Animal Rights In South Africa (Paperback)

Non-human primates have no rights. Still classified as "problem animals" along with rats and other vermin, they are regarded as "enemies of the state". This means anyone can hunt them down for sport or use them in laboratories - in fact, do whatever they please with them. Not even in the Kruger National Park are they safe. Hunters kill primates and many other wild animals with the full approval of National Parks officials, who are no strangers to a spot of poaching themselves. One senior ranger alone bagged 27 white rhinos and four elephants. A society careless about animals' pain is likely to be casual about human suffering. Compassion is indivisible. So, in many ways, are primates. Their rich, complex social and emotional lives are widely documented. They are genetically almost indistinguishable from humans. Pickover's pioneering work examines the plight of animals as food, the trade in wildlife, trophy hunting and vivisection. Courageously she uncovers appalling cruelty behind the public eye and highlights the continuing exploitation of all animals by our government and even by so-called animal protection groups themselves.; Her brave new book shines a light on the dark world of commonly held assumptions and actions responsible for the suffering and abuse.