Black-and-white views blind the animal rights movement  

Eric Bahrt makes reference to goats and shaggy dogs, but the subject of my letter was sheep shearing, which I have witnessed many times near my childhood home in rural Scotland and can never recall seeing any evidence of cruelty. Mr Bahrt – who thinks that sheep grow fur rather than a fleece, so he’s clearly not a country boy – adopts one of the favourite tactics of the animal rights lobby – presenting instances of maltreatment of animals as if they were normal practice, instead of isolated lapses, as they almost always are, especially in more developed countries. This is then used as a basis for demanding the complete obliteration of all livestock farming, instead of the common sense approach of demanding more effective animal welfare laws, and more effective enforcement.
If these activists get their way, countless millions of people’s livelihoods would be lost, and traditional ways of life all around the world would disappear, as would many traditional manufacturing industries, including Thai silk. It beggars belief that the animal rights organisation PETA recommends rayon as one of the alternatives to silk. What a bunch of Philistines! The silent majority need to guard against the attacks being launched on our freedom of choice and our preferred lifestyles by a motley crew of crackpots, dreamers, eccentrics and extremists.
Robin Grant
Bangkok