brutality only brings shame upon Quebec, along with untold suffering for defenseless creatures – suffering of a kind that we would never dream of allowing to be inflicted on our pets, nor on any human being. The Quebec Manifesto (http://animalsarenotobjects.ca) A petition calling on artists not to lend their names or their art to this Festival already has over 1,500 signatures (http://www.change.org/ Media, presenters and sponsors of this event are asked to transform it into nonviolent, nonabusive family entertainment, inspiring kindness and compassion in our future generations. Until and unless the Ste Perpétue Festival is reformed to eliminate all animal abuse, all media and the general public are asked to heed the call of Georges Laraque to boycott this event (http://www.lapresse.ca/ CONTACT: Stevan Harnad -- Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Sciences (http://crcsc.uqam.ca) End
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