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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
Sam Duncombe
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Nassau, Bahamas - The
popular Save The Bays lecture series that is drawing nearly 200 people
to sessions at The College of The Bahamas sparking debate on hot
cultural, social and environmental issues continues January 29 when
three experts tackle legal and moral issues surrounding animal rights.
Speakers
include Lennox Paton law firm partner Metta MacMillan-Hughes, Bahamas
Humane Society President Kim Aranha and animal ethics advocate Sam
Duncombe, a director of Save The Bays and founder of re-Earth.
“There
has never been a greater need for discussion surrounding the legal and
ethical rights of animals, and for the subject to be treated with the
seriousness it deserves,” said Duncombe. “With 91% of the American
public going online at least once daily and Bahamians very close in
internet usage, social media is making it easier to post images of
animal cruelty. Pictures are posted daily of the horrors of animal
agriculture, animals that have been tortured or killed, or are being
treated like artifacts of entertainment, kept in pools, pens and
inhumane conditions that violate the most basic standards for animal
care.”
At the same time that social media is making it easier to
post and boast of animal hate crimes, there is a powerful growing
interest in protecting animals that cannot speak for themselves,
Duncombe explained.
“The only way to end the cruelty is to make
it illegal and provide resources for strict enforcement,” she said. A
petition seeking protective legislation in the U.S. already has 330,000
signatures and the Animal Legal Defense Fund is airing TV commercials in
support of a series of bills. In California the AB 2140 bill is seeking
to make the captivity and display of orcas (killer whales) illegal. “If
such legislation does pass, and it looks promising, animals that have
feelings and emotions just like you and I do will no longer be
considered chattel under the law, the same as a desk or a lawn mower.”
In the lecture set for next Thursday at the Harry C. Moore Library
Auditorium at C.O.B. at 6 pm, the issue of Animal Ethics and The Law
will be fully explored from legal and moral angles.
The lecture
series, presented by the Faculty of Social and Education Studies, under a
two-year partnership between COB and Save The Bays started in 2014 with
a discussion on freedom of information with retired Supreme Court
Justice Jeanne Thompson, assistant professor Lisa Benjamin and
Callenders law firm attorney Dawson Malone. Duncombe served as
moderator.
The lecture series is one of many facets of activity
of the fast-growing environmental advocacy movement that is calling on
government to pass an environmental protection act, a freedom of
information act, put a stop to unregulated development and bring
accountability to as well as protection from oil spills and pollution.
Save The Bays education arm is training young environment ambassadors in
Grand Bahama through a hands-on experiential program so popular that
twice as many young people tried to sign up as space was available for
when it started again this season. In New Providence, Save The Bays news
coverage, legal actions and rallies have attracted tens of thousands of
followers and its social media presence is a record-setter for
non-government organizations with more than 17,600 followers on Facebook
and nearly 7,000 signatures on its petition.
© Copyright 2015 by thebahamasweekly.com
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