Tarw Coch
Member
- Location
- Bottom of Wats Dyke
Where the humans left behind are more likely to be killed than if the animals were left behind
The mind boggles
Geronimo.
- Thread starter Castle Farm
- Start date
The mind boggles
- Location
- somerset
many things could be said about todays politicians, a lot of negative things, perhaps. But, give them their due, their ears are exceptional good, at hearing public opinion, and their brains react, to make sure their views are in accord with the the loudest of the public.
So, in reality, geromino, has become a highly political hot potato, for a change, l feel sorry for the min vets, absolutely impossible to come out of it, with any creditability, and, if it proves negative after ..........................
As for the rescued cats and dogs, from afghanistan, that is absolutely disgusting, to put dogs and cats, ahead of humans, is not credible. Whether right or wrong, l did hear the plane was supplied by well wishers, and our lot, facilitated it's landing, probably a sound political move, by them. It was blatantly unfair to put our troops in that position, in the first place, but it does sum up, the fact that many people put pets, before humanity.
So, in reality, geromino, has become a highly political hot potato, for a change, l feel sorry for the min vets, absolutely impossible to come out of it, with any creditability, and, if it proves negative after ..........................
As for the rescued cats and dogs, from afghanistan, that is absolutely disgusting, to put dogs and cats, ahead of humans, is not credible. Whether right or wrong, l did hear the plane was supplied by well wishers, and our lot, facilitated it's landing, probably a sound political move, by them. It was blatantly unfair to put our troops in that position, in the first place, but it does sum up, the fact that many people put pets, before humanity.
Exfarmer
Member
- Location
- Bury St Edmunds
The Times has quite a bit to say about this evacuation.
Sadly nobody has picked up on the disease aspect of it but they have little time for the abuse that Pen and his supporters aimed at the government .
Sadly Boris caved in no doubt with somebody squeezing his doo dahs
A good piece by Charlotte Elvers in her Comment in The Times
Do you ever feel like you’re going slightly insane? Like the world has shifted so far from your understanding that the only explanation must be that some hitherto undisturbed part of your brain has melted?
I experienced this feeling while listening to Tom Swarbrick’s late-night show on LBC last week. He was taking calls on the topic of Operation Ark — the effort to evacuate about 200 animals from Afghanistan. Caller after caller declared that the animals should be saved even if that meant diverting resources away from rescuing people. I listened in astonishment. One thing I had always presumed that everyone could agree on was that a human life is worth more than an animal life. How wrong I was. Quantifiably wrong, in fact. A YouGov poll last week showed 40 per cent of people think an animal life is worth the same as a human life.
If you’ve been lucky enough to miss this debacle, let me summarise. Paul “Pen” Farthing, a former marine who owns an animal charity, wanted to evacuate his 200 rescue cats and dogs from Kabul. They were denied access to an RAF flight because, well, you can’t put dogs on an RAF plane, and also there are desperate people who need to be on it.
A lobbying campaign ensued. Farthing was eventually told he would be able to charter his own plane — if he could get to the airport under his own steam. But you don’t just swan into Kabul airport. The defence secretary, Ben Wallace, growing increasingly irate at the farce, told MPs last week, “I have soldiers on the ground who have been diverted from saving those people because of inaccurate stories, inaccurate lobbying that have diverted that resource.” What really got to me is the fact that so many people seem to think this is a reasonable trade-off.
Think of those photographs of actual humans handing their babies to British soldiers, unsure if they will ever see them again. A thousand eligible Afghans will not make it to the UK.
Last week I texted a few MPs, asking: Have you had more campaigning emails from constituents about saving human refugees, or animals? All but one said animals. Perhaps I should not have been surprised. For years, parliamentary staff have told me their inboxes are dominated by pleas to save animals, regardless of any human suffering anywhere in the world.
I understand the urge to protect helpless animals. We have always been a nation of animal lovers. There is a proud history of tabloid campaigns to save condemned fluffy creatures. Most recently the star of the show has been Geronimo, the TB-ridden alpaca whose death was ordered four years ago. He is now on his third environment secretary.
In 1987 there was Blackie, the donkey beaten and dragged through the streets as part of a fiesta tradition, saved from Spain by the Daily Star and rehomed in England. Then there was Anne, Britain’s last circus elephant, rescued in 2011 after more than £400,000 was raised to give her a new life.
Late in the day, our government has caught on to the trend. There is a temptation to attribute the Conservative Party’s conversion to the cause of animal rights to the prime minister’s wife, Carrie. This does not capture the whole story. The Tory animal rights revolution began in 2017 when MPs and candidates felt stung by the anger shown during the general election about the party’s position on fox hunting. Those who returned to Westminster had a conviction that Something Must Be Done to correct the view that the government was a bunch of fox-murdering toffs.
There were two further factors. An internal poll showed that environmental issues were one of the few areas that the public cared about and also did not feel that either of the big political parties owned. And there was a plea from the Downing Street policy unit for policy ideas that were popular, cheap and did not require legislation: the Holy Grail for a government with minimal support, less money and even less of a majority. Thus we were inundated with animal-friendly policies, from banning plastic straws to reintroducing three beavers to the countryside. The latter policy warranted a government press release.
I have watched the government’s animal infatuation with mild bemusement, but an overall sense of affection. But the fact that, in order to secure the safe passage of some dogs and cats, resources, time and energy have been diverted from saving people who have put themselves at risk to work for our country? I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all. And I really don’t like what it says about our country.
@CharlotteIvers
Sadly nobody has picked up on the disease aspect of it but they have little time for the abuse that Pen and his supporters aimed at the government .
Sadly Boris caved in no doubt with somebody squeezing his doo dahs
A good piece by Charlotte Elvers in her Comment in The Times
Do you ever feel like you’re going slightly insane? Like the world has shifted so far from your understanding that the only explanation must be that some hitherto undisturbed part of your brain has melted?
I experienced this feeling while listening to Tom Swarbrick’s late-night show on LBC last week. He was taking calls on the topic of Operation Ark — the effort to evacuate about 200 animals from Afghanistan. Caller after caller declared that the animals should be saved even if that meant diverting resources away from rescuing people. I listened in astonishment. One thing I had always presumed that everyone could agree on was that a human life is worth more than an animal life. How wrong I was. Quantifiably wrong, in fact. A YouGov poll last week showed 40 per cent of people think an animal life is worth the same as a human life.
If you’ve been lucky enough to miss this debacle, let me summarise. Paul “Pen” Farthing, a former marine who owns an animal charity, wanted to evacuate his 200 rescue cats and dogs from Kabul. They were denied access to an RAF flight because, well, you can’t put dogs on an RAF plane, and also there are desperate people who need to be on it.
A lobbying campaign ensued. Farthing was eventually told he would be able to charter his own plane — if he could get to the airport under his own steam. But you don’t just swan into Kabul airport. The defence secretary, Ben Wallace, growing increasingly irate at the farce, told MPs last week, “I have soldiers on the ground who have been diverted from saving those people because of inaccurate stories, inaccurate lobbying that have diverted that resource.” What really got to me is the fact that so many people seem to think this is a reasonable trade-off.
Think of those photographs of actual humans handing their babies to British soldiers, unsure if they will ever see them again. A thousand eligible Afghans will not make it to the UK.
Last week I texted a few MPs, asking: Have you had more campaigning emails from constituents about saving human refugees, or animals? All but one said animals. Perhaps I should not have been surprised. For years, parliamentary staff have told me their inboxes are dominated by pleas to save animals, regardless of any human suffering anywhere in the world.
I understand the urge to protect helpless animals. We have always been a nation of animal lovers. There is a proud history of tabloid campaigns to save condemned fluffy creatures. Most recently the star of the show has been Geronimo, the TB-ridden alpaca whose death was ordered four years ago. He is now on his third environment secretary.
In 1987 there was Blackie, the donkey beaten and dragged through the streets as part of a fiesta tradition, saved from Spain by the Daily Star and rehomed in England. Then there was Anne, Britain’s last circus elephant, rescued in 2011 after more than £400,000 was raised to give her a new life.
Late in the day, our government has caught on to the trend. There is a temptation to attribute the Conservative Party’s conversion to the cause of animal rights to the prime minister’s wife, Carrie. This does not capture the whole story. The Tory animal rights revolution began in 2017 when MPs and candidates felt stung by the anger shown during the general election about the party’s position on fox hunting. Those who returned to Westminster had a conviction that Something Must Be Done to correct the view that the government was a bunch of fox-murdering toffs.
There were two further factors. An internal poll showed that environmental issues were one of the few areas that the public cared about and also did not feel that either of the big political parties owned. And there was a plea from the Downing Street policy unit for policy ideas that were popular, cheap and did not require legislation: the Holy Grail for a government with minimal support, less money and even less of a majority. Thus we were inundated with animal-friendly policies, from banning plastic straws to reintroducing three beavers to the countryside. The latter policy warranted a government press release.
I have watched the government’s animal infatuation with mild bemusement, but an overall sense of affection. But the fact that, in order to secure the safe passage of some dogs and cats, resources, time and energy have been diverted from saving people who have put themselves at risk to work for our country? I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all. And I really don’t like what it says about our country.
@CharlotteIvers
TheTallGuy
Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire
No, the government didn't cave - a private charter was paid for with public donations, the Americans provided landing/take off slots & the British military assisted with the logistics whilst waiting for their departures. Personally I think that the donations would have been better off being used to charter a plane for more civilians, but hey ho!
Exfarmer
Member
- Location
- Bury St Edmunds
I really think you should get a copy of todays Times, there is far more in it than I have posted on this campaign
Fiacre
Member
- Location
- South West England
I think the animals should have stayed in Afghanistan. Come winter they are probably going to be needed for food.
Lincs Lass
Member
- Location
- north lincs
Hotdogs and catatouille
- Location
- Near Beeston Castle
Foreign Affairs Select Committee chair Tom Tugendhat said: "The difficulty is getting people into and out of the airport and we've just used a lot of troops to bring in 200 dogs, meanwhile my interpreter's family are likely to be killed.
"As one interpreter asked me a few days ago 'why is my five-year-old worth less than your dog?'," the Conservative MP added.
If there was a plane available it should be taking people, if it had to take the animals they should have got there under the supervision of the bloke who wanted them.
But the proper answer should have been get yourself out of there now while you have the chance, if you can't leave the animals take your bloody chance.
As others have said, the world's gone mad.
One word fits stupid.
primmiemoo
Member
- Location
- Devon
Those who funded the plane should have also funded many more for good people to escape by. Animals can travel in aircraft holds, where people can't, can't they?
There will be people desperate to leave who will have had to abandon their own domesticated animals. They will be heartbroken on so many levels.
There will be people desperate to leave who will have had to abandon their own domesticated animals. They will be heartbroken on so many levels.
caveman
Member
- Location
- East Sussex.
Apparently, critics are now referred to as speciesist.
Expect to see cats and dogs taking the knee whenever they get together.
Also. All of Fartings assistants are apparently vets, which the UK badly needs and being as a lot of them are women, they will never work again and are in mortal danger if left behind.
So. A billionaire funded the plane for Farthing...
Expect the film to break all box office records and make all involved a fortune.
Jeez. What a sorry state of affairs.
Expect to see cats and dogs taking the knee whenever they get together.
Also. All of Fartings assistants are apparently vets, which the UK badly needs and being as a lot of them are women, they will never work again and are in mortal danger if left behind.
So. A billionaire funded the plane for Farthing...
Expect the film to break all box office records and make all involved a fortune.
Jeez. What a sorry state of affairs.
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- Location
- Exeter, Devon
primmiemoo
Member
- Location
- Devon
The world's gone mazed. What is wrong with those people!?
- Location
- Exeter, Devon
Far too much time on their hands for a start, never mind priorities we can’t comprehend.
I think there's been a bit of misinformation
I'm not sure on the truth of any of it, but as I understand it, the animals were transported in a hold of a chartered aircraft. The staff also did not have the documentation to be allowed to leave. So it is not a situation that people were displaced for animals.
It has of course cost management resources and political time/energy, which is unforgivable and potentially meant fewer people could be evacuated, but that is not an easy thing to measure.
That anyone places animal life (especially dogs and cats) above people, is shameful.
I'm not sure on the truth of any of it, but as I understand it, the animals were transported in a hold of a chartered aircraft. The staff also did not have the documentation to be allowed to leave. So it is not a situation that people were displaced for animals.
It has of course cost management resources and political time/energy, which is unforgivable and potentially meant fewer people could be evacuated, but that is not an easy thing to measure.
That anyone places animal life (especially dogs and cats) above people, is shameful.
- Location
- South West
The egotistical Farthing is an embarrassment to the Royal Marine`s.
My understanding is animals cant just arrive in the UK without having been vaccinated and having a vets report , then quarantine begins , DEFRA better ensure there are no special exemptions for Farthings pets.
People can travel in the hold if animals can in an emergency case ,being left to be executed by religious maniacs is an emergency in my book.
My understanding is animals cant just arrive in the UK without having been vaccinated and having a vets report , then quarantine begins , DEFRA better ensure there are no special exemptions for Farthings pets.
People can travel in the hold if animals can in an emergency case ,being left to be executed by religious maniacs is an emergency in my book.
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Cowabunga
Member
- Location
- Ceredigion,Wales
They are apparently at Oslo, Sweden, in quarantine.
Exfarmer
Member
- Location
- Bury St Edmunds
He has flown on to Norway to be with isa wife, but don't think he has taken his animals, hopefully am wrong!