Animals Asia Animal Welfare Director Dave Neale describes why – even on a bad day when exploitation seems insurmountable - giving up on trying to end cruelty, is simply not an option.

Working in the field of animal welfare has its major ups and downs.

And working specifically in animal welfare campaigning has more downs than we sometimes care to face. It is, however, inevitable.

After all we are collectively a small number of people fighting against the actions of multi-million dollar companies. In many cases we’re also fighting governments which are more interested in generating money than in alleviating animal suffering, or protecting the rights of others to cause animals to suffer.

The issues stack up day after day and just when you feel you have started to make progress with one campaign so another one arrives and puts you right back to the beginning again.

As a campaigner we do all we can to remain optimistic and see the light at the end of the tunnel, regardless of how dim it may be and how long the tunnel is. Without optimism for change and success we would have nothing and each campaign would be doomed to failure from the beginning. It is this optimism that engages others and leads to the change that we are asking for that ultimately benefits an animal’s life.

Unfortunately, on far too many occasions, regardless of all the hard work that you and many others have put into a campaign, the time runs out and what you really didn’t want to happen – happens.

It never gets any easier to accept this but it is an inevitable part of a campaigners' life.

What’s important to remember is - it’s not me as a campaigner that is the loser. It may feel this way at the time, but actually all that has happened to me is that I have been left deflated and must pick myself up to fight another fight.

The losers are those animals that we have not been able to save. They are the ones that have to endure the pain and fear of the fate that is awaiting them. They are the ones that looked to me as a possible saviour only for me to be swept aside by the perpetrator of their suffering.

At some point there is nothing left that we can do for these animals and they go to whatever fate awaits them. At this point all I wish for is that I could hold their “hand” as they experience their fate. In this way it may at least tell them that there was somebody out there trying to do something to prevent them from suffering, they were not alone, and their life did matter to me.

Instances of suffering and acts of cruelty do go on. Day after day. It’s hard when you work in this field to not be constantly aware of it - happening as we go about our day and hanging over all of us. Where we take our inspiration to continue, despite all of this, is contrasting.  But it’s crucial that we must individually and collectively find that inspiration.

The animals are the ultimate victims here. In that respect our negative experiences and our bad days are beside the point.

If we are to be a genuine voice for the animals – we must always find a way to continue. To go quiet. To stop speaking up – that would be a betrayal. 

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