The Blue Cross
- an emblem of a UK and Irish animal charity
The emblem of 'blue-rinse brigade' animal charities in the UK and Ireland
The Blue Cross
The Blue Cross
The Blue Cross UK animal welfare charity is linked to a similar charity in Ireland, the Irish Blue Cross.
More than just a stray-dog-collecting agency, the Blue Cross spends a lot of effort on reminding people of the benefits animals can bring.
They started out in Victorian times, looking after working horses in London. These beasts of burden were the main form of transport. There were many of them, and although relatively expensive to buy and maintain, they were expendable. When a horse didn't respond sufficiently to kicking and whipping, they would be dragged off to the knacker's yard and made into furniture glue.
So along came the Blue Cross people. One can imagine these lower middle-class ladies with blue-rinse hair, who relished being involved with a worthy cause. Committees, chairladies, branch secretaries and bazaars. Tea with the vicar on Thursday afternoon, then armed with their parasols they would seek out rascals who were being cruel to horses.
And what happened? Well, the horses disappeared. They were replaced by motorised cars, taxis, trucks, more cars, air pollution, noise pollution and traffic jams. Horse glue also disappeared, along with its unbearable stench.
But I suppose we cannot blame the Blue Cross ladies for this.
Or 9/11.
Way back in 1914 saw the start of World War I and also the arrival of so-called blue cross gas; highly explosive artillery gas shells that contained asphyxiants such as diphenylchlorarsine, diphenylcyonoarsine or ethyldichloroarsine. Pretty big words to read when you're on the battle field, so things were simplified by marking the shells with a blue cross. This was so they could be differentiated from the white cross, green cross and the yellow cross gas shells, used initially by the Germans and later by the French and British. Horses were an important resource for the British Army and its soldiers had more important things on their minds than being nice to Neddy. So once more, our gallant ladies came to the rescue.
And so the charity grew. Today, whilst we've "progressed" in terms of transportation and our military killing skills, we haven't progressed much in terms of being kind to animals. So there's still the need for the likes of the Blue Cross.
Not only dealing with cruelty to animals, but helping people on low incomes who cannot afford necessary veterinary care for their four-legged companions. And last but not least, reminding people of the benefits enjoyed by the companionship between animals and people.
And the committee meetings continue.
For more information about the Blue Cross charity, visit their website: www.bluecross.org.uk/web/site/home/home.asp
Cross? Animals?
There must be some jokes close by.
Ah! Here they are.
