Monday, 25 December 2017

"EUTHANASIA IS A TERRIBLE, DIRTY WORD" (Letter to Dom Post, Dec 26



“Euthanasia is a terrible, dirty word,” says Karyn Hopper (Hutt resident wild over 'feral' felines, December 26). My reaction was to laugh, but actually it’s not that funny.
 
Because as a cat lover, Hopper “was not afraid to take a hard line on the issue”, which was to suggest cats should be rehomed or (shock, horror!) “put down”. 

Once upon a time we all used that expression in regard to animals, but as our sensitivity towards animals increased in inverse proportion to our regard for human life, especially in the womb, we substituted the euphemism ‘euthanasia’. 
 
So why is ‘euthanasia’ a terrible, dirty word when applied to cats, but not to people?

No comments:

Post a Comment