Why is an animal’s suffering so different to a human’s?

THE recent appalling, case where Craig Kinsella was treated like a slave and systematically abused by David, Donna and Jamie Rooke, led to Judge Peter Kelson saying that such cruelty was a “wake-up call to us all and it is staggering this has happened in our society. It is almost unbelievable”.

He also said “he was treated horrendously badly, he was treated like a dog”. What an unbelievable description of their conduct, seemingly made to indicate such behaviour towards a dog was acceptable but not to a human being. No living creature should be treated like this and anyone doing so should be imprisoned also.

However, when making comparisons between the treatment of dogs and humans, there is one area where our behaviour towards dogs is vastly superior and futile reasons are frequently made why similar compassionate behaviour is denied to human beings.

If a beloved dog is suffering unbelievable pain; if it is unable to move and enjoy life; if it has a terminal illness with no possibility of a cure, a loving owner will seek to relieve it of its horrible existence. This is a tremendous loss, anyone who has experienced this will understand the heartbreak, but they know, without the smallest doubt that it is the kindest thing to do.

Yet, when human beings are experiencing similar excruciating circumstances, when they plead for assistance to end their suffering, as they are so ill they are unable to do this alone, their pleas go unheard and the usual band of do-gooders lecture everyone on how all life is precious.

Have they ever known what it is like to wake up to a day which they know will be full of unbelievable and uncontrollable pain; can they ever imagine what each day must be like when you can barely move at all; cannot they realise the sheer agony of the sufferer knowing their condition cannot be cured, improved or their pain eliminated? How can they possibly claim that such an existence, such a life, is ‘precious’.

Some say that God gave us life and only God can take it away but if this logic is extended, then all hospitals should be closed and we should not be allowed to alter our fate and the claim that God is a loving God is at odds with the continuous suffering they believe terminally-ill people should be compelled to endure.

But, it is claimed, if the ‘right to die’ becomes law, it will create a situation which could lead to people who believe they are ‘ in the way’, feeling they should do this or to even others encouraging them to so believe, possibly for financial gain. To accept this logic confirms the belief that common sense is not at all common but extremely rare, for a mass rush for assisted suicide would not occur as a proper medical review would be made of each case.

The very tragic cases which have been published in recent times; such cases which anyone, with even a modicum of common sense, can see are ‘genuine’, would enable the sufferer’s wishes to be granted without any fear of prosecution for anyone else.

If we cannot show our love and help the sufferer in their desperate hour of need, just what does this say about ourselves?