“I would be opposed to circuses exploiting performing animals if every dog which ever walked round a ring on its hind legs lived in conditions approved by a joint committee of the RSPCA and Dogs Trust with Saint Francis of Assisi in the chair,” writes Roy Hattersley in The Guardian.
To American readers, Hattersley will be an unknown figure but British readers will know that he was Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and now serves in the House of Lords as a Life Peer. His Guardian column occasionally focuses on animal protection issues. “Beastly Treatment is a good example. To place it into context for American readers it’s a bit like Al Gore writing a New York Times op ed calling for a national ban on cock fighting. There’s one exception, however, Hattersley would pen it with more style and verve.
