Tidus was a dog, who loved his life, and like all animals, he lived in innocence. Then, in the first days of November 2012 he crossed paths with a group of dangerous human beings, who, being sick in their souls and in their minds, took advantage of their superior strength to torture Tidus and inflicted on him the most dreadful suffering, just because they could.
In spite of his dreadful injuries, and when he was finally helped he was grateful and loving and he conquered hearts across the world. He underwent painful treatments and surgery, but his injuries were too severe. Tidus died, his innocent life extinguished.
Had Tidus been a child, a human being, that had been found tethered, charred almost to death, but not dead ... quivering in agony. What would the reaction have been? from the general public? from the police? from the media?
There is no doubt that the law would view this as the most heinous of crimes and the culprits would be swiftly tracked down, taken to court and sentenced to long sentences for murder. Nothing could undo the crime, but there would be the very strongest consequences for such actions.
The reason we have such consequences for serious crimes are twofold: firstly to protect others from falling victims to people who are clearly lacking in the qualities we expect from a human fellow being, and secondly to send out the strongest warning to those people who may be contemplating committing similar crimes, that this behaviour is unacceptable. I believe that depriving people of their freedom is possibly just an inevitable consequence of separating the dangerous from the sane, and not an act of retribution, because, frankly nothing could make up for a crime of this nature.
Were it not for Viktor Larkhill, an extraordinary human being, totally dedicated to fighting for the rights of abused animals in Spain and Turkey and wherever he is needed, we would never have heard of Tidus, nor known of his dreadful fate. He would have died with no voice, like the other dogs who were burned to death before him and yes, there were others.
Thanks to Viktor, we shared a little of Tidus’ pain, of his hope and most importantly, we were able to send him love. Love poured in for Tidus from across the world. Now tears have been shed for him in Denmark, Ulang Bator, the UK, Nicaragua, Cameroon to mention but a few places.
Tidus has become an emblem. He ‘speaks’ for all animals. His suffering highlights at long last the terrible plight that animals suffer at the hands of human beings, sometimes without us even knowing it.
Tidus’ martyrdom comes at a time when many of us acknowledge, at last, the urgent need for change if we are to survive and have a future. We need to reassess the way that we look at the world and challenge the old values that support our egoistic views of humanity and of our role in the whole of existence. Human beings are a single part of a system. Whether more or less ‘complex’ or ‘sophisticated’ we may be as compared to others, the fact is that our role’s are equally important. Can we say that the heart is less important than the brain, or the liver or the knee? Ha! some may say, clearly the knee could be dispensed with? but, could we dispense with all knees? what then? We need to value and respect each an every form of life, because we are all connected and only when we acknowledge this fact, will we be equipped to move forward in a way that is no longer destructive.
Tidus presents the local government of Valencia, with a unique opportunity to make the first change to the way in which The Law views crimes perpetrated on non-human beings. This precedent could be a catalyst for global changes to the laws protecting the animal kingdom from abuse and giving them the status they deserve. Equality in the right to live safely, in freedom, within family groups, their needs and wishes taken account of, free from suffering a pain and suffering. Not that long ago, it was slaves and women vying for the same rights and the notion that they were ever regarded as lesser beings, deserving less respect, now seems absurd.
The purpose of this blog is to:
- raise and spread awareness of the dreadful crime that was inflicted on Tidus, so that pressure will be put on the Spanish Government to use the law to bring Tidus’ killers to justice and make a clear statement that crimes like this must never happen again.
- provide a platform for discussion on the subject of the definition of crime and how the law applies it to non-human animals.
- provide a platform to discuss how we imagine living according to holistic principles of connectivity. What changes will we need to make when we acknowledge that all forms of life (including minerals) perform essential roles and are inextricably woven into a single system. Our survival depends on the survival of everything else, so ... how do you see our role?