Member-only story

Dead Bodies Hung In The Field

It Was Like A Scene From Medieval England

Pathless Pilgrim
3 min readMay 3, 2022

--

Photo by Pixabay

It was like a scene from Medieval England. Dead bodies hung in the field, nailed onto posts as a deterrent to others.

A soft wind blew the bodies back and forth where they hung. Back and forth. Endlessly.

Suspended upside down, their mouths open in silent, agonised screams of death, their sightless eyes stared in horror across the empty, barren fields.

Their crime? Foraging crops from the field to survive, and to feed their hungry children. Something the landowner wouldn’t tolerate. Where money is involved, every grain is jealously guarded.

To the farmer they were ‘just crows’. Expendable. Worth less than nothing. Scraps of feather and sinew which would be tossed away like pieces of rubbish once they’d served their purpose as a deterrent to others of their kind who might be tempted to feed there.

And it may well deter them, for crows, according to the most up to date scientific research, are among only a very tiny handful of species who are known to be self aware. In fact, only humans and macaque monkeys have been shown to have such a high level of self-awareness. And almost no other species are so intelligent.

--

--

Pathless Pilgrim
Pathless Pilgrim

Written by Pathless Pilgrim

Vegan for almost 40 years with a first-class degree in law. Animal rights, ethics & social justice. Download my FREE eBook at: lllpg.com/Veganism/

No responses yet