An Anthropozoonet (1882)

AUTHOR: Bergh, Henry

KEYWORDS: animals, animal welfare

SUMMARY (Ridvan Askin, edited Deborah Madsen)

This short humorous poem advocates for kindness towards animals. The poem explicitly mentions herring, calf, bunny, barnacles, monkey, bear, hare, jelly fish, lobsters, crabs, cuttlefish, dabs, chochin-china [sic; cochin chicken], ox, geese, tadpole, limpet, mussels, eels, and the turtle. The speaker of the poem implores the reader to “Speak gently […] and kindly” to all animals, feed them properly, “give the stranded jelly fish a shove into the / sea,” be lenient, respectful, and not chase any animals.

In relation to the consumption of animals and animal products, the speaker advises that one “babble not of feather beds in company with / geese”; and certainly “don't skin your eels / alive.” In short, “be always kind to animals wherever you may be,” as the poem's refrain has it.