“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
A bill sponsored by Asm. Linda Rosenthal (D-Manhattan) highlights a strange contradiction that is often seen on the political Left: The contradiction between the Left’s immense regard for the lives and well-being of animals and its low regard for the lives and well-being of people.
Bill A.58-Rosenthal proposes to bar schools from conducting lessons that involve the hatching of animals. Asm. Rosenthal is an ardent animal advocate; in 2014, when a 175-lb. bear cub ventured into the City of Albany, the Assemblymember urged against euthanizing the bear and expressed concern about its physical and emotional well-being. (The bear was located in a residential neighborhood within walking distance of four schools.) Bill A.58 is intended to target school projects involving the incubation and hatching of baby chicks, which—according to the Assemblymember—are cruel and inhumane. Asm. Rosenthal’s bill memorandum includes the following reasoning:
During the incubation process, eggs may hatch on weekends when teachers and administrators are not in school, effectively allowing a baby chick to go unfed for a period of days once it is born. Heat lamps may also be turned off over the weekend, which can cause chicks to die in their shells or become immobile. In other instances, baby chicks die when eggs in the incubator are constantly handled.
Schools rarely make accommodations to care for the surviving baby chicks…and most are simply discarded.
While we see the proposed legislation as unnecessary, Albany Update agrees with Asm. Rosenthal on one point: People should treat animals humanely. The Lord has given the human race stewardship over animals, and that stewardship should be exercised responsibly. However, we find it bewildering that the Assemblymember is a co-sponsor of the abortion expansion bill known as the Reproductive Health Act (RHA). How can a person be so concerned about the plight of baby chicks (including chicks that have not yet hatched) and so unconcerned about the plight of baby humans?
