The Sending of the Animals
By Henry Salt
An Animal Rights Poem from All-Creatures.org

All of God's creatures have rights, a fact that most people don't seem to recognize. This includes both human and non-human animals, but not all of them can speak for themselves.

The Sending of the Animals
By Henry Salt

The animals, you say, were “sent.”
For man’s free use and nutriment.

Pray, then, inform me and be candid,
Why came they eons before man did?

To spend long centuries on earth
Awaiting their devourer’s birth?

Those ill-timed chattels, sent from Heaven,
Were, sure, the maddest gift e’er given—

“Sent” for man’s use (can you believe it?)
When there was no man to receive it!

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