Today I put masking tape on all the windows in preparation for painting tomorrow. As I tried to put the masking tape on one window, two little flies kept flying underneath it. As a vegetarian and general non-animal killer, I tried to gently shoo them away, but they seemed to have a bizarre attraction to the masking tape. Eventually, they both got their little feet stuck to it, so I tried to delicately flick them off. Unfortunately, that resulted in the flies flicking away without several of their legs. I was then faced with the enormous ethical dilemma of whether their suffering would be minimised by me squashing them quickly, or whether they were likely to still have some quality of life with only two out of six legs, in which case killing them would be wrong. In addition, I was a little bit annoyed about having fly legs stuck to my masking tape. As I tried to decide whether to kill them or not, I wondered whether they would be ostracised by their fellow flies for their disability, or whether they would be surrounded by a supportive community who would help them find meaning in adversity. Were they in any pain? If they were in pain, should I kill them or see if I could give them some paracetamol or gin? While I was grappling with my ethical dilemma, the semi-legless flies flew off somewhere and I couldn't find them again.
No comments:
Post a Comment