|
|
|
|
|
"Animals R Friends" was established in St. Maarten (September 2003) to combat the ever-increasing problems that animals face everyday. Animals cannot speak to us in our language but they are beings and they feel pain as well as love or compassion, just as humans do. Unfortunately, there are many humans who are afraid to believe this.
The "Animals R Friends” foundation was organized to make sure the Sint Maarten community becomes more involved in the well being of Sint Maarten’s fauna through:
legalization,
education,
and by increasing awareness that animals are friends and not property.
Is it so long ago that women had no rights? Was that not considered wrong?
Just as the abolition of slavery was a necessary step in achieving equal rights for African-Americans in the United States, the termination of ownership rights over animals is a necessary step in the achievement of seeing animals as having rights. Elsewhere in the world, for example, the Israeli Animal Welfare Act and equivalent laws in Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Great Britain, New Zealand and elsewhere clearly specify that their objective is to protect animals. Recently, the French civil code was amended and animals were conceptually separated from other types of property.
More and more legal systems are seeking to reconcile the incompatible definitions - acknowledging animals as "beings" with rights. In St. Maarten, the laws are inadequate. Brutality and abuse to animals continue to exist where the offenders are rarely, if ever, punished - only the animal suffers.
"Animals R Friends" was created to pursue legislation for the rights of animals and to pursue stronger enforcement against guardians who neglect to protect animals against harm.
|
About Us 
