Recently, a large majority of MPs in the Dutch House of Representatives voted in favor of a new law that will prevent pet owners and breeders from killing their animals if they become old or sick. However, if it is human beings who are elderly or sick, Dutch law and practice teach that euthanasia can allow anyone to be killed without any danger of being punished. We are living in a mad world.
The new law on the protection of old and sick animals also introduces a lifetime ban on keeping pets for people and breeders who are convicted of serious animal abuse, and increases the maximum prison sentence from three to five years. The new law was drafted by the animal rights party PvdD, which says pet owners sometimes kill their old and sick pets themselves because of high fees that vets charge for this service.
Farmers would also be guilty of killing animals because they are not the right sex or color, said PvdD MP Frank Wassenberg. “Every time is one time too many,” he said. Agriculture Minister Piet Adema will now have to determine exactly which animals the new legislation will apply to. The ban is not likely to go into effect until 2024, after it is approved in the coming weeks by the Senate.
If the Netherlands were a normal country, we would judge the new law as perhaps excessive but, in the end, quite supportable. However, in the same country where old and sick animals are being safeguarded, euthanasia (i.e., murder) of old, depressed and sick human beings of all ages, even children, is being promoted instead! Indeed, we cannot forget that a month ago, on April 14, the Council of Ministers advanced the approval of a new regulation to allow euthanasia for terminally ill children between the ages of 1 and 12 who are suffering unbearably and hopelessly. Health Minister Ernst Kuipers announced in a press release on Friday that he expects the regulation to be implemented within the year. All this comes after euthanasia was legalized in 2020 for elderly people over 75, even if they are absolutely healthy and not sick. Is this normal? No, it is indeed very serious because when we put protections for animals ahead of protections for humans, we end up on the animal farm, and we’re certainly not moving closer to the progress of humanity.
Discussion about this post