Happy 2015

Happy new year to all of us. One year closer to the end!

We spent New Year's at my home in Germany, where we are a completely vegan household, most recently also including Figaro, the dog. The only thing that reminds us of our guilt are the massive leather couches in the living room.

This was so until the fireworks started to penetrate the walls of our flat. Just before midnight, as is tradition in Germany, the fireworks went off. This was not a contained firework display. Here, regular supermarkets sell all sorts of explosives a few days before the new year, which means that a few days before and a few days after we constantly hear explosions in fairly regular intervals from one corner of the neighbourhood or the other.

Of course, Figaro was scared, as he is every year. We were here, though, to assure him that everything was fine. The squirrels, fish, foxes, rabbits, owls, geese, swans, ducks and moorhens in the park outside our door, did not have anybody to let them know that it will be fine in a couple of hours (Yes we had constant explosions between midnight and 2AM - and this was not an explosion here or there at a time, this was numerous fireworks all at the same time over the course of two hours!).

I started picturing the invasion of their homes, by all kinds of rockets and fire crackers. I cannot begin imagining how amplified the sound must have been for them if it was already invasive for me in the safe space of my flat.

How many animal parents were not able to protect their children from humans who thought it would be funny to tie a fire cracker to their child? How many rabbit families were ripped apart because humans threw a rocket into their burrows? How many birds went deaf and disorientated or lost their nests from the unbearable noise? And how many fish died from the poison that humans threw into their water yesterday?

This gave me a massive reality check and burst my vegan bubble immediately.
Of course, we went out to check for injured or confused animals and to our relieve we only met one bunny who luckily ran away from us and hid when we approached slowly.

The trees, the grass and the water were full of trash, the remnants of the weapons that destroyed homes, injured and killed countless of animals. I couldn't suppress the feeling of war, nor the feeling of gratification every time I heard ambulance sirens.