Brian Griffith's Blog - Posts Tagged "mercy"

Although the Bible recorded numerous priestly commands that violations of the holy law must be paid for in animal sacrifices, it also recorded denunciations of this practice by Isaiah (1:11-13), Micah (6:7-8), and Hosea, as in “I desire mercy not sacrifice” (Hosea 6:5-6). Also, in the Talmud we read “It is forbidden, according to the law of Torah, to inflict pain upon any living creature, even if it is ownerlessˮ (Preece, xx). The Old Testament actually says, “He who kills an ox is the same as he who slays a person” (Isaiah 66:3). Among these various conflicting values, people have had to choose which ones they prefer.

In terms of managing animals in the countryside, public sympathy has largely switched from protecting farm livestock to protecting wild animals, including wolves. Historian Jon Coleman points out that North America’s rising urban majority has increasingly ceased to have any emotional connection to the farm animals they eat. Instead, these city dwellers relate to picturesque creatures of the wilderness. It’s more a switch in animal loyalties than any overall rise in mercy.
War and Peace with the Beasts: A History of Our Relationships with Animals