12/17/2019
First, They Came For The Horses
by Jon Katz
First, they came for the carriage horses,
and no one spoke out,
because they didn’t know about horses,
and how they have lived,
Because they said work was cruel,
and the only work for horses in our world,
was to be rescued,
and never work.
Then, they came for the the barn cats,
and no one spoke out, because no one knew
what the barn cats were like,
or how they lived.
Then, they came for the Border Collies,
because they frightened the sheep,
and worked in heat and cold,
and because animals should not ever work,
with human beings or for sport,
Then, they came for the Police Horses,
because horses do not belong in the city,
and no one spoke out,
because the carriage horses were already gone.
And they came for all of the dogs whose people worked,
because they said it was cruel,
and because no one spoke up.
They said it was
about the rights of animals, and they needed to be safe,
and no one spoke out about that.
Then, they came for the breeders,
because dogs must never be bred or sold,
they can only be rescued,
and breeding is inhumane,
and no one spoke out, and the Border Collies and Labrador Retrievers
and Jack Russell Terriers and Shetland Sheepdogs and Poodles and German Shepherds
vanished from the world,
dogs could only be rescued.
Then, they came for the therapy dogs, because work is cruel,
and unnatural, and no one spoke out.
And then, where there were no horses, and no Labrador Retrievers, and there
were no seeing-eye dogs and search-and-rescue dogs and therapy dogs,
and no Border Collies on the farms or in the field,
They came for your horse and your dog,
for your barn cat, your outdoor cat,
because no one spoke up,
and they had grown bold and powerful,
and told us how we and our animals must live,
because they now could.
And soon there were no animals left in our world,
for them to take away,
the horses had gone to slaughter,
in order to be saved,
the animals have vanished from our world,
the dogs and cats were all confined to their houses,
the working animals gone from the farms,
because no one could afford to keep them any longer,
or were afraid,
because there was no place safe enough for them,
nor enough money to follow the laws and regulations,
the vet bills and feed costs,
machines were cheaper and easier.
One day, the animals were gone,
out of the lives of ordinary people,
and children, who never were to see them again,
because no one spoke out.
The animals lived only on rescue farms and in zoos,
if they lived at all,
and on cable news channels,
and Internet videos,
the only places safe enough for them,
the only places that could afford them,
and keep them safe from us
and they were all safe,
and protected from life,
and banished from the lives of people,
and exiled from our world.
and vanished from it.
– Jon Katz
