Slepice, Virus a my
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In March 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic is announced, a Czech family composed of two parents, three children, a cat and a stuffed bat decides to retreat to the countryside. In this secluded environment, living closely in contact with nature, the family decides to start caring for roosters and hens “adopted” from a nearby farm where the chickens are kept in cages. All the family members become fully involved with the new arrivals, who are finally free to discover he excitement of life outdoors. The reassurances of officials about the happiness of the chickens kept locked up inside are unconvincing, while the family’s commitment to defending the rights of animals becomes increasingly concrete.
The idea for Slepice, Virus a my came about completely randomly in March 2020 when at the start of the coronavirus crisis we moved to a house in the country with our three children. Navigating the internet, the children came across a video clip of an Asian food market. The camera roamed the market showing snakes, rats and other wild animals, including bats. They were shocked to see overcrowded cages full of dogs and cats destined for slaughter. In a subsequent video the children learned that the virus had spread from wild animals to humans in a similar market in Wuhan, in China. Thinking more about the relationship between humans and animals led them to want to adopt some chickens and look after them. The chickens raised in cages saddened them; they looked so different to the birds that pecked in the neighbors’ farmyard, and the children decided to find out why. They wanted to know more about why people treat animals so cruelly. So, they started to gather information, at times in an entertaining way, about the lives of these new friends. Sure, their questions were full of childish naivety, but they also painfully revealed an awareness of urgency. Day after day, the children learned to care for their chickens, getting advice from experienced farmers in the area, delving further into the issues linked to the differences between domestic and industrial livestock and ultimately researching animal rights associations. Lastly, it was a pleasant discovery for all of us to find out that in our country there are politicians proposing a ban on cages for chickens.
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