Just when we think we have heard all the worst atrocities human beings are perpetrating on animals, another one appears. In Defenders of Wildlife spring, 2012, magazine, there is a photo of fully alive horseshoe crabs lined up, each one clamped in a vice above a stainless steel counter, while their blood drips into bottles beneath them. This is done to over half a million crabs each year. I gasped when I saw. I didn’t know. After some of their blood has been stolen, they are reportedly returned to the ocean. However, their numbers are declining, and biologists suspect this horrific treatment greatly reduces the likelihood they will survive once returned.
This sort of horror can only be conceived of and implemented by someone who has not questioned the prevailing cultural mindset of vampiric domination; the anthropocentric assumption that all others are things for certain human beings to use. This is the root of the suffering of all innocent animals and many people as well as the devastation of the earth.
This is the foundation of our prayers for all beings—that the human heart awaken to reverence for all life.
Once awakened, such violence will be unthinkable by all, just as it is unthinkable to us now. As Isaac Bashevis Singer wrote: “Even in the worm that crawls in the earth there glows a divine spark. When you slaughter a creature, you slaughter God.”
(The photo of the crabs does not appear online, but there are several paragraphs regarding their treatment in this article.)
May all beings, including all people, be happy and free.
With Love, peace, and gratitude from Judy
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The article above was recently sent out as an update to those who have joined the worldwide prayer circle for animals. Please visit the website www.circleofcompassion.org often to see updates and special prayers, and also to join in our “A prayer a day for animals” which features a prayer for a different group of animals each day of the week. It is also a place to send ideas or prayer requests. Please forward this widely so that we may continue to add more people to our ever-expanding worldwide circle of compassion.
