Overreactions

The whole swine flu thing really brought into perspective how people often fail to react to things sensibly. Swine flu could kill thousands upon thousands of people and it'd still not be at the same danger levels as poor sanitation, road deaths, heat and cold related preventable deaths and just about any disease you can name. But no one cares about all those people who die, usually needlessly, from all those things. No one is sitting there at home thinking "Jesus, 36 million people are going to die in the next year just from starving!!!!" 36 million. That sort of puts swine flu into perspective doesn't it?

Same thing applies to this story, even if it is on a much smaller scale. Your cat gets eaten by a python kept by a careless owner. What do the cat owners suggest (remember here I am a "mad cat man" who will usually side with a cat owner even against a saint!)? Let's ban all constrictors under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act. What an idiotic suggestion! How many cats and dogs die each year from being eating by a constrictor??? Hmm... I'm guessing it's less than a dozen in this country. How many die from road accidents, how many cats are killed by dogs/foxes/insert practically any type of animal each year?

It drives me crazy. It really does. Do they understand the dramatic and awful affect our beloved cats have on the environment? If there is one animal in the pet trade that deserves to be banned for being a danger to other animals it is our friend the cat. Of course I'd never call for such a thing as I'm a total cat lover. But really, these owners need to get some perspective!

The Dangerous Wild Animals Act is a dangerous piece of legislation which has created this idea that some animals are bad and some are good. It lulls people into a false sense of security with dogs for instance which completely baffles me. A dog is a very dangerous animal indeed if the owner is an idiot. Banning more animals is not the answer. Banning irresponsible owners from keeping animals they have no good reason to be allowed to have is a better way of doing things... and applying that to all animals not just "exotics".

How many people died from attacks by animals last century on the DWA list before it became law and how many deaths were caused by "domestic" animals in that same time? I bet you it's the domestics who come out worse off even if the numbers were messed around with to make it a fair comparison.

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