Those Sensitive to the Feeling of Animals: Don’t read on

Animal cruelty. Man, it’s crazy. I’ve only been here for a few weeks,
but I have definitely seen that this is a strong pattern. Individuals
raising animals will often walk them along the street, so you see
several herds of cows, goats, donkeys, etc while riding the taxis to
and from Addis. But this week I saw a very clear example that was hard
to watch.
I was standing outside of a bank in Addis waiting for another
volunteer to exchange money. You can always hear the animals and
owners before you see them. The sound of the whip is loud, so I knew
they were coming down the street, right next to me. I looked over and
saw a young boy whipping a goat. This is not new, but the shape that
the goat was in surprised me. It had lost a lot of its hair and could
barely stand on its own. The boy would whip it while it sat there
(unable to do much else), then the boy would give it a big kick to
move it a few inches. There were two other healthy goats walking with
them, who were just trying to stay out of the way of the whip. When
the goat still could not walk, the boy grabbed its front leg and began
dragging it down the street.
I have seen this before also. It’s hard to watch when the owners grab
the legs of the animals and start walking with them, and the animals
struggle to keep up. But this was also different; the goat could not
even keep up and was on its back/stomach, literally sliding along. The
boy would get the goat a few feet before stopping, whipping it,
kicking it, then dragging it again. I just sat there, unable to do
anything while they went down the hill and out of my sight.
It’s hard to pass judgement, when I realize that if this goat doesn’t
get to where it needs to be, this boy may not get paid, eat, etc for
the day. But it is also very hard to watch these helpless animals
constantly being bullied. Along these same lines, there is an
abundance of dogs here. Out of control. Apparently about half of them
have owners, while the others just wander the streets. To keep down on
the numbers, the city officials will poison meat and leave it out at
night. In some parts of town, in the morning you see dead dogs lining
the sides of the streets. Luckily I have only seen a few of these so
far, but it is sad. Again, I understand why the need to do it, but
it’s just not fair that the dogs are never really given a chance.
Alright, there it is my vegetarian entry. On the positive side (might
as well end on a high note), I am pretty sure I got complimented at
the feeding center this week. The woman in charge cheered when I came
in and then kept saying “Gobez” (good job) to everyone around us and
looking at me before I had done anything. I said thank you (in
Amharic) and she smiled. Good sign. Then she began talking to the
woman next to her about my clothes and shoes (I think…), so they lost
me again. Oh well, small victory! Yay!!