"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." --Mohandas Ghandi
Even if it wasn't Ghandi that said that, I, animal-lover to the core, would believe it whole-heartedly. Now, in some cases, this makes me a hypocrite because despite my aforementioned affinity for creatures of the four-legged variety, I am NOT a vegetarian. Barbecued chicken or steaks on the grill are way too good for me to pass up, and I NEVER met a burger I didn't like. However, I have been known to start fights with strangers at the dog park because of what I believed to be unnecessarily harsh treatment of their dogs, and I also think the punishments for animal cruelty should be higher than what they are currently. Don't even get me started on Michael Vick. I feel the need to mention all of these things for those of you who are still vexed by my whimsical fascination with fainting goats!
Anyway...
One of the main things that struck me about Alice Walker's essay (the selection for your reading log this week) was her steadfast belief in the idea that animals possess human emotions, i.e. love, despair, loneliness and happiness. There are so many things going on in "Am I Blue" and I am anxious to discuss them with you all during class, but for now, I want you to focus on the notion of anthropomorphism (very similar to personification) so if you are unsure of its definition, please look it up.
First things first--do you have a pet?
What kind? What is his/her name? How did you choose that name?
Do you believe that you can communicate with your pet or with animals in general? Can they communicate with you?
How do you know?
What is your take on the activists that spend hours campaigning for the rights of animals? Are they wasting their time frivolously when they could be helping human beings out there in the world? Do animals even HAVE rights? Should they? Should there be a limit to what people do for them? If so, what is it?
(400 words/45pts)
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122 comments:
that's wierd the blog changed right before my eyes. anyway what's a Mena or was that a typo?
Animals have at least one right; to live without an oppressive master. That right is guaranteed to all living things, animal or plant.
Now, I’m a fish lover. I have, in my room alone, four goldfish and four beta splendens. And then, in the kitchen, there’s at tank with three koi, the smallest of which is longer than my hand, and the largest has a head broader than my fist. And outside, there’s another six or seven goldfish.
None of them have names. When we first got fish (I was very young), I named all of them. But Comet and Star and Morning-glory all died, along with their successors. I came to the conclusion than naming fish was bad luck, and never named another. Of course, a fair few of the later fish also died, but that was always of old age or disease.
The cats, (who have been dead for three and four years) had names, but they kept changing. One had been my father’s; prior to his marriage, his black-and-white cat was named Bullshit. This changed to Foolish when my mother and half-sister came into the house, and was later shortened to Fool. He was a Fool was a jealous creature, who never forgave the children of the house for usurping his place. He would scratch and bite everyone except my father. He also had the curious habit of licking up all the cat hair on the floor, and barfing it back up. Foolish only did this when he had been washed or brushed (two activities the he hated), and I still think he did it out of spite. He died at the age of 19.
Our other cat was an ancient grey tabby. She was called simply Kitty at first, then Kitten, then Kitten-Tac. The last name is the only one requiring explanation; Tac is Cat spelled backwards. She was deaf, stiff, toothless, and unable to wash. Towards the end, she was tormented by imaginary fleas, and would get her foot stuck behind her ears. But she was a loving (if smelly) creature, and came when she was called. Because we got her as a stray, we could only guess at her age, but I think she was over twenty when she died.
I talked to them as I talk to people. Alison still yells at me for addressing her dog directly. But they have never talked to me. I do not think it is because they cannot make their will known, but because I was and am boring and not worth talking to.
But I will fight for animal rights. I will see them well treated, free from want they cannot escape, free from unreasonable punishment. I will not ask for the ridiculous. There is no reason to argue for equal rights, because animals have never demanded them. But they have earned the right to respect and kindness. Yes, people should be helped as well. They have earned that same right.
FIRST ONE TO RESPOND!!!! YES!!!!!
Hey Bunje, I would like to get you started on Michael Vick because although he did horrible actions to dogs he is still the greatest and most talented QB ever to play in the NFL. I respect him as a athlete not as a player, so please don't mix the two when you criticize his actions.
WELL, between my two houses I have 4 dogs, 2 cats, 2 horses, and a dwarf hamster. At my mother’s house I have my two cats Billy and Ginny, and my dog Sophie. Billy is short for Billabong and Ginny is short for Aborigine. The theme my mother decided on was Australian. Billabong is an Australian clothing brand and Aborigine is some kind of tribe or something from Australia. Sophie came waaay before the cats so, sadly she wasn’t included in the Australian theme, but my mother also color coded our animals. All of the animals are orange-y and grey. Yes, my darling mother thinks she’s so clever! I don’t know how Soph, got her name really, I was too young. Oh and I didn’t really care cause I got a puppy (: !
At my Dad’s we have the horses Prince and Blackjack, the remaining dogs Russell, Tina, and Henry, and of course the new addition Hamlet. Prince was my stepmother’s horse since she was 14 and he is now almost 30! I wasn’t even born when this one was named, so don’t ask. Blackjack is a quarter horse, about 16 or 17 hands tall. (That’s HUGE in horse lingo!) He was named for his shiny black coat and my father’s love of card games. Russell is my little wubby wubbbss. (Does anyone else remember this reference!?) His full name is Russell P. Oliver (Russell pees all over. This could only be a man’s idea.) Yes, as a pup my boy soaked every carpet/wall/bed/newly packed suitcase ready to be zippered for the trip to Pennsylvania, he thought was his! Alas, that problem didn’t take long to repair. (Snip snip) Tina, a tiny Chihuahua mix, was given to us by my step grandfather. His wife recently passed away and we got the yappy little thing. The other dog, I don’t like much. I wish I could give a reason or story behind it, but I just really don’t like him. His name is Henry F Beauchamps. (Another one of my dad’s innovative names)This dog was rescued from the flooding of Louisiana. Found atop a refrigerator, the speckled dog somehow found its way to our home. He was transported to many other places before he came to our doorstep but, he’s here now and apparently not leaving. We got him because my stepmom’s brother Bob didn’t want him, and then my brother somehow acquired him. And finally, the newest little baby, Hamlet. He is a dwarf hamster who is named after the first thing that came to my brother’s head when he heard the word hamster. Ok, so I have a lot of animals! I wuvv demmm :D (except henry!)
Now, you all had a good laugh in period 9/10 at my dream of having an endangered species sanctuary. Let me tell you, I was serious in every way. I have narrowed it down to big cats (i.e. Lynx, Jaguar, Snow Leopard, etc.) because I feel that felines show an immense amount of emotion and feeling. Cats, like any animal, can process the word or action you have for food, whether it be din-din, yum-yums, or a tap on the top of the metal tin, to trigger the drive in their mind computer that desires food. And you can observe that every single time you use the phrase, they will run/trot/scamper, to you within 3 minutes. I also know that when Billy jumps onto my couch at my feet he is looking for me to cuddle with him. So I suppose you could generalize that animals (and people) learn from repetition, but there has to be more to it than that. (Oh and, I will constantly use Billy as an example because he is my favorite and I think he feels me too ;p!)
Every day when my mother pulls up the driveway in her Honda Civic, Billy and Ginny run alongside the car waiting for one of us to open the door so they can hustle inside and await their grub. After all the commotion, cats have the freedom to be cats, lazy, sleepy, couch ruining, cats. In this remaining time till the next feeding, personal interaction begins. When I am angry and I call Billy, he hesitates to come to me, but when I am upset, I feel like he’s right there the instant I walk in the door. Other times I call him and he turns his ass at me as if he were exiting his used litter box! Really, cats are like little people who walk on 4 legs. It all really comes down to your tone and feelings when talking or interacting with an animal. If you are scared of a dog, you best believe it’ll feel that fear and chase you because they are afraid for themselves and would rather fight you off than flee and look cowardly. Though dogs and cats are much alike in their actions towards humans, I prefer cats because they are small and cuddly, and can’t knock me over with a paw on my lap. I understand big cats are different, but I think it’ll be the same type of relationship that I have with ole’ Billy boy.
Animal activists of the PETA variety, I believe, take it too far sometimes. I love the undercover stories from inside the disgusting slaughter houses, but I think PETA gives people the wrong idea. If you go to the PETA website, it looks nicely laid out, a simple informative website on animal cruelty, but there are links and pages where extreme activists speak their minds. I saw a video on people pouring paint on fur coats, though well intentioned, not very well thought out. People doing that type of shit, are infact crazy, but I don’t think they should stop. The point was made and (with the website’s hidden cameras), proven. The emotions that I feel when Billy comes and lays with me without having to tell him to, are like that of a mother when her baby will only stop crying in her arms. Animals have feelings and emotions, therefore the right to a humane life.
There should be no limit to saving an animal, just as there should be none to saving a human, but it depends on you as a person. Cause I know I sure as helllll wouldn’t be pourin’ paint on some rich woman’s fur coat, she’d sue me on the spot for a coat that I couldn’t afford to buy with 2 years of saving! And then she’d just go buy another one anyway. Haha. Everyone has their limits, it’s all up to you.
I have two dogs and a goldfish. My yellow lab is a girl named Lexi, my other dog is a shih tzu named Frazier (Frazier Crane! Hee hee! He is totally my baby), and the goldfish is in possession of various names. Eva, to comment on your blog, you are 100% right; naming a fish is the fastest way to ensure said fish's death. All the fish we ever named in my house died, like a couple of weeks (at most) after we named them. However as long as the fish remained nameless, or had various names, it lived longer. There was only one exception to this rule; Ben had a guppy named Gummy who sacrificed and ate other fish (including my fish and its own babies) in exchange for longevity. But I digress. We got both of our dogs when they were about a year and a half old, so we didn't name them (the goldfish, as mentioned above, has numerous names, none of which I can reveal without jeprodizing the safety of said fish).
Gee, I sure do like to put my side comments in parenthesis. Whateva, I do what I want.
Sure my pets communicate with me. Lexi says, basically non stop, "pet me pet me pet me oh why don't you pet me why are you doing an AP language blog when you could pet me why are you petting that dumb little shih tzu I was here first pet me pet me I'm attention starved". The fish's words go more along the lines of "feed me now I must eat at least ten times a day who cares if I got constipated that one time and started to swim sideways that was just a fluke feed me".
Frazier, though, he's the one I really communicate with. I think communication with animals is more about emotion than words. It seems like my dog just sort of senses how I'm feeling, and he clues me into what he's trying to say with his actions (ex: jumping up when he's excited, crying when he needs something, and begging me for myu own dinner when he's hungry. I always sneak him table scraps; have you seen dog food? My poor little puppy couldn't survive on that crap alone. And it's just his fur growing out that makes him look like he's putting on weight).
I know my dogs communicate with me, because, they like humans and every other animal, give physical clues when they want or need something. This doesn't just go for physical needs. Depending on my mood, my dog modulates his own mood and actions accordingly. Plus I just, osrt of sense his silent communication, you know? I know that sounds a little hippie-ish, but it's true.
Deal with it.
P>S> I just proofread, and I think I sound super schizo or something in this blog. Sorry bout that.
To Vikkie
I'd have to agree with what you said about PETA. They're extremists. There are cases where members have actually fire-bombed animal testing labs, and where they freed animals who were to be killed for fur...into an environment where they did harm/got killed anyways. They just give animal rights activists bad names.
I mean, come on...
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Your_Daddy_Kills_Animals.png
Alright, I don't have a pet, but Ms. Bunje said to answer it as if I did have one so here goes...
I have a pet bunny named Yuki. I chose that name because her fur is white just like the snow that appear from the sky, slowly descending towards the world (new, not yellow or whatever, just white fluffy snow). She is really cute and I love her very much.
El Fin.
Anyways… I have met a few dogs, seeing as my friend has one and my piano teacher as well. In a way, I feel like I can understand them sometimes but, in a way, no. I don't believe that I can communicate with them nor can they communicate with me. Maybe it's because I have no pets and have never really made a solid emotional bond with an animal, but I just don't think that I can communicate with animals in any way. I mean, we might both like having fun and they have some ways of showing you that they want you to do something, but I just think it's what happens when you learn to adapt to your owner's preference. My piano teacher's dog taps on the door with his paw when he wants to get out. He brings the squeaky toy to her when he wants to play. I think he learned it after awhile when he was ignored by his owner because, at first, he only barked when he wanted to go out. It's all about how the animal adapted to the environment. (Please don't kill me either... I really don't know if animals can communicate with us because I don't have any pets since my parents will not allow it).
For those that spend hours campaigning for animal rights, I say "You go, dudes!" I love watching Animal Planet and I don’t think that some of those animals should go through what they go through. *shivers* For the people fighting for the rights, I don't think they're wasting their time at all! There should be more people in the ASPCA! Plus, I don't want to sound mean, but humans won't ever change. We're all savages at heart. It's only because of the morals that were set upon us and the way we were brought up that makes it different. I don't want any hate comments. It's just the way I see things.
Animals, on the other hand, are beautiful. Even if, when they're wild, they bite and such, they fully express themselves, just as Ms. Walker had said in "Am I Blue?" If they're hungry, they'll go kill something and eat it. I don't believe that any wild animals have anorexia or bulimia because their only thoughts are to eat, sleep and reproduce whereas we have the above disorders because we just can’t see ourselves as beautiful just the way we are. We complicated things so far from our cavemen counterparts, that we believe ourselves superior to animals. I don't really think we are since we are animals ourselves. It's not like there's a separate group of the kingdoms that just says "People", right?
Animals have rights. They should have all the rights that we have because we're all animals so wouldn't it be unfair to give them any less? I don't really care about what people do for them. Personally, I think that, if that's what the people want to do, that's what they'll do. I think that all they want is to feel better about theirselves and say that they're helping out the animals. They're looking for their own peace of mind in their own way.
Wow I’m emo today… Erm, so yea, please no hate comments… I’m just a bit tired and emo… ^_^ ehehe?
Comment on Eva’s:
Holy guacamole! That’s a lot of fish… I remember you talking about the fish naming curse thingy. I think you should just name one of them and see what happens this year. I don’t really believe in curses so I hope that I didn’t just cause a fish to die… Also lol on the name of your father’s cat before you guys moved in! Haha, B&ll$h!t. But I’m sorry for your losses though.
Anyways, I’ve got to go now. PEACE!!!
There was a baby polar bear at a German zoo, right? And PETA wanted the poor little guy put to death just because his mom abandoned him and it was "unnatural" for him to be raised by people. Also PETA puts to death a lot of the animals they "rescue".
The bears name is Knut (sounds like noot). There's a popular German song sung by a little kid about Knut. We heard the song in German class.
I don't really believe in curses, but I don't want to tempt Fate. And whether or not Fate exists is a different arguement. My opinion on the subject changes daily.
But I'm not the only one who came up with the fish-name-curse. Sarah's seen it, too. Though she foils it by giving her fish many names, where I don't give mine any.
PETA has its uses. See, it does something crazy to get people's attention. Then, more reasonable people step in and say "No, we shouldn't go around blowing up KFC, but there really should be some rule saying they can't spray paint in the chicken's eyes and chop off their beaks before killing them." And people are more likely to lisiten, because it doesn't involve blowing up resturants.
I've always been an animal lover. For those of you who don't know, I'm also a vegetarian. Animals, to me, are more essential to my life than most humans in this world. I've had doggies (I actually hate using the word "dog"), rabbits, and a pony. We've tried fish, but it's not that we neglect them, it's just that they aren't.. interesting enough for us? And I never how much food they want. (Eva, I am not dissing fish. They are beautiful creatures. Just know that it's better off if I don't own any). As a child, my doggies were Jerry, King, and Royal, all German Shepherds. I never had a say in their names. King was probably the greatest doggie in the world. Hands down. His blood-line traced back to Rin-tin-tin (For those of you who don't know, he was a world famous German Shepherd). He protected my sisters and me like we were his own. King and Royal produced a few litters, and we kept one puppy, Belle. As you can see, my parents were trying to keep the names royalty-like? King and Royal passed away when I was about 9 or 10. But soon after we decided to mix it up a little, and my mom came home with Daisy, a half lhasa apsa, half golden retriever (she's adorable, I promise). Her full name is "Crazy Daisy Duke", because she is literally the most hyped-up dog I've ever seen. We also got a bunny, Scotty, who my sister named after my cousin (don't ask me why), and a Shetland Pony, Brownie, who was given to us and already named. Soon after, we bought Bear, another German Shepherd. My mother always loved the show "Little Bear", so that's why we named him that. Belle and Bear produced a litter, and we kept Jake. Jake-the-Fake is his real name. That was what people used to call my great-great-grandfather. We had to get him a girlfriend, because he's gorgeous. So we got Josie, named after a song my parents liked. My parents were big on having matching names, "Belle and Bear" "Jake and Josie". Josie and Jake had puppies, and after most were sold, I convinced my dad into letting me keep fluffy. He was adorable. I fell in love with him instantly. If you've ever had litters of puppies, you'd know how you grow attached to them. You and your friends pick your "favorites", and make up goofy names for them. I still call my baby "fluffy" sometimes, but his real name's Hercules. His name just fit him, he's a HUGE, long-haired, straight-up black German Shepherd. He looks like he'd tear anyone apart, but he's the sweetest puppy in the world (Another note, I call doggies "puppies" until they're at least 5 years old). At that point we had 5 dogs, a bunny, and a pony. We tried getting another bunny, so Scotty wouldn't be lonely, I named him Caramel, but he escaped somehow =[. Brownie loved the dogs, though. I swear she thought she was one. She'd go through the dog food, eating that instead of her own. She'd run through the yard with jake and daisy, the only ones that got along with her. Within the past two years though, most of my animals have passed away. First Scotty died. A few months later, Brownie passed away. A month later, Belle passed away. All of old age. A year later, this past March, Bear died of a blood clot, but he was also very old. (German Shepherds live to be around 12). Now we have Jake, Josie, Hercules, and Daisy. Oh, and I've always thrown birthday parties for my doggies, and they celebrate Christmas with us. It's cute.
I know that my doggies and I can communicate with each other. Not in that "come" or "sit" or "stay" type of way either. It's the little things they do. The way they'll notice if I'm upset, even if I'm not crying. How they'll purposely try and cheer me up when they see I'm frustrated. They comfort me, they listen, in their own way they speak to me. I can also tell when they're upset. I know when they're hurting. I know when they're hungry. I know when they went to the bathroom in the house, even if I hadn't smelled or seen it yet. I know when they want to play. I know when they want to sleep. I know when they want to be comforted. I know when they're scared. I can't read their minds, but I can sense it. I guess I can see it in their eyes, in the way they move. I can tell by the way they breathe, the way they sit, the way they bark. They're beautiful creatures who deserve so much more attention than what most people give them. I don't think they should be considered anything less than family.
PETA, the ASPCA, and any animal rights organizations are all going to have their fair share of crazy over-the-top extremists. Although the actions of those extremists may give these organizations some bad names, their intentions are only to help, benefit, or serve some sort of purpose. They all love animals, obviously. They all want to do whatever they can to prevent the mistreatment, cruelty, or negligence of animals. It's as simple as that, but it's the fact that there are others in the world who don't care. Others who think that animals don't have rights, who think that they could be spending their time and money helping the only animals who matter--humans. Humans already have it made for them: police, hospitals, family, friends. But animals, they rely on the love and care of their owners. If no one realizes that an animal is being mistreated, that animal is helpless. These activists just want to prove that there are idiots in this world who shouldn't be able to own animals. They want to give these animals, the ones being mistreated, another chance. A chance to be loved, happy, and healthy. Humans are the dominating species, and anything and everything else is below us, obviously (Sarcasm to the max). So these pets won't be free, but they'll at least be able to experience life better, thanks to the animal rights activists. There shouldn't be a limit to what people do for them. There isn't a limit to what humans do for other humans. If people want to spend millions of dollars on kennels, shelters, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, why not? Humans will be humans. In order for us to help others, we must harm others in the process. It's just how it is, and that won't change.
I agree with Vikkie:
"There should be no limit to saving an animal, just as there should be none to saving a human, but it depends on you as a person. Cause I know I sure as helllll wouldn’t be pourin’ paint on some rich woman’s fur coat, she’d sue me on the spot for a coat that I couldn’t afford to buy with 2 years of saving! And then she’d just go buy another one anyway. Haha. Everyone has their limits, it’s all up to you."
I know I won't go ranting and raging at someone for wearing a fur coat, eating veil, smacking their dog for peeing on the carpet, or forgetting to feed their pet one day. But like Vikkie said, it depends on the person. I know I would all out flip on someone if I ever saw them beat the crap out of their pet, or if their pet was skeletal. If I ever met someone who actually did kill baby seals, I'd be so angry, I honestly don't know what I'd do. I know of stories of kids torturing animals by lighting them on fire, throwing rocks at them, destroying their homes. My biggest hope would be for one day, those kids get eaten by a bear or mauled by a tiger. No lie. Okay, maybe a little too dramatic, but this subject really gets to me.
First things first--do you have a pet?
What kind? What is his/her name? How did you choose that name?
Do you believe that you can communicate with your pet or with animals in general? Can they communicate with you?
How do you know?
What is your take on the activists that spend hours campaigning for the rights of animals? Are they wasting their time frivolously when they could be helping human beings out there in the world? Do animals even HAVE rights? Should they? Should there be a limit to what people do for them? If so, what is it?
Yes, I do have a pet, as a matter of fact, I have three. All of them are cats. As to what kind of cat, uh, I haven’t the slightest clue, I feel stupid. But anyway, one is a black, longhaired male named Nero, one is an orange-striped, shorthaired male named Ricco, and the last is a feisty little black, shorthaired female named Nina. The story for how this names came about really is that interesting so don’t say I didn’t warn you. Okay, so all of their names are romance language based, Italian the most part, see as I am about 20 % Italian. As many of you may know, Black in Italian is…you guessed it, nero hence Nero. Ricco, which is not as well known, means “striped” in Italian. And last but not least, nina, as everyone should know, means “girl”, how original, right? Let’s just make it clear that I didn’t have anything to do with the naming process. That was all my parents, well mostly my mom seeing as she is the one with Italian blood.
As for the whole communicating with animals thing, of course I do. I sometimes think I have Dr. Dolittle powers it is so scary how fast they respond. Not really, about the powers, but hey, why not? I think facial expressions and body language play a major part in my abilities to communicate, that and some food, cat food that is. Everyone and every animal exhibit the same expressions and motions for sadness, joy, hunger, sleepiness, disappointment, sickness, and the list goes on and on. When my cats are tired they yawn, lie down, get comfortable, and fall asleep. The exact same things 99% of all humans do. When they are hungry, they whine, whine some more, and then become vicious death monsters, like most of us. So it would seem to me that though corporal communications, all life, well, most life should be able to communicate with each other. I feel that is most definitely true. “How do I know?” is a good question.
Well, just today, Ricco decided that he would venture into my room, which by the way looks like a war zone. He carefully tiptoed around and began sniffing things like most cats do. However, shortly after he came in, I had to leave. So I told him it was time to leave. He starred blankly at me and then I pointed from him to the door and he immediately knew it was time to leave. It is the same way with all of my pets. I snap, or point, or make a noise and they know what to do. It is all the same with them. If they purr, I know they are happy, whine: usually an indication of hunger, or stare longingly into someone’s eyes usually a sign that they want to be petted. While we may not literally speak the same language, my pets and I have the ability to communicate and understand what they other is “saying”. I feel that we probably could do this with any wild animal. There are exceptions of course, such as not trying to calm down an angry alligator. Yeah, um, not a good idea.
It is really interesting that you bring this up because everyday, on my bus ride home I see a sign. This sign is divided in half with a snake on one side and a child on the other. It reads, “Why does the state guarantee a home for the snake and not the child?” or something like that. I think about that question almost everyday as I pass it. I feel a bit confused by it. I think it is wonderful that there are people willing to donate their time, money, and effort into a noble cause such as protecting the animals. However, I do wonder why there isn’t more of an effort to protect the sanctity of human life. The only reason that I can think of, and it is rather morbid, is that humans are expendable. There are about 400,000 births a day! My only guess is losing one life in comparison to that number doesn’t affect us, which is really rather sad. I think that each is a noble cause and that life, whether it is plant, animal, or extraterrestrial, is sacred and should be protected. I wish there were more shelters and food banks but I just don’t see where the money could come from. From a biological standpoint, protecting animals is just as important as protecting humans. If one species of penguin dies out in the abyss of Antarctica, even though it would take a long time, the effect on life for everyone could be catastrophic because a consumer and food source has been removed and a new has to fill its place or the food web will slowly collapse. Enough biology.
I definitely think that animals should have rights, in the words of Alice, “They should have all the rights that we have because we're all animals so wouldn't it be unfair to give them any less?” She’s mostly right; we are in all terms of the word, animals. Just because we are dominant doesn’t mean we should be tyrannical. I don’t mean give them the right to vote but give them respect. Don’t just kill them for show, do it out of necessity. I see some much violence these days that it is just unbelievable. People hurt other animals, humans included, just for the fun of it. That seems rather sadistic to me and I don’t want to go down that road. I can’t really complain or blame rap music or any of the other thousands things that are blamed on a day-to-day basis for the decline in our society because this has been going on since Egypt. Pharaohs enjoyed seeing the slaves being whipped until their will to fight was going, Romans enjoyed to se others die at their command during gladiator fights, in “Shooting an Elephant” the crowd gathers and silently eggs on Orwell to kill the elephant for entertainment value. It has been this way forever and it seems darn near impossible to stop now. Everything living thing deserves the right to live no matter what. Animals, which we have been classified as, are no different.
I don’t think we should limit anyone on how they feel they can help, no matter who or what it may be. Helping is helping and it may, in the end, benefit everyone. We never know. That said I have a theory proposed to me by a friend. The way we treat animals now, is the way we treat other humans if there were no laws or rights. It really makes me think….
To Eva:
Once again as Alice said, “Holy guacamole! That’s a lot of fish.” I also find it interesting that you have a fish-naming curse. I also completely agree with everything you said about animals’ rights. While equal rights will never happen, maybe some respect will. We are not the only creatures on this planet that have the right to a decent life.
Jen:
I think you make a good point about how there will always be over-the-top extremists and we really can’t live by what they do. But as Eva said maybe it is a good way to get people involved. Say you’re going to do something crazy, get people riled up, and wind up achieving the same goal with less craziness. I also feel that your point about being angry if someone neglected his or her pets is really sensible. We can’t choose how people reprimand their pets but we can make sure they don’t abuse their pets. However, I have a question for you, Jen. Do you expect that people treat animals horribly considering your view on life and it’s a treat whenever you see a happy animal? Or are animals an expectation? The reason I ask is that you seem very proactive in protecting animals but a pessimistic person most likely wouldn’t be because they would feel that their efforts would make no difference. So what do you say?
"Do you expect that people treat animals horribly considering your view on life and it’s a treat whenever you see a happy animal? Or are animals an expectation? The reason I ask is that you seem very proactive in protecting animals but a pessimistic person most likely wouldn’t be because they would feel that their efforts would make no difference. So what do you say?"
Well Matthew, this subject may just be an exception. But to a certain extent. I hope (yes, I said hope) that all animals be treated with as much love and affection that we give to our own family and friends. But, then again, we don't all show the right kind of love towards people. The people who beat their wives and children, I wouldn't trust them with any pets. I know there are people in this world who deserve to be locked up for the way they treat their animals. The punishment for animal cruelty should be so much higher, because people either don't realize what they're doing is wrong, or don't care. I don't believe that what I do right now will make a difference in the world, but I'd like to know that what I do is at least bettering MY dog's lives. I hate seeing people who own dogs, and don't let them on the couches, don't let them on the beds, don't let them lay down on the carpet, don't let them wander the house, don't let them play outside. People who, when it's time to go to bed, squeeze them into tiny cages where the barely have enough room to turn around. WHAT'S THE POINT IN HAVING A DOG?! Personally, I don't care if I smell like dog. Mine sleep in my bed with me. It makes me feel safe, and I think it makes them feel wanted. I don't exactly expect animals to be mistreated, but I do know that they're not all cared for and loved as much as they should be.
Jen, that makes sense but i still think there is some optimism letf in you.
The average seal has the intelligence level of a three-year old human child. Killing a seal is like killing a big toddler. Just throwing that one out there.
Seals are cute, fuzzy, and self-sufficent. Toddlers, whatever they may later become, can only fill the first of those. While I'm waiting for more people to post, we can add that to the pro-animal list.
I have one pet, a fourteen-year-old blonde Labrador named Grady whom I love very, very, very, very, very, very, (very times infinity) much. My mom got the name of "Grady" from an episode of Murder She Wrote... Jessica Fletcher, the main character in this murder mystery television show, has a nephew named Grady. (Wow, I'm a nerd for remembering anything from Murder She Wrote.)
I definitely believe that I can communicate with Grady. I wrote in my reading logs in the personal connection column all about him. There's one instance that happened somewhat recently that comes to mind when I think of my communication skills with Grady. One night, I was practicing my monologue from Romeo and Juliet, when Juliet was on the balcony talking down to Romeo. So, to practice, I used Grady as my "Romeo" when he was laying down chewing on a tennis ball. I've never done a monologue before, so I figured that practicing with some kind of audience would help. Anyway, I start my monologue, being super dramatic and whatnot. When I started speaking, Grady stopped chewing on his tennis ball got up. He walked over to my feet and sat down and stared holes in my eyes, like he was processing every Shakespeare-esque word that came out of my mouth. His eyes were wide and understanding. I don't care if I sound crazy or whatever, but Grady was definitely hanging onto every word. I laughed and thought that there was no way that this dog is an animal.. he acts so human all of the time. Grady has been the comic relief and glue that held our family together.
I love that there are people out there who are activists and fight for animal rights because I believe animals deserve them. Although they can't speak up for themselves, animals all have thoughts and feelings and should be respected for them.
There should be a limit to animal rights. For example, I don't think an animal should rule a country or be ridiculously pampered (cough cough PARIS HILTON YOU WEIRDO cough). In the Bible, it says that Man has authority over all of the creatures of the earth. In Genesis 1:26, it says, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." Animals should not be beaten for no reason, or starved, or mistreated, but man still has authority over them.
I don't think that there should be a set limit for what people do for them, i.e. groups and foundations and whatnot. The conservation of endangered species is so important because we only have one earth. As people, we should respect all of its inhabitants. This is all we have.
In response to Sarah Crane--
"The fish's words go more along the lines of "feed me now I must eat at least ten times a day who cares if I got constipated that one time and started to swim sideways that was just a fluke feed me." Let me first say that this line made me laugh wholeheartedly out loud for at least a minute. I love the way you write. It sounds as though you are saying it out loud. :)
I also love how you commented about the silent communication between humans and animals-- it's so true. We communicate through moods and emotions that we sense from each other. Every single time I see Grady, he acts as if he hasn't seen me in eight years. No matter what mood I'm in-- whether I'm pissed, sad, happy, mad-- he makes me SO happy. I forget all of the petty crap that I focus on for my entire school day and just relax and feel like the most loved person in the world.
My house is filled with pets. I have two cats, a seven-year-old calico named Tigress, and an all black, twelve year old, named Midnight. In my fish tank, there’s about five different fish, including a gold fish named Goldy. Outside I have a brother and sister duo of ducks, named Donald and Daisy. Now recently, I’ve semi adopted a whole family of kittens. Back in June this grayish-blue cat showed up and starting wandering around my yard. I discovered that she lived under my neighbors shed with three of her kittens. My mom was the first one to start leaving out food for them. Eventually I named the little family. First, there is Momma Cat, the gray-ish blue one. Then there are the tabby striped twins, Bobcat and Lynx, and finally there is the runt, Black Cat, who has an all black longhaired coat. It’s almost October and the little family is still here, but since their arrival, I think they’ve brought a change to my household. My parents buy special kitten food just for them, even though they swore they wouldn’t adopt any more pets. My territorial house cats have stopped hissing at the kittens through my house’s glass doors; and even I’ve seen a change in myself. You see, I’ve never been extremely responsible for my pets. I went through two rabbits, Molly and Cricket, two hamsters, Champagne 1 and Champagne 2, and several goldfish before the age of ten. But since these kittens arrived, I’ve become extremely protective of all my pets. Now I’m the first person to feed the kittens and check if they have enough water. I was the one worrying about the kittens during hurricane Hannah, because I was afraid something bad would happen to them during the flooding. I don’t know exactly why I’ve become so protective over these kittens. I think it’s because I realize that no one else in this world is looking out for them, and that if I don’t help, then no one will. I guess I’m a sucker for the underdog story. I can’t help but cheer as these once starving skittish babies are now becoming healthy friendly cats.
I believe animals can communicate with us. Take Momma Cat, for example, she communicates with her eyes. If she’s in a friendly mood, her yellow eyes will be bright and round, and I can go near her kittens, but if she’s her eyes are narrowed and dark, it means she’s annoyed and that I should keep my distance. I think my indoor cats try to communicate too. If I’m doing homework and Tigress wants my attention, she’ll flick my pencils across the room, sit on my homework, bite on rubber bands, etc. The reason I think this is her communicating, is that she never does those things unless I’m doing homework.
I salute animal rights activists. I’ve even considered volunteering in an animal shelter myself. I would love to protest against animal cruelty. One issue I’m deeply against is animal testing. I try to buy products from brands that do not test on animals because I think testing beauty products on animal is torture. I mean if poring chemicals in human eyes to see how they react is illegal, then why isn’t it illegal to do so on animals? I think activists are doing a great thing. I’m glad someone is standing up for the voiceless. Personally, I feel sick to my stomach when I hear about any kind of cruel treatment. Animals have feeling too! I don’t understand why some people are ignorant to this fact. Don’t they know that chaining a dog to a tree and leaving it without food and water in the hot sun for days, is torture? I think punishment for animal cruelty should be harsher. I’ve watched episodes of Animal Cops where dogs have suffered greatly because of their owner’s inhumanity. Yet the owners get off with a slap on the wrist and their pets are crippled or euthanized as a result. Mistreatment of animals should result in mandatory jail sentences. I think there should be some sort of list, kind of like a sex offender registry, for those that commit animal cruelty. I think the list should be public and made available to shelters and breeders.
hilary --
I <3 gradyy!! =]
That so weirdd. but I could totally picture him doing that. Especially with the eyes thing.
Hilly--I love Grady too!
Eva--a fish-naming curse? Very interesting. Explains so much, really.
Sarah Crane--I, too, laughed when I read your run-on-for-effect sentence about constipated fish.
Jordy--sorry again for offending you about the Michal Vick comment--my personal opinions should not have violated this question, but clearly they did. My extreme apologies.
Vickie--I want a horse! And a dwarf hampster!! I mean, they are already teeny--what must a dwarf one look like??
Jen P--guess what? I have 4 dogs and my two Jack Russells are named...Jack and Josie! Cool, huh? And adding to that, Jack was almost Jake, but when he was a puppy he crashed into my sliding glass door and got "jacked up" as my ex husband so eloquently stated, so his name changed to Jack almost immediately. True story. More later...
Why is it that our blogs always have to deal with something that makes me want to go all sarcastic on people. It just isn’t fair.
Anyway, I have had several animals during my brief life time, some I liked better than others, but I remember all of them. I have had three box turtles(my favorite was Deuteronomy), a painted turtle, ten snapping turtles(favorite was Mr. Snappy), a tank of killer-fish minis, eels, a river worm (which are just really cool) about thirty catfish, a cockatiel named Barney, the parakeets Sunny, Baby, Cocoa Cloud, Petey, Tropic, Bluebird, and Smokey, the two mocking birds Bebe and Frogger, the five water snakes, two tarantulas, a garden snake, Slider the jesus-lizard, several frogs, three Betas( favorite was Bolweevel), the dogs Sadie, Charlie, Jenny, and Puppy, and Max and Ninnie the cats. And those are all of the ones that I don’t have anymore. My current animals are Hershey (cat) Buck, Toby and Penny (dogs) and Ziggy (he’s a grey squirrel. So cute!) We sponsor a grey whale named Pepper, and pack of wolves, and a panda. So yeah, I like animals.
But I don’t know if I think that animals have rights. I believe that they have emotions, that they can feel that think, hell, some of the animals I’ve known are better humans than a lot of people out there, but do they really have rights?
I believe that animals help us to find our humanity. They way we treat our animals determine how we treat other people, or how we would if we lived in a world without rule where the only thing we have to answer to is ourselves. Think about it, we rule in our relationships with our pets, we choose when they eat, were they sleep, we decide their lives. We are in charge and have no rules to adhere to when with them. How we treat them is up to us and us alone, there is no force that can impose how we deal with them. We have the power. So whether we are nice to them or brutal depends on our humanity.
I’ve always thought that the best way to determine how kind a person is is to see how they are with animals. If a dog or cat shies away from them, you usually don’t want to be around them either. Animals can see into people, tell the difference between those who are good, evil, or allergic to them. It really is quite amazing really.
I think that might be why I like animals so much; they know you and generally will be with you if you are a good person. They also don’t lie. They are the most truthful things on earth, humans can’t compare to them, their honestly pales all.
I still can’t decide whether or not they have rights though, I guess it depends on your own personal view point on what animals really are. No one can force you to believe they do or don’t have rights, you ultimately decide that.
And just so I’m clear, not all of the animals listed above are dead, a large portion we released, this includes the majority of the turtles, fish, and snakes. So no, we are NOT animal killers! I could never kill an animal unless I was going to eat it, it’s that simple. My one rule is if you kill it you have to eat it. I know that may seem kind of weird but deal with it!!
On a lighter note: if anyone finds an injured animal you can just give it to me. My family has permission from the state to care for wild animals and release them, we do it a lot. That’s how we got Ziggy, Penny, and a lot of others. They’re so cute! I’m currently looking for any injured foxes or coyotes, but if it’s a bird or cat or something like that I’ll take that too (the bigger animals are just more fun.)
Oh! And our animals are named based on either appearance or personality (Ziggy is hyper, Ninnie was dumb, Hershey has dark fur, etc.)
And Sarah, your dog IS more cat than dog, it’s kind of creepy. No offense or anything.
And yes, seals do have that IQ level. And since dolphines are amarter, that would be like killing Einstien or a Demigod. Creepy no?
Right now I do not have any pets, but I had many pets in the past. The most memorable were my cats Timka and Barsik, my dog Graff, and my guinea pig Dash. Barsik and Graff were my dad’s pets and I saw them when I went to visit him. They were named by him and I don’t remember anything special about their names. Timka was my grandmother’s cat. The story behind that name begins with my grandma thinking that the cat she bought was a boy. She called her cat Tim. Then when she found out it is a girl, she added “ka” to make the name feminine. Dasha was named by my mother. We though of many names but Dasha seemed to fit best. I don’t think I can communicate with my pets, but they can definitely communicate with me. My cat Barsik usually does those head butts that cats do every now and again. He usually did it when he wanted to go outside on one of his little adventures. Graff would trap me somewhere and start licking my face when he was glad to see me (I don’t visit very much as you can probably tell). Dasha squealed and ran around her cage when she wanted to walk around the room or eat some grass. Usually I just do both: let her out and put grass somewhere to see if she would find it. She has a pretty good nose she does. My cat Timka’s communication was purely through eye contact. If our eyes met, I knew she was either going to scratch me or hiss at me or both. KARMA KARMA KARMA. All those years of scaring her and chasing her with laser pointers (She is really afraid of those things.) As you are reading this, don’t get any ideas about me being a bad pet owner. Keep in mind that this was done when I was still 8 to 10. I was a wee little lad.
Animals don’t have any rights and I think animal activists are wasting their time. Humans will always be dominant and will always abuse animals, to some degree. We already have animal shelters and that is the best we can do to keep animals safe from dying in the cold, cruel, streets. That way we can protect an animal’s one and only right to life, from the careless and irresponsible pet owners that one day just decide to leave their favorite cat or dog in the middle of nowhere.
In response to Eva and Sarah:
I wish someone told be earlier that naming pets is their sure way to an early grave. Would have probably called them anonymous or “hey you there”. But then again, I named them smart and cool Russian names, which should have guaranteed to triple their chance of survival. RUSSIAN PET NAMES FOR THE WIN.
I love my pets. It is as simple as that. I have two wonderfully adorable dogs, Shelia and Stevie. Sheila is an overweight yellow lab who always needs to be the center of attention. Stevie is a thirteen pound, old, black and white, mixed corgi. It is obvious in my family that Sheila is the spoiled favorite. But out of the six people in my house, I truly believe that Stevie is the better pick. Let me give you a better picture of these two dogs. Sheila is loved by every person, especially my brother. They have that special bond that no one understands. She is the type of dog that needs to be around people, every second of the day. (She is currently sitting on top of my feet, keeping them the perfect temperature.) Even at three in the morning, she will whine at every one of our doors, barking until someone lets her in, and gives her the attention that she wants. Stevie, my baby, is getting old. Either he doesn’t know his name, or is losing his hearing, but whenever you call him, he continues to sit there. But when I lift up my legs and he runs between them, or when I chase him around the house with the smile in his eyes, he has the heart of puppy. Stevie smells, I will admit it. And that is what makes others hesitant to be near him, but I think he is perfect in every single way. We chose the name Sheila because every time I would walk out of Sunday School this fat Jewish mom would call out to her daughter “SHEILA, HURRY UP, WE HAVE A TIME SCHEDULE!” But the way she said it every Sunday made my dad laugh so hard that we had to name our puppy after her. But how we named Stevie is my favorite. (I just asked my mom why, and her and my dad went on this whole tirade on how Stevie was named.) So when my parents worked at their job together, before they were married, but already dating, there was this guy Steve that kept hitting on my mom, and my dad was furious. So as my dad says, “I named the dog Stevie so when I was potty training the puppy, hitting him with the newspaper brought out a whole new meaning.” Oh, my family.
I definitely think that I can communicate with my pets, and they can communicate with me. There are things that they do, where I immediately know what they want. When they scratch at the front door, they want to come inside. When they sit and bark at my feet, they want food. And when they sit on top of my feet, or continuously walk by my legs, they want to be pet. But my brother has the ability to communicate with Sheila that amazes me. When he whistles from across the house, she comes running. When they are outside and he pats her on the butt, it means go to the door, and she runs full speed ahead to the door. Even the “sit, bark, stay” commands show an owner that their dog understands what they are saying. But the greatest thing to me is that my dogs know when I am happy, or when I am sad. When I walk into the house, and lie on the couch, my dogs run towards me and fill my heart with love. The fact that they wag their tail vigorously when I walk into the door, or when I walk towards them they get excited always brightens my day.
As for the activist, I say go for it. Everyone feels passionately about a subject, and for some their subject is animal rights. It is in no way a frivolous thing to do, because if they didn’t do it, then no one would. Those are the people that help change laws. They protect animals from chemical testing and make sure that they are in a safe and loving home. I do think animals have rights, maybe not to the extent that humans do, but they have their fare share. They have a right to be free or be taken care of. They have a right to be in a safe environment away from the horrible angry owners and big experimental big businesses. Animals have feelings, and have the ability to love and express emotions just like humans. I say that anything that has emotions has rights in this world.
I love love love animals. And I believe that whoever wants to help them in any way should, because those are the self-less people in the world.
I have a dog, a mixture between a Pekingese and Pomeranian to be exact. His name? It’s Lucky, just about the most common name for a dog that people actually use. No, nobody actually uses Fido. The name was given by my aunt, who had owned him for about a week before. I would have preferred Alto (or possibly “Lord Scotland”) myself, but he was already accustomed with his name. He was a bit afraid at first, but he soon became part of the family. In addition, I have several fish in a fish tank in the living room. Though, at times fun to look at, they aren’t truly aware of what’s happening to them. They do have some semblance of personality though. None have names, however. Those who had them are long dead.
Can you communicate with a pet? Yes. Of course. If anyone says otherwise, they need to look up the word “communicate”. Sure, we can’t just turn around and ask them about their day, but just about every pet that isn’t limited to a container, and several that are, can communicate with us. That’s why they became pets. From what I see, my dog going to my back door means he wants to go outside, while jumping at me cheerfully when I return home means he’s happy I’m back. In addition, when he lies on my feet while I play video games in the living room, it means…well nothing, he just likes being with me. It’s also incredibly cute, but that’s beside the point. Those tricks I taught, though just associated to an action to him, is about the same as giving orders to just about any human. Yet, my fish just stare. They would be examples of animals that do not have extremely developed emotions or methods of communications. They’re boring like that.
I usually applaud those who fight for what they believe will make the world better, but this is one case where I begin to question whether or not it’s truly beneficial. Now, I’m not an animal hater or anything of the sort, note, previous paragraph, however, a good number of larger groups of “activists” feed on the ignorance of people. A good number of these groups think only of helping animals, and none of the other costs or benefits. They begin forgetting what is better for the world. Somewhat ironically, their worst enemies, sans hunters, seem to be environmentalists. There are too many cases where attempts of giving “freedom” or “protection” to animals has a negative effect on not only people, but other animals. Things such as the aid of wild animals should be left to experts. They happen to be called scientists, and not PETA nor the Humane Society. That said; when done right, invoking care for animals in people will do quite a bit to improve humanity itself.
On another note, there are such things as points of no return. This is one case where there is a limit to the rights animals can have. Let’s look at our food source. Pigs, cows, chickens, all have been domesticated. They are not wild animals. No matter how horrible it sounds, they are essentially walking bags of meat. They lost their natural ability to survive long since they’ve been taken in as a food source for us humans. There is no salvation. Their happiness is limited to what we provide for them. They will all die if they are set free. It’s a bit difficult (completely impossible) to stop everyone from eating meat, so it isn’t an option. All we can do is keep their treatment humane before and while they get slaughtered, until we begin growing meat in labs. These animals will likely become common pets when that time comes around. It would be completely safe for animals, and the humans. What? Controversy? Curses.
Oh, it's also a mathematical fact (using the equation of "awesomeness") that Orcas/Killer Whales > Other Dolphins
Eva, while I agree that seals are great and smart, I do have to point out that if a toddler was starving, I would totally kill a seal for food if I had to. But that's only if I had to.
Hil, oh my god, Paris Hilton is the biggest weirdo about her pet ever. She probably gave that poor little chihuahua mental issues. Seperation anxiety, maybe.
Myra, the fact that my sweet little Frazier puppily (yes, I really do call him that, among other names that are prbably revotingly cutesy) acts like a cat when he is, in fact, a dog, does not make him freaky or wierd. It's like he combines the best parts of cat in dog into one adorable little bundle.
And you should know that offense will always be taken with the slightest insult to my baby.
Sergei, don't Russian names just ensure that the pets will have a great love for vodka? Just kidding.
But not really.
First, I have to start off by saying that I love this topic, because I love animals! I can't remember a time when I didn't have a pet. My first pet I ever had was a cow (when I lived in Europe, of course). Her name was beauty, and I used to milk her. lol It sounds crazy doesn't it? But when my grandma sold her because she wasn't producing enough milk, I was devastated. I moved on to having a rabbit, then to a dog. And now I have 12 cats.:)I love all my cats. They all have different personalities, and they're all so wonderful in their own ways. Most of the time they're outside, but they sleep with me sometimes, and walk me to my bus stop in the morning. (which I don't find too flattering, because I know the neighbors think I'm crazy, standing outside at my bus stop with about 6 cats surrounding me).
Here go all their name: There's CAESAR, JOANNA, SUZANNA, BLUE, HALF & HALF (because he's half gray and half white), LOSER ( He actually has an L on his forehead, so that's how he got his name), NIGHT(he's black), JOHNNY, WATERMELON, ALONZO MOSLEY SPECIAL AGENT F.B.I(that's a character from one of my favorite movies, "Midnight Run"), BALU, and NONAME(we ran out of names).
I can communicate with them a little bit, when they are hungry or when they want to either come in the house or go outside. They have a different "meow" for different situations. For example, when they want to be petted, they come up and start meowing a sorry meow that will make you feel bad and want to pet them. When they're hungry, they have like a continuous meow, they meow about 3 times in a row, take a break and repeat. when they want to come in the house, they stand outside and meow, and this meowing sounds like a little child crying. Most of the time, when they want something, I can figure out what it is by their actions.
I admire the activists that spend hours campaigning for the rights of animals. I think it is wonderful that there are people out there who are willing to help out the animals. The animals can't help themselves, so someone has to. They are definitely NOT wasting their time. Usually, people can help themselves, but animals, on the other hand, are way too helpless, so they can't really do anything. They can't go out and get a job, or make a change, because most animals are dependent on humans to feed and care for them. People can always get help for themselves and let their voice be heard, but animals are incapable of doing that, so someone has to do it for them , so I'm glad that the activists are doing so.
Animals certainly do have rights, even though most people don't recognize them and choose to ignore them. It'd be barbaric and unfair for them NOT to have rights. They should definitely have rights because they live in this world just like we do, and they need their rights just like we do.
should there be a limit to what people do for them? I want to say no, because animals deserve love and care and everything else a human can provide for them, and it should be given to them. But I also want to say yes, because what comes to mind are those celebrities' dogs, who live like kings, better off than most people. They go to restaurants, have thousand of dollars worth of clothes, diamond collars, and etc. That, I think, is just insane, unnecessary, and stupid.
I recently read some interesting facts on animals, in a book called SKINNY BITCH, and I can't not share them with you, they're so informative.
"Animals are intelligent, emotional, social creatures. Researchers at Bristol University discovered that cows actually nurture friendships and bear grudges. One study showed cows displaying excitement while solving intellectual challenges."
"Chickens are as smart as mammals, claims Dr.Chris Evans of Macquire University. They are apt pupils and can learn by watching the mistakes of others. One research conducted a study that demonstrated chickens' ability to use levers and switches to change the temperature of their surroundings. A PBS documentary revealed chickens' love for television and music."
"Pigs can play video games! They've been labeled as more intelligent as dogs and three-year-old humans."
Interesting, isn't it?
I just read through all of these and feel the need to comment before i actually reply to this blog. Firstly, Sarah, that bit about the IQ was very interesting, and on that same track, I feel the need to correct Eva. (sorry Eva.)
My brother is 3, which, according to Sarah,(and I'm inclined to believe every word Sarah Crane ever says, ever.)he has the IQ of a seal. Now Eva: I agree, seals are cute, fuzzy and self-sufficient. But so is Burke, to a degree. He's DEFINITELY cute. (for those who have not seen him- adorably large light blue eyes, curly, shockingly blond hair, like 6 teeth. Yeah, he's an angel.) He's also quite fuzzy. Most little kids are. And finally, although I wouldn't say he was totally self-sufficient, he does take care of himself mostly. If he's hungry, he drags a chair from the kitchen table to where we keep the cheerios, and climbs up on it to reach. If he wants to go ride his bike, he'll simply walk out the front door. (That's a bit frightening, actually.) If he wants to nap, he'll nap, and if he wants to wash his hands, he'll put the toilet lid down, climb on to the toilet and use the toilet paper holder as a foothold to climb to the sink. (also a little frightening.) Seals and toddlers have more in common than you thought, which makes those obnoxiously gruesome seal-clubbing clips on FTV all the more obscene.
Sadly I do not have a pet but I do have a brother. What? I felt left out of the conversation. His name is Israel, I call him Ito, and he’s a living, breathing human being. Well I call him Ito because when he was born my parents kept calling him Israelito and I, barely a 1 year and 7 month old baby, only caught the last part.
Well…. I don’t speak Dog but I can tell them to get their butt of the couch. You know what? I find it funny that we can’t actually speak any of the thousands of animals’ languages but the animals can understand the thousands of languages we as humans speak. We actually have to teach a monkey Sign Language so that a limited portion of our population can understand it. I feel pretty stupid right about now. I mean both animals and humans can tell if each other is feeling blue but there isn’t a human, as far as I know, that can talk to fish.
Of course animal activists are not wasting their time. Animals don’t have as much of the rights they deserve. Just because they don’t have their own constitution doesn’t mean they aren’t important. It’s like saying that illiterate citizens in our society don’t deserve to vote. They can listen and speak! And aren’t they the ones who founded the country we now inhabit? And why do animals need a constitution anyway? They are “complete creations” that never change. They don’t need any order. They need for us to let them run free like they were meant to be. They never did any harm to us so why should we oppress them?
The activists are helping people by helping the animals. We need animals to survive not just emotionally but to happily LIVE on this earth. There needs to be a balance of carnivores, herbivores, producers, etc. etc. so that life on earth doesn’t get uncomfortable. I’m not saying that we are running out of food. We have ample amounts that we NEED to share but we don’t….. Animals are carnivores and herbivores that keep populations in check. That’s all.
Ummmm…a limit? Well people shouldn’t go crazy and devote every waking moment of their life to animals. People should be individuals with their own lives. But animals should be respected. They have feelings too. They help us in ways we don’t understand ourselves. We need to fight for them because they are as much as a person as we are except for the whole DNA part.
Byebye <3
To Eva's comment:
"PETA has its uses. See, it does something crazy to get people's attention. Then, more reasonable people step in and say "No, we shouldn't go around blowing up KFC, but there really should be some rule saying they can't spray paint in the chicken's eyes and chop off their beaks before killing them." And people are more likely to lisiten, because it doesn't involve blowing up resturants."
Holy... Do the PETA people plan it out that way or something? And does KFC really do it like that?
To Jen:
"Oh, and I've always thrown birthday parties for my doggies, and they celebrate Christmas with us. It's cute."
Wah!!! How cute!!! >////< I can picture it now!
To Matt:
"As for the whole communicating with animals thing, of course I do. I sometimes think I have Dr. Dolittle powers it is so scary how fast they respond."
Hahaha, entertaining as always. Thank you for using my cool and awesome quotes! lol XD Nah, your blog is, as always, insightful and detailed as well as long too. I like reading yours.
For Sarah:
"The average seal has the intelligence level of a three-year old human child. Killing a seal is like killing a big toddler. Just throwing that one out there."
o.O; where did the seals come in? But that was cool and funny. I had no idea and you make a good point there.
For Hilary:
"There should be a limit to animal rights. For example, I don't think an animal should rule a country or be ridiculously pampered (cough cough PARIS HILTON YOU WEIRDO cough)."
I was reading over your blog and when I got here... I LAUGHED MY BUTT OFF. Ahem, but above that, your blog was also very insightful and such... and hilarious!!! I'm sorry if that sounds mean, but I just can't help laughing at the above lines. Her chihuahua has shades, okay? SHADES!!! *laughs*
To Myra!
"And yes, seals do have that IQ level. And since dolphines are amarter, that would be like killing Einstien or a Demigod. Creepy no?"
*Runs away laughing* True, so true!
I can't comment on anyone else's because I've got to go now... >////< I wish I could though!!! Please keep up the good work, everyone!!!
To Tamari:
WOW again...I secretly always wanted a cow because I'm afraid to say I'm a milk-a-holic. Animals are helpless and need or help. This week I am jealous of you. Grrrr! That's pretty cool that you have alot of cats that accompany you to the bus stop. Awww!They really care! =) I have chickens in my back yard. I could have written about the chickens but they don't like me so I don't consider them my pets. They are vicious demons and I complety forgot about them when I wrote my blog. Sorry Bunje.
Leonor <3
Twenty-three years from now, I can perfectly see myself waking up to an apartment with rainbow-striped walls, a balcony off to the left with flowers and vines covering the railings, the smell of coffee filling the room, Italian paintings covering the walls, and with a Himalayan cat lying next to me named Kimi. For now, I find myself waking up each morning at 5:45 am to white walls, two small windows to my left, the smell of an old air freshener, a few romantic paintings, and a fifteen-year-old white cat named Pookie lying by my side. If you do not believe that animals can talk, you would be proved wrong once you met her. Each time I enter the room, or touch her, or yawn, or even look at her, she makes this short, innocent, kitten-like sound that is rather difficult to explain, but then, when I put my lips together and make a kissing sound, she makes the sound again. In a sense, it is our way of communicating. In actuality, she is not my cat, but rather my older sister’s, Jessica’s, cat who she named on Christmas day when she was about five years old. Even my sister is thoroughly convinced that she understands perfect English. My family also has another stray cat named Mittens, and a dog named Blondie. I was the one who named Mittens on the day my mother found her in our garden with no signs of belonging to anyone. The reason why I gave her this name was for her white paws that were really noticeable against her black and gray body. My parents named our Labrador Blondie, obviously for the color of her fur. As for these two other pets, I do not share the least of a connection with either one of them, thus we never converse with one another.
In general, though, animals certainly do communicate with humans such as when they are hungry or want to go outside. Their way of communicating is especially seen through their behavior, and may be noticed through their use of sounds, facial expressions, or their mood. For instance, when cats want something, they will usually purr, rub up against your legs, follow you, or scratch at a door until they are granted what they want. Dogs, on the other hand, may also follow you, bark or whine, carry a food bowl in their mouth, or simply search through the house and find their own food to steal. In order for such situations to be considered conversation, it requires the action of the owner to act upon these stimuli. The fact that the signals of the animal are triggering an action in another subject is proof of the existence of conversation between the two species. A few particular animals that are often portrayed in movies and books as having a very deep connection to humans are horses, lions, dolphins, and whales. The reason why these animals are given so much attention and respect is because of the fact that humans feel as though they have a connection with them and can therefore compare themselves to these animals. If a human does not see a connection, they also do not see a reason to respect them. For instance, humans tend to dislike insects, and if we were to describe an insect a few of the aspects that would probably be mentioned would be small, mysterious, disgusting, gross, having too many legs or eyes, eat strange things, walk funny, or do not seem to be friendly. These descriptions are all things we do not see ourselves as being, and because of this lack of a connection, it is not a big deal to us if we choose to kill them. This behavior is a part of our nature which heavily dictates our treatment of animals. One may ask why a person chooses to abuse a dog or cat; the most likely reason is because they do not feel any connection or wish to share any association with them. Through their eyes, these pets may be weak, imperfect, annoying, disturbing, or simply aspects that can be used to make money. One will notice that the abuser does not classify themselves as fitting the description of any one of these depictions. It is this lack of a connection which accounts for their behavior. Furthermore, horses, lions, dolphins, and whales have a class system, they are strong, they are mostly independent, they protect what means most to them, and, most importantly, they are animals which we are not confident enough to say we can conquer in the wild. Many of these aspects are relatable to us, and their strength puts them at a level perhaps even higher than ourselves. Typically, the larger the animal is, the more of a purpose it beholds. These aphorisms are all especially seen in Alice Walker’s story, “Am I Blue?” which gives the reader a deeper understanding of the connection between animals and humans, and how it affects behavior.
On one webpage for the World Society for the Protection of Animals’ (WSPA) there is an article that states, “Every day millions of animals are born into lives of unspeakable suffering. Every day millions more suffer terrible deaths.” (http://www.wspa-usa.org/pages/1706_animals_matter.cfm?redirect=yes). Regardless of whether or not this statement may be true, the Los Angeles Times reported that, “At the peak of the Darfur crisis three years ago, health experts estimated that 6,000 to 10,000 people were losing their lives each month to disease, hunger and violence.” (http://articles.latimes.com/2007/aug/26/world/fg-darfur26) Although this figure is slightly decreasing today, it still cannot compare to the amount of animals dying in today’s world due to abuse or cruel punishment. Also, according to the National Foundation for Abused and Neglected Children (NFANC), they respond to “over 30,000 reports of child abuse and neglect a year.” (http://www.gangfreekids.org/childAbuse.html) This also does not amount to the number of animals being mistreated in the world, especially considering the fact that the cases dealt with by the NFANC were in this country alone. In my opinion, as far as the activists who are spending hours trying to save animals and hopefully provide them with rights someday, it would be wrong to say that they are wasting their time. Yet, I am undoubtedly certain that if their lives were on the line, they would want others to be helping them more than any other animal living on this planet.
Animals do deserve to be given at least some rights to protect them against cases of abuse. I strongly believe that laws should be enforced not only for those animals being abused by their owners, but also the number animals being used to feed our country’s population. According to U.S. statistics, the number of animals slaughtered in 2003 reached 9.1 billion animals, which includes 8.68 billion chickens and 267 million turkeys. (http://www.cok.net/lit/statistics2003.php) As a result, action is essential to helping these animals, but people should limit themselves as to how much they should be helping them because there are other problems in the world that also should be dealt with. There should also be limits as to what people do for them because, obviously, we cannot give them all the power in the world. As far as an animal’s behavior, there are times when the owner has the right to punish their pet (not physically) in order for them to learn from their mistakes and perhaps save their life, so this would be an example of how far we should take their rights; they should be given protection, but they also must be kept maintainable and under a reasonable amount of control.
In response to Jennifer P.:
After reading your very detailed, but also very interesting introduction about the pets you have had (I really liked the idea of royalty names), these two statements came to my attention: “Humans already have it made for them: police, hospitals, family, friends. But animals, they rely on the love and care of their owners.” The amount of dependence that animals have upon us is perhaps greater than any of us seem to realize, especially with pets who are not accustomed to a natural, wild environment. We, as humans, have already established any facilities we have found to be necessary in our lives, but animals rely on our care and compassion to get what they need. Understanding this does make me realize what Mr. Costal always means when he says that “if animals want to have their own rights, they should make their own constitution”, but animals were never given the same mentality and intellectual understanding as we have. These animals have been put at a great disadvantage, and it is up to us to help them.
I have had a variety of pets over the years and consider myself an animal lover. I’ve had fish, little turtles, hamsters, cats, and a chicken that I raised from an egg in school in fourth grade. He turned out to be a rooster after I had already named it Fluffy thinking it was a her. But I loved him just the same. He stayed at my neighbor’s coop until he was tragically killed by a fox. My parents just recently told me the truth about his death fearing I couldn’t take it at such a young age. My other animals I had at a very young age and can’t remember much about except my two hamsters’’ names were Whitey and Brownie (you can guess their colors).
I currently I have three cats. The oldest is Pumpkin who I named for her color. She is starting to loose her fur and has just about used up her nine lives. I love her to death and don’t mind petting her and feeling her bald spots that she feverishly licks at all day. I have no clue why she does this. I guess it is just her mind starting to go. She is just begging to look old to me which is heartbreaking to me. I got her when she was a kitten, and she has been my favorite un-human ever since. She is crazy affectionate even at her old age. I question if she knows it’s me anymore, of if she would jump on just anyone’s chest while they are laying down and start kneading with her little white paws while purring and drooling. She is definitely a drooler, but I wouldn’t change a thing about her. I will be emotionally distraught for a while when she finally passes away. My two other cats are mother and daughter. Alouicious is the mother and Ezequial is the daughter. A friend of my little sister found Alouicious (Ally for short) and asked us if we would keep it, and we did. I named her because of her regal demeanor. She is pretty stand-offish and will only come to you when she is looking for attention for a short while. Then she will jump up and run away. Alouicious seemed like a good name. Her daughter is a spaz. When Ally had kittens, we gave them all away. One went to my neighbor who had two big dogs. After raising the kitten there for a little and naming it Ezequial, she realized that it was scared of the dogs. We took her back and kept her crazy name. Now, I see that growing up with the dogs has really had an affect on her. She runs around and is alert to every sound. She has her wild father’s genes and was raised by two dogs. I truly love all of my cats.
All three of my cats are friendly to each other and will play from time to time. I really love watching them run from one end of the house and up my stairs and back down over and over. From having cats all my life, I have realized that animals are definitely able to communicate with us. They make different sounds when they want certain things, they purr when they like what you’re doing, and they will jump up and start showing love whenever they are lonely. Just because we can’t communicate verbally doesn’t mean we can’t communicate at all. I know what they’re feeling, and am happy to react to whatever it is they ask for with their body language and cat calls. If you pay attention for long enough, it’s easy to get the code down. This goes both ways. I have noticed that when I am sad one of them will at least come into the room with me and start to blink at me from the other end of the room. Call me crazy, but I really think this means something. I like to think this shows they care or are concerned. I’ve never had a dog, but I’ve seen many dog owners and their dogs interact and communicate for sure. I think the bond between humans and their animals is strong enough to create some way of communication for sure.
The animal rights activists out there definitely are important to not only animals but to the rest of society. Obviously not many people want to see innocent animals being tortured or used for sport, but there are other reasons animal cruelty should be an important issue to try to prevent. Many sociopaths and killers start out with killing and treating animals badly for fun and move their way up to people. If there were no consequences to the actions of people who maim animals and don’t treat them like living creatures, far more potential killers could arise and find a hobby they never knew about. The way I feel could be completely wrong, but I feel that it’s a possibility. I have seen the PETA videos on animal cruelty in the food industry, and it makes me sick to my stomach. Having animals, I see that every little chick has a personality (or animalality?), so the bigger animals must also feel things and be capable of misery. The animal activists do what we only wish we would. We all feel sympathy for the animals in cages smaller than their wing span, but few of us actually do something about it. These people make up for the cowards in us all, or for those that don’t have the time to make sure that all life is being protected. There are people in this world who are treated worse than the animals. I do think that more time should be allotted to those suffering people, but I think that what that means is more of us need to get involved. The fact is that there are plenty of people in this world. We shouldn’t tell the people who want to help the animals to start caring more about the suffering people. It is true that a human life is ultimately worth more than an animal’s, but do we truly need to split the few animal activists out there away from their passion for animals to help the people in other countries (and even in our own) who are less fortunate? More people need to get involved in the causes of both. They are both important.
Animals should absolutely have rights. Like I’ve mentioned, I have seen with my own two eyes the love and emotion behind my pets’ eyes. If I knew that someone was taking advantage of my babies, I’d be completely distraught about their suffering. Those that take advantage of animals need to be punished more harshly than they are. I’ve watched the animal cops on T.V. and am always upset and disheartened with the punishment of the criminals. A slap on the wrist and off they go. Possibly to hurt another animal without even being caught. It’s disgusting. I don’t think there should be a limit to what people can do for them. If someone is passionate about helping another living being, they should not be stopped unless it turns into something illegal. Many things in the government are not fair, but if everyone started taking the laws into their own hands, it would be chaos. People should definitely work to get the laws on animal cruelty changed. Especially in the food industry. I see this happening in the future. With such advancements in technology, can’t someone make a more humane way to harvest animals? We are already killing them faster than the speed of light. Can’t people stop worrying about efficiency and costs of keeping them “happy” and perhaps cut the productivity down to half the speed of light?
I love animals and yet I am afraid of them at the same time. Therefore, I like small animals that aren’t bigger than you when they stand on two legs. I don’t have any pets. Not even fish. Isn’t that sad, but my story is that my parents don’t think that I can take care of a pet. Partly because I can’t even keep my room clean. However, I have always wanted pets. I mean I could at least have fish, but my sister says that I will kill them in less than a week or I’ll get extremely attached to them and when they do die I and going to fall apart.
I believe that there is a connection between humans and animals. My aunt’s dog follows her wherever she goes. He is happy when she is and sad when she is. I amazes me how much animals can understand. They understand what you say or at least your hand movements. But truthfully I would have to say that giant dogs love to tackle me. I have been tackled by three dogs that were taller than me when they were on two legs. This is why I prefer small animals. For example of I ever do get a pet is will definitely be a Shih Tzu.
Animal activists spending hours on campaigning are doing the right thing. But some of them go too far. They do have limits, I mean everyone does. PETA for example takes it too far a lot. Like Sarah said they tried to kill a polar bear because he was separated from his mother and shouldn’t be brought up by humans. Humans will probably give him as much love and attention as his mother would, and they would also care for him in the same way. Animals are a gift for the human race, to have someone (or as others would say something) to talk to. So why are people so ready to kill them all the time. Shouldn’t we treasure this gift and help them as much as we can?
Animals are like humans so what if they look different. They also have emotions, trust me I have seen dogs cry because they were sad or they weren’t feeling good. Animals should helped not killed, so a fat rich lady can have a fur coat (I hate fat rich ladies with fur coats. They tend to stink or use way too much perfume.)
Sarah- i had no idea that PETA was doing something like that to a poor innocent animals, who has every right to live. It good that PETA fights for animals but sometimes they go a little too far. Everyone should be told that they have certian limits that they should not cross.
First off, I've got a terrible case of writer's block, and have access to neither rest nor a change of scenery. For now I'll just dryly answer the questions, and perhaps the constant digging into my head's well will reveal a spring.
Yech. Even my metaphors are bad today. Let's keep moving.
Yes, I have pets. Three, in fact. I have an English springer spaniel named Jack, and a brother/sister cat duo. The boy is a black'n'tan striped shorthair named Maki. Or Makie. We never could agree on the spelling of the name. I'm not sure how we came to that name either. He's an awfully friendly little guy who is perfectly happy to be picked up and placed in a lap. His sister doesn't share his personality, however. She is a little black cat which we named Minja. The name is a portmanteau of midget and ninja. I'm sure some people will catch the reference. I don't think she's retracted her claws once in her life. Jack's back story is a bit more complicated. He is a black and white English Springer Spaniel we got from a not-so-reputable breeder. When we first saw him, one of his hind legs had a bloody sock on. It seemed the groomer had clipped one of his back nails a bit too far back, and the sock was to work as makeshift gauze. My first thought upon seeing the gruesome article was to name the dog Ripper. I liked the name because of both the sock and his friendly affectionate attitude toward strangers. My father was staunchly opposed to the idea, and we eventually settled on Jack, as in “Jack the Ripper”. The meaning has since fade, however. Perhaps we should have given him one of those showy names that dogs in dog shows have. Something like Fluffle's Buffles Scruffle's Truffles Homestar Runner.
Personally, I think animals can communicate, as they are sentient creatures. If properly trained, a man can teach an African Grey Parrot both words and grammar, and proceed to have a conversation. Dogs can learn to understand words, and I've heard of teaching cats to solve simple math problems. What I don't believe, however, is that animals can all clearly and humanly show their emotions. They were born with their own instincts, and as such, developed their own ways of showing emotions. I've had people explain animal behavior to me again and again. A dog's tail wagging shows happiness, however, a cat whipping its tail around shows displeasure. They cannot line up with each other, it would be silly to think they line up with us.
I could probably write a book detailing my beliefs of the specific rights of all creatures, detailing how things such as age and intelligence subtly changed these things. I could, conceivably, proceed to listen to a lecture or soapbox speech and completely change my opinion. I think all creatures from the ant to the human should have the right to a painless death. Everything else is rather conditional. As for the animal rights protesters, I generally am happy to simply see people rallying over choice and opinion rather than religious movements. Of course, there are some acronym-style groups which take this to nausea inducing extremes. PETA, ELF, ALF, etc. However, they are a necessary evil. Without the extremes, people tend to take the moderates less seriously, and no progress will be made. I don't think what these groups have done is acceptable, but I'm sorry to say I cannot think of a different solution. It's possible that without people like Malcom X, Martin Luther King Jr. would never have been taken as seriously. The defense of animals is a perfectly good thing to work towards. If we had none of these people, who knows what the state of animals bred for slaughter would be like.
First of all, I would have to say that I definitely agree with Bunje. Animals are great and I can’t imagine not having them in some part of my life. Having said that, I eat meat everyday, and I think that a meal without meat isn’t really much of a meal at all. So as much as I love animals, I feel no qualms about enjoying a steak or burger.
Anyway, there have pets in my family for as long as I can remember, and we now have one dog and two cats. The dog is a mutt, some kind of weird mix between a Rottweiler, a Labrador, and I think a chow? We honestly have no idea what he is. His name is Wrigley, which was the name he had been given at the Humane Society. We liked it, so it stuck. Our cats names are Shadow and Kenya. Shadow got his name because he is jet-black, so it makes sense. Kenya got her name because some of my relatives were living in Kenya at the time as missionaries, and we all thought it was a good name.
I’ve had pets my whole life, and as far as I can tell they can only communicate with me when they hear me say the words “food” or “outside”. Otherwise, they just sit around and sleep all day. I’m sure that some people can communicate with their pets on a deeper level than I can, but my connection with animals just is not very strong. Just watch seeing eye dogs or K-9 police dogs at work, and it is obvious that humans can and do communicate with animals. Even though my pets never listen to anything I try to tell them, they are still always there, whether you want to play a game, or just lay around.
Now, about animal rights activists. While it is true that animals deserve to be treated with respect and are often mistreated, I believe that the thousands of people who campaign constantly for animals’ rights could put their time to much better use by helping the countless people around the world who have no shelter at night, no clothes on their backs, and no food to eat. Animals are great, but, plain and simple, people are more important than pets. There is no excuse for people who let animals fight to the death for their pure enjoyment, but there is also no reason for millions of people to die every year because they are without food or proper medical treatment.
To Vikkie: PETA definitely does some good things as far as helping animals go, but obviously some of these people are just flat-out ridiculous. As you said and Ivan verified, they take things waaay too far. Pouring paint on a woman’s coat does absolutely nothing to help their cause, and fire-bombing an animal testing laboratory is okay if you want to spend the next three to five behind bars. Whatever, as long as they save a few rabbits, it’s definitely worth it.
To Jennifer:
I think you have it a little wrong. PETA is the crazy group of the well known animal rights organizations. It's sick, some of the things, they do. They their donations, (That's right, PETA is a charity, last I checked.) and directly fund terrorist groups such as the Animal Liberation Front. One of their ways of liberating animals is to burn down buildings in which animal testing is performed. Yes, testing cosmetics on animals is wrong. They aren't making the animals pretty, they're testing to see if the cosmetics are poisonous. However, burning to death is the absolute most painful way to die.
In fact, PETA has paid money to a man who then used that money to travel around to different schools (Colleges, I would assume, but I'm not sure) to teach the students to make firebombs.
And don't forget the wonderful things that PETA members hand out to children. Things like this little cartoon they give to the boys and girls whose mothers look like they may be wearing real fur. (warning: blood)
http://www.theanimaladvocate.org/040726_mommykills.jpg
“Even if animal tests produced a cure for AIDS, we’d be against it.”
— PETA president and co-founder Ingrid Newkirk, in the September 1989 issue of Vogue, Sep 1989
Matt-
“From a biological standpoint, protecting animals is just as important as protecting humans. If one species of penguin dies out in the abyss of Antarctica, even though it would take a long time, the effect on life for everyone could be catastrophic because a consumer and food source has been removed and a new has to fill its place or the food web will slowly collapse.”
I totally forgot to mention this “butterfly effect” in my blog. So ill comment about what you said. I think this is very true. It’s obvious our earth hates us for what we have done in the past and continue to do (even though it seems like more awareness is spreading). I believe that every action has an equal but opposite reaction (or something like that? Is that Newton? Whatever.) The polar bears and penguins, however distant they may seem to us, will eventually have an effect on our children, children’s children, or somewhere down the line (if we make it that far). That’s why it’s so important to protect the natural order of things and not get greedy. Killing animals in moderation and for necessity is vital.
Let me start by saying that I have a dog I don’t really like, so it makes my views biased. I got my dog about four years ago and I loved it at first. Her name is Jersey (my mom named her) and she’s a Pit bull. Most people hear Pit bull and believe it is a mean dog. I believe however it is how the owner treats the pet that makes it mean. My dog is the perfect example my mom tends to take care of her more so she follows her around kissing her feet. That is mainly why I don’t like it, it only seems to like me when I have food. Animals have rights as well as humans but obviously not all of the rights we have. Some animals luck out and get sweaters while others do not. It is almost the same as humans some cant find food while others have more than enough. I don’t agree with people when they dress dogs up and such I think that’s to far, we have to remember dogs are not people. As for communication between animals and me, I believe there is none. Animals have emotions and can notice the change in a human’s voice. For instance, when I raise my voice to my dog it seems to know she did something wrong. I don’t think the dog knows anything besides that though. The rights are very different between humans and animals, and unlike what Eva said I do believe some animals are pets and should be treated as pets. It is unlucky for the few that get treated poorly but most of them are pampered with extra things. As for cows, chickens, and such I do not feel they have many rights at all. I mean we eat them and I honestly do not feel bad after I eat a big juicy steak. The voices of the animals are heard through activists that are fighting for animals. That is great that they want to help but I do not believe things will ever change with the relationship between humans and animals, nor do I think it should. By no means do I think animals should be treated poorly but I don’t see how an animal with no true emotions or way to communicate can be given certain rights.
I have two pets- well technically I have a dog, and my sister has a rabbit. The rabbit’s name is Waffles and it’s a she. I’m not sure what class of rabbit she is, as she is not mine, I do know that she is gray, small, and very aggressive. Waffle’s nickname is “Waffy” and although she is mean and bites a lot, she can be loving at times-but this is rare. My dag’s name is Chewy. Chewy is a male Chihuahua (mini). He is about the size of a woman’s size seven sneaker. Chewy is A year and a half old, he is white with chocolate spots. He’s not yappy like other Chihuahuas; he is relatively quiet except when he sees a stranger. Chewy got his name-well guess… He chews on EVERYTHING. He also nibbles at toes….you know how Chihuahuas are supposed to be ankle biters? Well, I guess since he can’t reach ankles so I guess he went for the next best thing…
I think that- in a way, animals can communicate with humans and vice versa. Why do you think that animals show malice towards those they do not like show affection for those they do? Animals know when they piss people off. It’s all body language. If humans can read it, why can’t animals? For one, most dogs can tell when their owner(s) are mad and head to their respective kennel, cage, or leash. When you are showing your pet affection does it not lick/ show affection back? Maybe it’s just trained pets…I think it’s a capability that all animals definitely have though. Where do you think THAT comes from? Can you honestly tell me that you’ve never had a dog, cat, duck…or (insert animal species here) snap at you? There has to be at least a mutual understanding of emotions between humans and animals…after all- we ARE all animals that have been living in cooperation with each other for thousands of years.
As for animal activist groups-well I like to refer to them as extremist groups. I agree with the concept that they are “fighting” to promote, I just don’t agree with their tactics. I don’t know if it really happens, but like in movies where the groups dump paint on a fur coat. That does not do anything but a. ruin the investment of thousands of dollars, therefore wasting the life of an animal b. break the law c. piss people off then make them go to the store and buy ANOTHER coat, killing yet ANOTHER animal. I’m not saying that this means that they shouldn’t fight for animal rights- just lighten it up a bit. They do not have to be superman and try to “save” people either. God only knows…if they would do that for an animal…what would they do for a human. I DO understand the issue of animal rights but- chill. I am on the “activist side” as a vegetarian and aspiring vegan…one step at a time guys =)
___________
My response is to everyone who has written so far. I think that you all agree with not being cruel to animals don't you? And if you don't....you kinda have issues. As for those that believe in animal rights- Yayy!! As for those believe that animals have "limited rights"- hey...you're on the right track...I heart animals!!
To Sergei:
Ok, i'm must first start by saying that i mean no disrespect no matter how heatted my repsonse may get and we'll still be friends no matter what. with that said, i must implore, how the heck can you say:"Animals don’t have any rights and I think animal activists are wasting their time. Humans will always be dominant and will always abuse animals, to some degree. We already have animal shelters and that is the best we can do to keep animals safe from dying in the cold, cruel, streets."
Do you really think that just because we are donimant means we owe animals no repsect and therefore they deserve nothing but the right to life? Or am i read this wrong? if you do then, shouldn't we, being the donminent life forms on earth, be fair and respectful to all living things? Isn't the head hanco's job in any situtation the responsiblity to keep things fair and equal? Now, of course of as Hilary said, "no animal should run the country" and i agree but i feel that they deserve more than just living. The situtation between animals and humans is like the struggle between England and its colonies, ok so i'm a nerd we all knew that, moving on. The colonists only took so much grief, the stamp act, intolerable acts, quatering act, etc. until they cracked. and we all know what foolws a revolution. Now, i don't think the oppressed animals will all unite against the humans but i do think its is possible for them to become more resilient and we really don't need an animal revolution, ok so that's a little extreme but you get my point. Kindess begets kindess and respect begets respect. It's the golden rule and it applies to all life. So to say that animals have/deserve no rights is really saying then neither do we. THis doesn't mean they should be able to vote, altough it would be funny to see a shark or an orca in the voting booth, they just deserve as much respect as we do. I think the best way to think of it is that animals who are not human deserve as many rights as a new born baby. no one would let a baby vote or run the country or alaska, but they would honor it,treat him or her with respect,and do everything possible to give him or her the best life possible. is that too much to ask for animals? Are they really that below us, Sergei? Maybe you don't feel the way i'm interpretting you're comment, in which case, please tell me what you mean.
When I was little I had an obsession with getting a puppy. Every Christmas y grandmother would buy me a stuffed puppy, as to suffice for my parents being sticklers and not letting me have a real one. By the time I was ten I had fully worn down my parent’s resistance and decided to only ask for one thing for Christmas. I decided that all I wanted for Christmas was a puppy, my two front teeth were already in place. For weeks I knew exactly what I was going to name the puppy. I knew I would be extremely disappointed if I didn’t receive that joyful bundle of life, but I knew even more that I had to be prepared. So when Christmas morning came I ran downstairs with everything I had and opened up the doors to our living room. Instantly I heard the cutest little whimper and my heart was sold. She jumped up to her cage and started spinning around. All she wanted was to be out of that cage. She really hated that cage. I knew when she was sad, and when she was angry at me, and when she was hungry. I think anything has emotions that you really feel connected to. I felt strongly connected with my puppy, like it was almost my baby. Do I think animals can communicate with us? Without a doubt in my mind. She would look up and me and I would know in an instant exactly what she needed, call it motherly instinct or whatever you will but it was still communicating. She was a Maltese, which are really tiny white furry dogs. She never shed and we kept her hair short. She was really energetic and had a lot of bark and bite for such a little thing. I used to pick her up every two seconds, which she might not have liked all the time, but still it was something I enjoyed doing. Sometimes she would cuddle up with me, and those were the time I liked most, but that was her communicating with me, showing me that I meant something to her. I know this because they have eyes and mouths and they talk, or well bark, and have emotions in their eyes. She got sick and passed away my eighth grade year, one of the saddest mornings I have ever experienced. She passed away in her sleep, which was probably better since she had a lot of problems. Problems are common in small dogs, I used to hate it when we took her to doctor after doctor poking and doing all type of ‘doctorly’ things to her. I used to tell her everything was going to be all right and she’d eventually calm down, so if that’s not proof I don’t know what is.
Do animals have rights? Of course, they are living breathing creatures just like humans. They are so closely related to humans that there is no reason for them to be excluded when it comes to being protected. People treat animals so cruelly that maybe there should be a mini constitution for animals, or at least a prevailing law that protects them from being in harm’s way. I would have done anything to see my puppy not suffer and I think a majority of owners feel that way about their pets. Like every rule there are exceptions, there are people who are mean and terrible towards animals. I know there are organizations in place to help protect animals, but it just seems to unfair that we can’t fix everything in time. Maybe they should do background checks before you can take home an animal, or have check in’s on every animal that goes into a questionable home. Maybe just little measures could catch things that so often go unnoticed. The activists have a cause and hey go them! For giving their time to something bigger than themselves I look up to them. I know that movie stars tend to go extreme with their dogs sometimes, but really they are just treating them the way they are treated. Is it extreme and frivolous? Yes. Yet, these people are willing to do these things for their pets because they love them and have an understanding that basically pets are people too. If we can go extreme and wear clothes, there is no reason our dogs can’t. (My mother at one time bought an outfit for my puppy. Was it ridiculous? Yes, but was it adorable, oh yes. )
All I would like to say is, life is better with man’s best friend.
Molly! Your story about how your dog came to be named Stevie made my entire day. I was really down after having to write about Noel, but Stevie made me smile. That’s such a great way to name a pet! Best story award goes to you.
Also, I know exactly what you mean when you say the best thing about pets is that they know your mood. I remember whenever I would cry, she would curl up with me to make me feel better. When I was happy she’d dance around with me on her hind legs. A pet has the ability to make any day better, which is why I will get another dog the second I can. It is without a doubt the best feeling in the world to see a pet looking up at you wagging its tail because it is just so excited that your home. Your blog was literally the highlight of my night. :)
to ashley:
WOW!(jaw drops to the floor in astonishment) I can't believe you did all that reasearch. I think it is amazing and that you're an awesome writer. I completely agree on the the communcation thing. i have as cat and they same things happen. it is rather freaky from time to time. I defintely feel that everyone has some Dr. Dolittle in them.
Hmm...it seems Brendan has explained PETA pretty well, and also posted the sister cartoon to the one I posted. That said, I'd like to clarify on when I said "feeding on people's ignorance". The intentions of the average person who supports these groups is good. However, these groups are led by those crazy few who are delusional about what is truly helpful. The average person, not knowing the repercussions of, or maybe even the existence of, such extremism, will continue to give aid to them, believing they are doing something helpful to the world.
To Tarah and Matt
Indeed, verily...ergo...the "butterfly effect"
I actually touched on that on my blog. Both people who poach or reckless kill animals, and obsessive animal rights activists either ignore, or forget about the indirect harm that can be done from either overhunting or allowing them to become overpopulated. We've already done too much harm to the natural order of things. Now, we need to intervene to stop it from continuing in the downward spiral. That is why it should be left to experts, to prevent further harm to the environment. A middle line needs to be drawn.
It seems like every person on here is an animal lover. Well I’ll join the ranks. It’s weird; I seem to have a great rapport with animals. Cats like to lie on my lap, and dogs like to go for my crotch (I’m totally serious), and every animal you can think of, I seem to get along fine with. Ever meet someone with a very protective animal that doesn’t like strangers? I’m the stranger they end up liking.
For those people who don’t know me, I have two weaknesses; two weaknesses that would totally melt me over and force me to throw down my defenses. The first one are cheesesteaks. I hope you all know of my pseudo-creepy love I have for cheesesteaks. Man, I’d totally marry one if it was legal (I think it’s legal in Georgia). I mean they are so damn good! But anyways, my second weakness involves kittens. I swear, throw me a kitten and I will totally be hypnotized by its cuteness, and will act very strange for the duration that it’s in my vicinity.
It’s sad to say however, that I don’t have any pets. This is due to the fact that my brother has always been allergic to pet dander, which kind of ruins the whole “having a pet” thing. Now, some people have fishes, gerbils, and lizards for pets. I find that absolutely pointless. I mean, what fun can you have with a fish? Take it for a swim (*knee-slapper)? So that wouldn’t really workout for me.
I plan on rescuing a lab and a kitten when I’m older. I would name my lab Hades, for that's probably the most fantastic name you can give to an animal. It just stagnates with power and awesomeness. For my kitten, I would name it Optimus Prime or Doraemon (to those who know who that is, congrats).
Now once again, I seem to have this strange rapport with animals. I’m a hippie in a lot of different ways, and I’ve always had that belief that animals and insects feel emotions. Perhaps its’ due to my Buddhist upbringing, but I’ve always had that belief that all living things are equal. Growing up in Japan, it seemed a lot of my friends shared that belief. So imagine my surprise when I learnt that my American friends would go hunting. Hunting was such a lost concept to me growing up as a child. No, I’m not a vegetarian (I went vegetarian for 3 months to prove my dad wrong however), but the thought of other people ending someone or something’s life has always bothered me. It seems everyone wants to play god, I guess. This probably makes me the biggest hypocrite for eating meat, but I have to agree with you Bunje. Angus burgers? Cheesesteaks? BACON!???? I love tofu, but there’s nothing like the real thing.
So I’ve always held that notion that all living creatures are intelligent. We can communicate with them, and they can communicate with us. Most people fail to even try to communicate, however. It's possible though. I know it doesn’t explain it, but it’s a belief that has been with me since I was a small child. I don’t quite know why.
Right, sounds dandy. Why don’t I go join PETA you say? Because that group is morally flawed to the point of stupidity. Their practices are hypocritical and laughable at best. Sure, they’ve raised awareness to campaigns, but did you know PETA killed 97 percent of the animals they brought in 2006?
http://www.consumerfreedom.com/pressRelease_detail.cfm/release/223 07 p
There’s something very wrong with that. However, I do praise the work of legit Animal rights organizations. I believe their causes are just and founded. Should they be spending their time helping out human beings first? Sure. That’s a touchy subject. But I believe their ideals have a lot of merit, and someone has to represent them. And if you haven’t judged by my personality, yes, I think animals have rights. They have a right to be treated as humanely and with much respect as possible. As long as they are treated as such, I’ll be happy.
Sarah Crane : Knüt ist dumm, aber er schmeckt sehr gut. Willst do kommen und kockehn eine Knütburger mit mir?
"Hallo Knüt, schemcktes Eisbär..."
This blog is a little difficult for me to respond to because no, I don’t have any pets. However, I have had pets in the past. All fishes. I only named two out of the six though. I named one Jack and one Rose. If you haven’t figured it out already, I did name my fish after the characters of the Titanic. I was around eight. I don’t know what I was thinking.. I’m pretty sure they were goldfish (maybe not) and moderate in size. Rose was white with orange spots. Jack was orange. Even though they were only fishes, I remember my fascination with them. I can’t explain how much I’d loved feeding them. Every time I put little food pebbles at the top of the tank, they would come up and gulp them into their tiny mouths. The reason I don’t have any pets today is not because I don’t like animals. I love animals very much. It’s just that my parents are a tad bit uptight about having animals in the house. But I’m positive that when I get a place of my own, I will have a pet, specifically a puppy. I’m planning on adopting. :)
Though I don’t have a pet of my own. I don’t doubt that animals try to communicate to us. This actually reminds me of the movie Homeward Bound. I don’t know if it was the good directing or voiceovers, but it actually made me feel as if animals can really possess human characteristics. There are always cases of animals saving humans in the real world. Some of the stories are actually pretty remarkable. If there were no way to communicate with animals, there would be no way to tame them or train them. There would be animals running a muck all over the place. Besides these outrageous instances, there are ways to tell that animals communicate with us in our own home. I don’t have a dog or cat myself, but I know they can respond to me from my experiences in other houses. If I scratch a dog’s sweet spot, they’ll shake their leg vigorously. That tells me that they like it. If I give them bad food, they’ll walk away. If a stranger walks in the house, they will usually bark alerting the owner that someone unknown to them is here (I’m usually the stranger). Overall, animals try to communicate with us everyday in their own way. We just overlook it.
I don’t think animal activists are wasting their time. People are passionate about all sorts of things. Cars. Sports. Celebrities. Why not animals? If they didn’t care about them, no one would. Animals should have rights just as humans do no matter what anyone says. They have eyes, ears, a mind, and a heart. They usually even have families. They’re not as different as people may believe. Unfortunately, there are people that believe that animals don’t have rights and treat them very badly. What I don’t get is why do we (humans) get the choice to live out our own lives and animals don’t? I feel a little hypocritical saying that because I’m not a vegetarian. When I speak of animals, I’m not just speaking about domestic animals. I’m speaking about all animals. Cows. Chickens. Pigs. Therefore, being part of the majority that eats certain animals, I feel as if I’m not as passionate about the cause as others. Even so, I would never ever abuse an animal. So all I have to say is that it’s a good thing these activists exist. Do whatever you feel is right, go for it. Animal activists feel like it’s their duty to fight for the rights of animals. So I say, let them be. It’s their choice to do so. There should be no limit to what people do for them unless it puts a person or another living thing in danger. It’s one thing to be passionate. It’s another to be crazed.
-In response to Jen:
I think it’s great that you are a vegetarian. Being still in high school and making that life choice is very admirable. I can tell how strongly you care for animals and I actually never knew that about you. I also agree with what you said about animal activists. Even though, they can’t change the world. They are helping at least a few hundred animals a day living a better life. And if we treat them as humans (which we should), there should be no limit in saving a life.
I have three pets, a dog, a cat, and a snake. Yes, I have a freakin snake. It's just as awesome as it sounds. But, back to the matter at hand. (Did I mention I have a snake???) My dog, Minnie, is a very ironically named Lab-Chow mix who comes up to my waist. If I had her when I was little, I probably would have rode her like Tommy on Rugrats. The name came up because my sister, who somehow got naming rights for everything but the snake, wanted a Harry Potter name. So we somehow decided to name her Minerva, after everyone's favorite Transfigurations professor. But Minerva wasn't very Doggish (Dogesque?). So, Minnie. She was a pound puppy, and we got my cat from a shelter as well, so that should make clear my stance on Animal rights. But on to Pheobe, the cat, who came pre-named, but we refer to her as Zabu, just cause it rolls off the tongue. And then Monty, the snake, our only pet from a pet shop, who is named after the one and only Monty Python. (I was ten. Gimme a break.)
When I was younger, we had a dog named Sam, a cat named Bajah, and a bunch of fish, so I grew up surrounded by fuzzy critters. I cried when they died, well, except for my monster goldfish. It decided to eat the others to drain their life-force, so I felt no pity. I cried when they died, I hugged them when I came home, they would follow me around. It was kind of like having a lot of retarded younger siblings. I, being the wee one I was, could talk to them, and they 'talked' back telepathically. I grew up with the notion I could speak to animals, and that still holds true, but not to the same level. Contrary to what I try to send out to others, I am not mad (the British mad, like crazy). I recognize that my animals cannot be understood my a meager mind as my own. However, I like to entertain the notion that they can understand me. That they are listening to us, perfectly aware, but simply more content in their lot. They only respond to what interests them, and that is not always our problems.
On a more... sane... level, anyone who says pets, and animals in general, can't communicate has either never seen one of either, or has never heard of this 'animal' of which you speak. Minnie will grab my attention, then point her wet black nose to wherever she wants to go, and jump up if I guess right. It's a simple system, but it works. Maybe because I grew up with her (We got Min in 2000), I understand her best, and will literally interpret for my dad, mom, or sister. She wants to play, I can tell. Outside, I can tell. To come inside, she will jump on the door to knock. She tells me exactly what she wants, and will make perfectly timed jumps, smiles and expressions to make jokes that seem beyond her intelligence.
The Cat, on the other hand, is much more dismissive and generally cattish. The best way to describe it is a quote I'm stealing from somewhere, that 'Dogs have masters. Cats have staff.' It's a perfect way to describe the way they operate. They come out to feed, and then when fed, expect to be left alone. Ever notice, you never cuddle with a cat, a cat cuddles with you? And that's not just in Soviet Russia. They come, and push your buttons until you do what they want. Then they vanish into the night again. I love my kitty-cat, but she's a bit odd.
And then there's Monty, who doesn't really communicate... At all... He's the only pet who doesn't really communicate in any recognizable way. All he really thinks about is escape, and food. The only reason I can tell he's hungry is by him waking up. Yep, that's right. He only wakes up for food. And to probe his boundaries. He's a simple critter, but I'll still be heartbroken if he ever escapes. Or dies. I'm not sure which is more likely.
As for animal rights, I think the simplest right animals have is to live. Little more than that can be guaranteed. Up to and after reading Life of Pi last year for Costal, I still believe that zoos, even the ones that seem pretty dingy, are better and more humane than life in the wild. For one, there's always at least one square meal a day, and for those adorable baby seals we're all so fixated on, there's no threat of being mauled an eaten by a polar bear or killer whale. A fate worse than clubbing, I'm afraid. The only thing we can really do for animals is make sure they don't die for something we can prevent. My dog, my adorable golden puppy dog, was abandoned on a golf course by some imbecile who didn't want the responsibility or decided she wasn't 'cute' enough anymore (so untrue by the way), so I am completely biased when I say I hope they burn in hell for such an act, but all we can really do is make sure they get a chance to run and play and be what they are. And, as a little fun fact for anyone unsold on animal abuse as a fundamental evil, the three early warning signs of a serial killer are bedwetting, firestarting, and ANIMAL CRUELTY. Coincidence? I THINK NOT!!
I love animals of pretty much any kind. But like Ms. Bunje and Erik N, I love burgers, steak, and I also eat meat like everyday. I mean 5 Guys Burgers and Fries is amazing, I don’t think I could ever give that up! I used to have more pets at home but now im down to two. I used to have two horses but when high school started they were sold because I had no time for them. I have a Portuguese Water dog named Rainha and a hedgehog named Hedgie (really creative)! But the hedgehog is currently up for sale because no one plays with her and my mom wants her to go to someone who will give her a little extra TLC. So if anyone wants a hedgehog… let me know! Rainha got her name because my mom wanted something to go along with her Portuguese heritage and Rainha means “Queen” in Portuguese. She holds true to her name! She sits on the couch with her leg over the side and like pushes anyone out of the seat who thinks about sitting there. The hedgehog got her name because my sister and I couldn’t really agree, and then just got tired of thinking of a name. Well, we had three cats which were all outdoors. But just the other day our neighbors told us that WE do not have cats, the cats are actually theirs, which is totally fine with me because I despise cats. Something about the way they rub all up on me makes me grossed out. Though I love dogs! I want a small Japanese chin puppy and a German Shepard when I am older, or maybe like a husky or something.
I totally am a strong believer in the idea that animals and people can communicate to one another. Maybe not in that pet psychic way like on that show on Animal Planet, but in various other ways. Like in Am I Blue? by Alice Walker, I know what the narrator means when she feels that connection between Blue and herself. She views him as a person, a friend that she has. Since I used to own horses, I understand that definite bond that forms between the horse and the rider. I can really relate to that. When I was about thirteen or fourteen, my parents gave me a two-year old filly (girl baby horse) named Nova for my Christmas present. I had to practically train her myself and there was this close bond between us. If Nova was nervous or frightened by something, she would glance at me and paw at it with her hooves. She would snort really loudly and watch me to see how I was reacting. If I showed her everything was okay, she would trust me and not be so nervous anymore. If Nova was hungry or if she thought she was being well-behaved and deserved a reward, she would nuzzle my arm which meant she wanted a sugar cube or some sort of treat. Like Blue and the narrator, I could look into Nova’s eyes and know immediately how she was feeling. If she was happy or calm, her eyes would be soft around the edges and all brown. When she was upset, the whites of her eyes showed and would constantly be looking around. Sometimes if she was worked up about something I could just talk to her softly. It didn’t matter what I said, just the words would calm her down. I normally would talk about school, friends, and maybe stuff that was bothering me. It was just comforting to know she was listening; one way I knew this was the way her ears would flick back and forth. I miss that bond we had and that was kind of a once in a lifetime thing. My dog communicates with me also. If she barks and circles me, it means she wants me to throw the ball for her or if she runs into the kitchen it means that she is hungry. I communicate with her by just saying words that she recognizes like “ball” or “treat”. She knows what I mean by running to the door or by her food bowl.
Last year for Mr. Erney’s class (Megan S!!!!!), I did a project on PETA and other animal rights activists. They go to like complete extremes, like dumping paint on people with fur coats and even going as far to walk around naked or being scantily dressed to petition for no animal products in clothing. I believe that it is important to care about animals and their rights, but there should be a limit. I donate to the human society and am all for people standing up to inhumane slaughtering houses and puppy barns, but I think that PETA and those groups almost forget about the animals. I think that they become so involved with being “outrageously extreme” that they forget their purpose. I noticed that those groups just do the craziest things like walk around naked and be spies in slaughterhouses, but don’t get much done. I think that animals’ rights activists need to focus on the animals and not get caught up in how extreme they can be. I think animals should have rights because they think and have emotions just like people. People should take care of animals. There is no reason for animal abuse of any kind. It is cruel and heartless. I mean like you don’t need to go all Paris Hilton and have 898967 different outfits for your pets and have their own like personal living space, like that is just a little much, but I think that pets and animals of any kind have the right to be cared for and not hurt by anyone. It makes me sick to think about those kids from Pleasantville or wherever a few years back that just senselessly beat that cat, like that just disgusts me to know end. It must take a twisted person to do something that unjust and horrible.
I agree with you, Vikk. Like PETA goes over the top to show you all that horrible stuff and I definitely think it gives people the wrong idea. I watched that KFC video about the chicken slaughterhouse and have not been able to go there since.
To Janiru
I believe the name "Doraemon" will destroy that silly naming curse. That pet will be immortal. Just look at how long Doraemon has been around.
That said, I'm guessing I may have to post this after all. Not 100% correct, but it gets the message across quite well.
Profanity Warning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsHUBEfBNMo
Ah, Penn and Teller. Two of my very favorite teevee personalities. Yes, I don't think you drove the bad language point home.
They're actually stage magicians. I'm not sure how they got to make that show.
Maegan R:
As always a funning,entertaining, and unique perspective. and of course the use of the word kudos just makes it all that much better. I thought that the part about your dad's abnormally small head exploding and ,"The Rapist part of his name, on the other hand, is derived from his affinity for attack small children, usually (but not limited to) by brother's friend Timmy in particular." were the funniest. Kudos on doing a great job. i look forward to your subsequent enteries.
I have two pets. A cat, and an immortal cricket that was sent from the depths of hell to live in my basement. I’ll start with the cricket. For the past year, a cricket has lived in my basement. But this is no normal cricket, this is the loudest cricket in the land. Every night as I close my eyes to finally get my sleep, he pulls out his trusty leg, and lets that baby rip. The sound (which makes my eyes bleed) resonates through my house and has kept me up for an interminable amount of nights. I’ve named this demon seed, Little Focker….. ……….after the baby in the movie, Meet the Fockers (duh).
As for my cat, it is a gray tabby named Peek-a-Boo. She got this name from her favorite hiding spot when she was a kitten, in between the washer and dryer. She would always stay there for the warmth, but when you called for her, she would poke her little head out just enough to see what the commotion was about. Then promptly shoot back between the dryer and washer. This adorable series of motion gave my mom the idea to call her Peek-a-Boo, and the name stuck.
I’ve had Peek-a-Boo for three years now and there is no doubt we have formed a silent relationship. Besides the normal feeding routine we worked out, (she meow, I feed her) we have come to understand each other, especially when one of us is sick. For example, over the three day weekend I had a cold, and Peek-a-Boo didn’t leave my side for a minute. She knew I wasn’t feeling good and she stood by my side. She can read my body language, if I’m slow and sluggish, she takes note and acts accordingly. Sometimes it amazes me at how intelligent animals can be.
I have never been one to rally for animal’s rights. If someone were to ask me how I felt about animal cruelty I would most likely respond with a smarmy, sarcastic comment like, “Well I DO like my steak tenderized.” But, I must say before I wrote this blog, I knew about as much about animal cruelty as Ms. Bunje does math (Ms. Bunje I love you, don’t take points off). So instead of writing this blog blind, deaf and dumb I decided to jump over to PETA’s website for the first time in my life. It was no the articles or pictures of mistreated animals that got to me, but the videos of humans doing things I cannot say on this blog that changed my view on animal’s rights forever.
It was the screams that shot chills up my spine and made my knees weak. The unadulterated screams of agony that came from the dogs, cats, pigs, birds, and cows that make me the newest supporter of animal’s rights. Before, I would have called an ardent supporter of animals rights a buffoon for wasting their time, but after ten minutes of self education I realized I was the buffoon.
Animal cruelty in one of the billions of problems this world has, and for every problem, there should be people working on the solution. This problem doesn’t deal with humans, but that doesn’t mask the fact that it is a problem that needs to be solved. An animal’s life may not be equal to that of a human’s, but cruelty is cruelty. Whether you are ripping off a spider’s leg, or skinning a kitten alive, it’s animal cruelty, and it should be stopped. There should be stricter laws regulating the treatment of animals in food plants, and harsher penalties for the mistreatment of animals. I will leave with a proposal to anyone against, or unsure about animal’s rights. I DARE you to visit PETA’s website and watch one video. I can guarantee a change in heart.
When I was just two years old, I went with my father and six year old sister to pick out our new family puppy. The three hour drive was a blur, but I can remember the blue and white wallpapered kitchen, with the huge whelping box, and the kind gray haired lady who sold us the new addition to our family. The golden retriever puppies were adorable, needless to say. It didn't take me and Erin (my sister) long to pick out our girl. She was the runt, the only one with dark red, rather then golden, hair, and the most active. The one that beats up on all the others even though she's the smallest? Yeah, that was the one we wanted. We named her Sandy, after the dog in Annie. And we loved the fur off of that dog. She was ornery and no one ever knew what to expect. She chewed furniture, ate food off of our plates, and bit our pant legs. But she was a sweetheart. I'm convinced, to this day, that there never has been, and will never be another dog with a heart like hers. Along with Sandy, we had a bunny rabbit named Spotty. Original, I know. Spotty was a furry white bunny with brown spots...big surprise. He was very friendly and good-natured, especially for a bunny rabbit. Spotty lived to the ripe old age of eight. Anyway, we bred Sandy when I was in kindergarden, because my parents thought it would be a good experience for us kids to see the miracle of life. And they were right. We nursed Sandy through her pregnancy, and she successfully gave birth to seven healthy pups. It was an experience I will never forget. As Jen said, you end up naming them all, becoming attached to them, and keeping one. We kept a beautiful little boy, named Nugget-as in "Golden Nugget." It's a pretty strange name for a dog, but whatever. Nugget was playful and strong, but he, unfortunately, died at the age of 3 from kidney failure. It was devastating. Sandy grieved for him for months, and you could tell that she was sad. Watching her suffer made me realize that animals DO have emotions. Sandy died 3 years ago at the age of 11 from stomach cancer. It was horrible. But that's life. So that ends the chapter on my childhood pets...
Now, we have a welsh terrier (she looks like a mini airedale) named Sadie. We got her only a few months after Sandy died, because we realized how much our family needed a dog. She's a spitfire. I don't even know how to describe her. She's very intelligent, and knows phrases such as "wanna go out?" "wanna go for a ride?" "wanna go for a walk" "daddy's home" and even "ice cream." She can jump atleast 3 feet in the air, and even knows how to play hide and seek. She won't ever pass up an opportunity to play...ever. She's one of a kind. I wish there was some way to properly explain this dog, but there isn't. If you met her, you would understand that she is NOT a dog...we call her catdog. Even though she's also part human, part alien, and part monkey. Her and my father have this freaky connection, I swear they read each other's minds. But I'm very thankful he's the chosen one, because Sadie helps him relieve his stress and relax. She is a wonderful addtion to our family, and she makes everyone laugh all the time. She's incredibly cute, and you can't help but love her, even though she's extremely ornery (she was the runt of her litter too...what can I say? We like the fiesty ones...). In addition to Sadie, we have a boxer turtle named Toby. My father was weed-wacking in the backyard about 4 summers ago, when he accidently hit a littly baby turtle. At the time, Toby's shell was probably only one inch in diameter- no exaggeration, I promise. She was the littlest thing ever. It was apparent right away that one of her legs wasn't working right, and so my sister Kate, the biology major, took her in. None of us were sure if she would even make the night, let alone four years. Now, she's a healthy little girl, and thrives in her domestic environment. Now, before anyone jumps down my throat- we had no choice but to keep her. She couldn't walk. And do NOT feel bad for Toby, she's the most spoiled turtle in all of South Jersey...I can guarantee it. She has this huge tank replicated just like her natural habitat, with leaves, logs, soil, a shelter, the whole kit-and-caboodle. I sometimes wish I lived with her. And my sister has a special light on a timer to ensure that she gets "natural" sunlight. She also has special turtle medications, because her one eye is a little bit foggy. Not convinced? Toby eats gourmet meals every day. Kate makes sure that she always has fresh fruits and veggies, and that an earth worm is occasionally placed inside for Toby's enjoyment. Raising her has been such a learning experience, and our family is proud that she survived. In a way, it was a miracle. We don't plan on releasing this little girl, however, as we are positive she would not survive in the wild. Oh, and we named Toby after the turtle in Robin Hood, I think?
I definitely think that all animals can be communicated with in a variety of ways. Sadie barks when she wants to go out, and when she's ready to come back in. Also, she communicates "danger" to us by barking at deer, squirrels, turkey's, my grandmom, everything. She even chokes herself to get some table scraps, even though she just ate a nutritious dinner of last night's leftovers. When she wants to play, she'll go grab a toy and squeak it. These are all her ways of communicating with us, and letting us know what she wants. We definitely communicate back. She responds to just about EVERYTHING we say, although she does have selective hearing...she IS, after all, a terrier- Very high strung and independent. I am a firm believer that all animals are intelligent, emotional creatures, and that they all can communicate. Also, every animal deserves the best that can be provided for them.
I'm so thankful for the selfless individual's in this world who take time to fight for animals. I don't feel that they get enough credit for all that they do. I don't think, for one second, that it's a waste of time. Animals are a necessary element on our earth, and God put them here for a reason. They do have rights, and anyone who says that they don't hasn't been around an animal. They have feelings, just like humans, and they deserve protection. I feel that there shouldn't be any limits on how far a person could go to help an animal, unless it endangers somebody or something. Although it couldn't hurt to have more people helping humans, I don't think it's wrong to help animals. In fact, if I have money when I grow up, I would love to have a huge backyard filled to the brim with adopted dogs, and a huge house filled to the brim with adopted children. Not even kidding. I already plan on rescuing grey hounds as soon as I have my own place. What can I say? I just have a soft spot for helpless creatures in general, and I don't understand how people can be so heartless.
Anyone who has ever graced my house with their prescence has probably come in contact with my beloved dog, Jackson (the Rapist), my dear Rhodesian Ridgeback. I'm not really sure where the name Jackson came from, but my dad had his heart set on it, and by now, my family has learned to just agree with everything that he says, or else his abnormally small head will most likely explode with anger. The Rapist part of his name, on the other hand, is derived from his affinity for attacking small children, usually (but not limited to) my brother's friend Timmy in particular.
As for communicating with my dog, I'd have to say that getting my dog to do what I want is pretty much impossible. I find this to be quite annoying, because although I am no Caesar Milan, I don't think I should have to bribe my dog with biscuits, crackers, prime ribs, etc to get him to come outside. I never really want to yell at my dog, either, because everytime I do he gets this really sad and pathetic smile on his face that makes me feel really guilty for being mean. My dad's pretty much the only one that Jackson listens to, probably cause my dad is scary, mean, and has a small head.
My dog, on the other hand, is much more effective. It seems to me that he is constantly whining, and even when I give him food, water, let him outside, and shower him with love and affection he still whines. And whines. And whines. Usually, when this occurs, I just sing loudly and/or bark until he quiets or gives me the puppy dog eyes (no pun intended) and I feel compelled to give him more food, water, love, and affection. I also find that Jackson enjoys sending more subliminal messages. For example, a noxious fume has just permeated the bedroom as I type. This most likely means that Jackson is ready to go outside. I'll be right back.
To animal rights activists: power to you. Although I won't be joining your ranks anytime soon, I commend you for choosing an issue that is important to you and acting upon it. However, I can't really say that I believe that animals have "rights". The way I see it, at least, there's a big difference between having rights and having respect. Now, don't get me wrong- I'm all for the "animals are just like humans" thing. But if I saw a dog stroll into the voting booth next to me during the next election, I think I'd be a little freaked out.
Personally, I don't think that animals should be treated in the same way humans are. Sorry, but I need to survive, and that cute little sheep everyone's fawning over (no pun intended) would probably serve more purpose on my plate than grazing in a field. That's not to say that I think that animals should be treated horribly, either, because I really don't feel that way at all. I think animals should be respected for what they are: cohabitants of our Earth. Sometimes I feel like we humans think that we're the baddest kid on the block, which, in most cases, we are. We think that we are so superior to animals in every way, shape, and form, and that's just ridiculous. Haven't you people ever seen the show Man vs. Beast? The beast shows us up every time! I think if we took more time to appreciate the life around us, in whatever form it takes, than we would find ourselves with a newfound respect for the beings that surround us.
I don't think that ANY activist, no matter what they stand for, is wasting their time. Even if I don't agree with their views, or think what they are fighting for is stupid, I appreciate and admire their ability to act upon an issue in hopes of making their world a better place. KUDOS, ACTIVISTS!
I do think there is a line to draw, however, when it comes to how far we go for our animals. Personally, I think that animals live very simple lives. They need food, shelter, and affection. Because of this, it makes me absolutely giddy with hysterics when I see someone toting their dog around in some Luis Vitton carrying case. Like, seriously? Is that a joke? Get over yourself, and your dog, and spend your money on something more useful, like some liposuction so you can suck all that fat out of your brain. I can't eve-
Woah there. I almost went on a rant. Sorry about that.
Anyways, even though I may not feel very strongly about the whole "animal rights" issue, I still think its awful that people find the urge to abuse their pets. In these cases, I think that any necessary actions should be taken to save said pet, even if it means making a citizens arrest and detaining the owner until the cops arrive.
El Fin.
OH! I almost forgot to respond.
To Caitlin M: When I was reading your blog, all I could think about was how your dog peed on my foot the time I went over your house. Good times.
To Eva: I loved what you had to say about the whole equal rights vs. respect thing. You took the words right out of my mouth, except said them more eloquently. Animals indeed have never asked for equal rights, but they haven't asked for the way they're treated now either. The way I see it, we should just respect animals regardless- no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
I was wondering when the subject of pets would arrive. I knew it was only a matter of time! So, pets. I just need to get right out and say it. I am really not that big of a pet person. Yeah, to me they are totally adorable and cute and all that jazz, but frankly, other than that, I really don’t care for them. I don’t have the time nor the kindness to be able to take care of one correctly, without letting it starve or run out of water. (Don’t even get me started on my brother’s pet hamster. Oh my gosh.) Also, that whole let-your-dog-lick-your-face-thing….EW.
Now, I do have pets, but they are the easiest kind to care for. Fish! I have about nine different fish tanks/ponds at my house. It’s ridiculous, but I love it. I have three tanks in the laundry room, one huge fish tank in the kitchen, four medium sized ponds in my greenhouse, and one huge in-ground pond in my backyard. The ones in my laundry room (that is not weird, shut up.) are beta fish, more commonly known as Japanese fighting fish. However, their offspring don’t fight, because they are brothers and sisters, and they love each other. =) The fish tank in my kitchen is by far the most diverse. (Now, I have to get up and go look to see what kind there are, lovely.) Let’s see, there are two kois, one hulkish goldfish, two or three eel-like fish, five normal goldfish, two betas, and one vacuum cleaner fish. Sorry, I can’t give any better descriptions, but none of my fish have names. They all just look random and colorful. Next, we have the greenhouse fish ponds. The first one has Guppies, like 100+. The second has about 150+ Platys that all range from red to orange. The third pond has like 20+ betas in it which are all the offspring of the original we purchased from PetSmart. The fourth pond has more Guppies that are the second generation to the ones in the first pond. There are only about 20+. Lastly, we have the outside pond. I just call this The Big Pond because it has all the big fishes in it. They range from a half foot to a foot. They are beautiful kois that are going to supposedly outgrow me. This is what my dad says, however, I’m not sure if that’s true, or just some Asian myths (lies) he tells me. Like I said, none of my fish have names other than “the striped one” or “the tiger one”. These are only because of their physical features.
I believe that animals can communicate and vice versa to some degree. I know because of my fish in the kitchen. They are the ones I observe the most as I eat my meals. I swear that they all watch the television when we eat, and they all follow my finger when I drag it across the tank’s glass. Also, my dad has gotten in the habit of feeding them right after he eats his dinner. So when my dad finishes his dinner, he gets up, and the fish immediately know that it’s time for their dinner! Then they all rush to the surface and wait anxiously. Other than that though, my fish have never shown any other forms of communication.
I think that activists are wasting their time. I would never do all that just for animals. How are we going to help animals first if we cannot even help ourselves?!? I don’t want you to think I am an animal hater, but it’s just that I am not that dedicated to animals. Animals have the right to survive. It is there natural instinct, like it is ours. They have the right to do everything and anything in their power to live, domestically or in the wild. This is the ultimate right that they have, and that’s really the only one they have. I don’t really think that there should be more. We should just let animals be animals, because that’s all they can be. (Except for that piano playing pig. Genius.) The only thing I can think of that us humans can do for them is to stop running them over. I think they’d much appreciate that. We are hurting their chances of survival.
It's fine to be an animal rights advocate, michael, but please don't be on the side of peta. Watch the video ivan posted.
Mike:
That was really insightful. It was awesomelly written and so true. You hit the nail right on the head, even the Bunje. Sorry but we know it is all true. there are only to types of math you're good at Bunje, as you said, telling time and coding, which sadly :( isn' all that much. I really don;t know how we got to talk about math but i'll stop now before your get really mad and start removing points from other blog enteries.
I have a pet dog, which is roughly 13-15 years old. His name is Buster ( Or The B-Man, Buster Brown, Mr. B, “the boy”, Buster-Rico, Rico, or Rico-Suave). To understand how he got this name you have to know the story of how Buster came to our home. When I was in kindergarten I had an Au Pair whose name was Marika and she was from Finland. She was not the type to go jogging around the block but she did, once and only once. Since the first time she came home with a dog, my parents decided to let her just sleep in. She had gone for a jog around the neighborhood and she returned with a small brown puppy that had been hanging around the area for the last week or so. Around his neck was nothing but a flea collar. Buster was tied in the back yard for my brother and I to find when we got up. We were delighted and overjoyed as our last dog Bumble, my mom’s dog from when she was a child, had died about three years before. When it was discovered that Everett and Buster were instant wrestling companions the parents decided that he could stay, if no one answered the fliers. Luckly, no one did. And as the best Christmas present I’ve ever had, there was a dog I’d had for months under the tree with a pretty red ribbon (which was promptly removed). I wanted to call him Harry or Hairy after my stuffed animal, but my father vetoed and substituted Buster.
My communication with animals has to do a lot with the way I set the tone of my voice and the way that I hold my body. With hand motions, limited language, and body language you can communicate with most people through a language barrier, for the necessities. I know that dogs and other animals use body language because my dog is mostly deaf, so he cannot hear what I am saying to him, but he does understand.
Animals cannot order a pizza for delivery, but once there is a pizza in the area, they can convey that they want one. This proves that though animals cannot speak, they can communicate. The posture of an animal tells one most of what you are receiving from the animal. I don’t go up to a cat that has its ears back, its fur raised, and its tail puffed, do you? I must say that I have never communicated with fish or any other reptile, but this is because I have has significantly less time with these animals.
Activists that spend most of their time fighting for animal rights evoke a sense of wonder in me. I have the utmost pride in their ability to fight for what they believe in and I believe that all people should be able to fight for what they find necessary to fight for. I do not feel that these people are wasting their time because they have raised awareness on the subject of animal rights, however I am not someone who is willing to dedicate hours of my life to this cause. I will take small, easy steps that benefit the animal population of the world whenever I am aware of what they may be.
All living creatures have rights to live the fullest and happiest lives that they can. I am not saying that all dogs should live in the lap of luxury or that they should never lift a paw. I am merely saying that they should not be pitted against each other in ruthless fights and should be able to lead, full, happy lives wither they are herding sheep or sleeping on the couch (like my dog is now).
I feel that a pet is like a child and should be treated with the same respect as any child, I don’t mean mother your pet, but simply give it good nutrition, a healthy exercise routine, and enough attention to make it happy.
Ali B :)
To Meg Song:
Please read my response to sergei. i feel it is fitting to your entry and i don't feel like saying it over again.
Eva: I only ask that you don't expect my poor dog, the deaf one, to hear, comprehend, or respond to your comments. Addressing the dog directly is not a problem at all, in fact I think it is a sign of sanity. : P
Alison B
My dog is my baby. She’s my wubby, my bella, my piggy, and most of all, Tally. Tally is a little over 3 years old and she’s still a precious little puppy in my eyes. I love her death. After losing my first dog, I realized that I took advantage of having a dog around. The house felt so empty and lonely without the sound of paws clicking on the tile surface, the exuberant barks at strangers walking down the street, and the overzealous chasing after squirrels and any other creature who dared approach our yard. So, not even 3 months after my first dog, Duncan, died, my family and I knew it was time for another dog. As much as we dreaded letting Duncan’s spirit go, his memory would forever be implanted into our hearts and minds. Thus, we set out to Pennsylvania to pick up our new puppy because my mother just HAD to have a purebred Scottish Terrier. I felt an instant connection with Tally even before we claimed her as ours. There were several other puppies in the litter, but I insisted (actually demanded) that we get her. It turns out that I made the right choice. Once we set her out onto the lawn, she hurdled out of that car and ran circles on the lawn. Just circles. We could all tell she was excited to be in her new home, making us fall even more in love with her. After 3 years now, she has calmed down a bit. She loves to relax and bake in the sun, despite her dark black fur. She’s a tad overweight and I admit I am part of the reason. I can’t deny those big brown eyes begging for just a scrap…and another…and another. She greets me and my friends excitedly when we walk through the door and sometimes even runs around in those same circles again. She can’t stand to be in a room alone, so she’ll go rest lovingly next to you. She’s afraid of everything, and you can’t help but to laugh. She’s afraid of feathers, my pencils, telephones, snakes, and other odd things you couldn’t even imagine an animal being afraid of. But, anyway, my family and I chose the name Tally after a few weeks of having her. My mom wanted a Scottish name for her, but I did NOT want to give my dog a dumb, Scottish name that I most likely wouldn’t have been able to pronounce in the first place. So, one day, as we were debating, searching frantically on the internet, Tally just clicked into my head. I announced it excitedly to my family, but they did not approve. But eventually, I persuaded them to name her Tally and here we are today.
I do believe that we can communicate with animals, pets especially. When you know someone for a while you can start to predict their actions and what they’re thinking. Same goes for humans and animals. After having Tally for 3 years, I can predict what’s she going to do next, what she doesn’t like (my older brother), and sometimes even how she’s feeling. As stupid as it sounds, I like to talk to her. It’s mostly a one way conversation, but just being able to vent makes me feel slightly calmer. Occasionally, she’ll glance at me with a loving look in her eyes. I obviously can trust her with anything I say, too. I’m 100% sure she won’t be telling anyone my secrets anytime soon. But dogs, as a whole, communicate with their owners, other dogs, or just random people. When first meeting other dogs, they usually sniff each other’s butts (EW…) to establish the relationship of who is the leader, or if it’s just mutual. You can tell a lot about a dog when they’re interacting with other animals. My dog is the most stubborn creature I have ever met. Even when facing a dog five times her size, she still won’t back down. She always has to be in control. As for humans and animals, I believe we can communicate a lot. Through time, dogs start to learn their names and certain commands. They bark, growl, or whine to get our attention.
There are some sick, demented people in the world. I don’t understand how any human being could torture or even hurt an animal. I say for the activists out there, keep it up. I don’t believe they are wasting their time at all, as long as they are helping to gain animal rights. It makes me sick to my stomach thinking about any animal, especially Tally, being tortured. I can’t even imagine. But I can’t say for sure whether I would become an activist for animal’s rights…I doubt any of us would. We all feel bad, but not many of us are willing to make that stand. I also think that we do need to help suffering human beings in the world. In order to protect both animals and humans, more people need to get involved. There are 6 billion people in the US alone. I think we need to start caring about more important things, such as animal and human suffering.
Animals should definitely have rights. In my eyes, they’re just as human as I am. They feel human emotions and have human traits, so who’s to say it’s fair to treat them as bad as some folks do? I wish there was more of a punishment for those who abuse animals. They weren’t put on this planet to be mistreated. Animals are a gift to us all in my perspective. But, even as children are gifts to their parents, children still are given new limits every day. I don’t think we should spoil animals, as I don’t think children should be as spoiled as they are today. I especially disagree with dressing animals up in clothing. But animals should be given a good life, but still kept under their owner’s control.
To Caitlim m:
Caitlin, how come you never told me you were a cat-lover too,man?lol I can recall you calling ME a cat lady and joking about my many cats.
I know what you mean by saying you became protective of them and you care for them. When my cat gave birth to my kittens, I couldn't wait for them to grow up so they could go, because I was embarrassed of the fact that there were so many cats in the house. But I got so attached to them, they're not going anywhere, and I could care less what people thiink, because I LOVE MY CATS!! You get so attached, so fast that you don't even see it coming.I'm glad you and your parents are helping those kittens out!
To Janiru h:
when you're ready to have a cat, contact me and I'll hook you up with one. I have all colors and sizes. lol
and you can name it your "Optimus Prime or Doraemon" (I have no idea who that is)
:)
To Leanor:
how could you forget about your chickens,man? they count too, since they live in your house. I love chicken..I like the live ones more than the food, cause you can never catch them!And did you read what I wrote about how chicken love television and music? who would've thought?! haha
anyway,no need to be jealous that I used to own a cow, it was only for a couple of months..but his milk was really good:)
"I also find that Jackson enjoys sending more subliminal messages. For example, a noxious fume has just permeated the bedroom as I type. This most likely means that Jackson is ready to go outside. I'll be right back."
-Maegan Reese
Hahaha, I love you...and Jackson. :)
Molly: "I do think animals have rights, maybe not to the extent that humans do, but they have their fare share. They have a right to be free or be taken care of. They have a right to be in a safe environment away from the horrible angry owners and big experimental big businesses"
That was said perfectly, animals deserve basic rights and should be watched over with care. I agree fully
Jen: I like what you said about PETA and other animal rights groups. The groups have extremists like everything else does in this world. Despite the crazy things that may have been done in their name, there is no denying they have done more good than harm. In my case, PETA educated me about the subject and changed me for the better.
To Dan
Don't let your snake get outside. With a name like that, it's likely to be carried away by swallows (with a piece of string!).
That said, It's my turn to commend you for stating something I didn't, or more correctly, the way I worded it made me seem heartless. I guess all is well now. Things die. There is no avoiding it. Mother Nature hates peace. We are not being cruel to animals by eating them. Sure, there are cases excessive and inhumane acts but even those do not compare to nature.
I was reminded of a part of Gary Paulson's "Brian's Winter". It has been a long time since I've red it, but this one part will never leave my head. When titicular main character was hunting for caribou, he stumbles upon a pack of wolves attacking one. In awe, he watches the wolves slowly ripping the animal apart while it's still alive. It could do nothing. There wasn't a quick kill. It slowly bled to death while it saw it's assailants eat it. That isn't nice. I have no reason to doubt the writer's descriptions, as he writes from experience from his time out in the north. It's truly disturbing how cruel nature can be.
...guh...I got a bit too into that. Back to the point. Domesticated animals could definitely have it worse. Even then, we shouldn't allow us to degrade to that level of savagery. We are humans, so we should treat animals with some more respect than the animals looking only to survive. These words seem so empty after that morbid description.
I think it's fair warning before I make my post to say that my words will be entirely fictional, unnecessarily ridiculous and possibly offensive to the easily offended by ridiculous and fictional statements.
As an animal appreciator living in a house with two fellow animal lovers we have always had pets scampering around our house. The one I hold closest to my heart is my little, formerly black and now unfortunately graying, Labrador Dachshund mix. No that is not a typo I really do have a dog that is half Labrador half Dachshund his name is Jacob. Neither I, nor did any of my parents name him, this was the name given to him by his previous owners. We saved his life by adopting him on the last day he would have been alive before the pound was to put him to sleep. Obviously I subjectively believe he is the best dog ever. However the pets do not end there, we also have the newest member of our pet family which is a Pomeranian named Dr. Dog, after a band out of Philadelphia. In addition to our two dogs we have a cat named Pudding’ and one named Charlotte, both of which received their names from the staff at the pound. Pudding has been around as long as I can remember but Charlotte is quite a bit younger. We got her form the pound several years ago. While walking down the aisles wishing she could have all of them, my Mom spotted her, she was a tiny orange cat with three and a half legs. My mom immediately felt terrible and she knew she could not pass her up. Well about six months after adopting her, the half of the leg grew infected and she unfortunately had to have the remaining piece amputated.
As an animal lover I fully believe that humans can communicate with their pets. Pets think and have feelings just like humans and all other creatures. Whether you choose to believe it or not pets can respond to words. When we got Jacob we tried an experiment I saw online. We put a bell next to the side door and rang it every time we let him out; eventually he learned that if he rang the bell we would let him outside. So now he hits his head against the bell when he wants to go outside, this is basically the same as Pavlov’s experiment with feeding his dog. If this does not show a sign of animal intelligence I don’t know what is.
As much as I love animals I things PETA and other animal rights take it to the extreme. For example I saw today on CNN.com that PETA sent a letter to Ben and Jerry’s ice cream company. PETA asked Ben and Jerry’s to replace using cow milk in their ice cream with breast milk, yeah that’s right, as in from people. Now maybe it’s just me that just seems sick, twisted, bizarre and just odd. I don’t know about you but I sure wouldn’t eat ice cream made of breast milk. I do not think they are wasting their time in campaigning for animal rights but I feel they have taken it to an unnecessary level. I definitely feel that animals should have some sort of rights. However I cannot help but have a biased standpoint in this argument because I love meat. I wish I could say that I was a vegetarian and campaigned for animals because I do not think they should be slaughtered but I cannot help but enjoy every piece of meat I have ever eaten.
"My dad's pretty much the only one that Jackson listens to, probably cause my dad is scary, mean, and has a small head." -Maegan Reese.
hahahahaahah!
Ad also, my parents love the dog whisper! My dad really tries to be Ceasar Milan...ugh.
I love animals. PERIOD. I grew up with basically a farm in my backyard while I lived with my father in the early years. We had a dog, a parrot (along with many other birds that passed away over the years, because those were his favorite animals), guinea pigs, a goat (for a short period of time), fish, two peacocks (male and female), and more ducks and chickens than I could count. But that part of me has been paused—I do not see my father anymore so I have almost forgotten what it’s like to love an animal.
Until just three weeks ago, I lived for almost six years with out a pet to adore. I wished and wished for one day, during those years, that I could just say, “Yeah, I have a dog!” or “Yes, I have a cat,” when someone asked. But, we weren’t ever home enough, so the poor thing would be alone almost all day. We just could bear it.
Suddenly, my brother came running up to me saying, “Sara, we’re getting a dog!” I didn’t believe him for one second because I knew the last pet my mom would agree to keeping was a dog. But, to my surprise, he was right. My mom heard that she was going to be sold to college students. In her stereotypical mind, she could picture them treating it badly, so she gave in. We got it for free from our neighbor who breeds them.
But now I can happily say, “Yes I have a pet. It’s a Blue Pit-bull, her name is Layla and she’s the sweetest thing ever.” All she wants to do is lick your face off, play tug-o-war, and take naps. Though, my brother and I actually had no say in her name. Our mom basically told us her name was Layla, end-of-story. We didn’t dare to argue, it was fascinating enough that she was letting us have her.
Communicating can be done in several different manners. On that note, I truly believe there are ways to communicate with animals. For instance, how do you think you teach your dog to sit? You say it over and over and over, probably using certain hand/body motions repeatedly. Consequently, it learns what you want it to do, in a form of communication. There are also things that they do, where you know exactly what they want. My grandpa has a small, very old dog named Sparky. Every time he needs to go outside to relieve himself, he waits patiently by the back door for someone to open it.
But to me, what I have just recently learned only having Layla for three weeks, is that they can even tell how you’re feeling. Whether it may be happy, sad or even angry, somehow, they know. When we come to let her out of her cage in the morning, using our cutest voices, she shakes her tail vigorously, knowing were happy to see her.
But just yesterday, I noticed something that I had never seen before. I came home from soccer practice, after a really bad day (plus the suffering from losing Monday still weighted on my shoulders) and just began to cry. I had a massive amount of things to do, in such a short period of time. So I just started thinking about it all and got myself so stressed out, that I just took the time out of my schedule to dive into a pool of tears. I was home alone (Mom went to pick up Nick somewhere), and I had to keep a tight eye on Layla because she gnaws on everything in sight. She came bouncing into my room with her excited look, but as fast as I saw her happy to see me, I saw that she knew something was wrong. Sitting in my computer chair, I was balling my eyes out and she just stared at me. She went from being energetic and jumpy to still and watchful. She inched over to my leg and laid there. I’d never experienced anything like that before, but it honestly was the only thing that put a smile on my face that night.
When considering the activists, I’m completely in favor of what they stand for. There are certain things that people believe are important to them, and animal rights are a great thing to fight for. Yeah, there are other things to be fighting for, but people are doing that as well. So I do not believe under any circumstances that standing up for them is a frivolous thing to do. If these people didn’t, who would? Because we have evolved and become stronger than most species, we feel the need to over power them. We also use them as a food source. Yet, they are living creatures with feeling and emotions too. It is sad that we have made it our place to determine who lives and dies (laws concerning weight and length of fish, age of deer etc.) but the world was created they way it is, and the population needs to be controlled somehow. But a limit on what we do for them? Why? I do not see how helping them to the best of our ability is hurting us humans. I guess we shouldn’t have castles built for each one, but helping may, in the end, benefit us all. You never know.
It is good to see that people have fought in the past for animal rights, because there are laws preventing certain actions regarding their lives. It is something they should keep up because animals truly need us. They deserve respect and kindness, just as we want for ourselves. Hurting them is hurting our planet because they are a large majority of it. There is only one Earth, so we better treat it and all its creatures well.
In response to Mike Nanfara- You're blog was great. I loved it :). Especially the cricket part, haha. Now that I think about it, our basement is home to a lizard...anyway, I feel like you made many valid points in your blog. My favorite:
"Animal cruelty in one of the billions of problems this world has, and for every problem, there should be people working on the solution."
This is so simply stated, and it seems like commmon sense. However, when you think about it, it really gets to the core of human existence. I believe that we are all here for a reason, and that everything happens for a reason. I'm glad you made such a blanket statement, as it allows people to think about the implications of what you are saying. If we were all passionate about something, some problem in the world, think of all the good that could be done. People who fight for animal's rights are one of the many groups out there trying desperately to fufill their life goals, and help the world around them.
Whoa...how did I forget about that milk thing Ben mentioned? I remember specifically telling myself to mention it.
Here's the article:
http://www.wptz.com/news/17539127/detail.html
Wow wow wow matt. Ok so I read your comment to sergei like you asked. Well actually I read like the first five sentences before I felt like I had to stop. I never ever said that we should not respect animals. Never. That wasn't one of the questions, and it has nothing to do with my opinion. Do I think animal activists are wasting their time, yes. But I also believe millions of other people waste their time as well. That point has nothing to do with whether or not I respect animals. Of course I do. I believe that animals should be respected. I could go on about why I think they should be respected, but I don't think I need to defend myself.
Mike:
"She got this name from her favorite hiding spot when she was a kitten, in between the washer and dryer. She would always stay there for the warmth, but when you called for her, she would poke her little head out just enough to see what the commotion was about. Then promptly shoot back between the dryer and washer. This adorable series of motion gave my mom the idea to call her Peek-a-Boo, and the name stuck."
First of all, I am pretty sure you won the award for best blog. It was really good, and you made some really good points. The above quote was my favorite part. That is soooo adorable, and I can just imagine the little kitty. I currently going through fits of "awws". =]
The history of Masterson family animals is not an immense list of animal after animal, but it is a list of animals that definitely had their own personalities and qualities that influenced the whole family for better and for worse. Growing up, I was under the careful eye of Brady, who was half Labrador and half German Sheppard. Brandy was named by my cousin arbitrarily. She would do everything with the family, whether it was boating, kayaking or vacations, Brandy was never far behind. One day I came home from school, only to learn that she had been taken to a “farm”, to which I naively responded, “We can still visit her right?” The answer was of course no. I still envision this elegant black dog, roaming an open field, where she is free to do as she pleases, away from the harsh punishment of modern society. Our next animal, a small dog named Cocoa, is just a big pudge. She is a medium size dog that loves to warm her bones in the sunlight. In just the right light her thick coat shines a brown/black, and her name has been Cocoa ever since. I feel that I can communicate with my dog; however I’m not too sure that she is willing to listen. She just wags her tail and puts her head down as if she is invisible behind her paws. I don’t take it to heart though; I wouldn’t listen to my master if I was a dog, because I do what I want.
PETA… Talk about extremists. They are too obsessed with animals. When I think of PETA, I think of the episode of South Park. Kyle is excommunicated from South Park because he refuses to vote. He stumbles upon a PETA village in the woods. These folks are married to animals. I’m not saying that all or any PETA members are this crazy, but I know that there are at least a couple hundred extreme extremists that are. I think that every animal has rights but only basic rights that involve cruel and unusual treatment/ punishment. A dog can be yelled at and even smacked on the snout for a misdeed, where I draw the line is when it comes to starving, unnecessary beating or just plain neglect. Everyone has their own beliefs about how to treat animals, and unless someone is obviously abusing their animal, I feel that interference is not needed. As long as it’s an isolated event, the animal will forget it, and all is well in the world of man and beast.
First of all Ivan:
How in the world do you know about everything and have a link to it??
Second Meg Song:
Ok, so i jumped the gun... :( i'm sorry. Can you forgive me? I interrpeted what you were saying as animals only have the right to live period. Which is were i disagree as is mention in the passage i asked you to read. I don't mean to offend you in any way.
It's all cool matt. =] Bring me a cookie tomorrow and we'll call it even. =D
(i'm serious.)
I will try my best...oh wait i do have some cookies. i hope i rememeber. Jk i'll rememeber! :)
Kitty boy is the king of the castle. Just looking at his name, you can tell he is a cat and he is male. I’ve always wanted a cat, but my mother was extremely against it. My house is very meticulous and Mom believed our house was no place for a wild, rambunctious cat. However, Kitty boy found his way injured at our house on the first of January. His leg was smashed causing a bone to puncture through his skin. It was awful. We provided shelter and food, and he nursed himself back to health. He walks perfectly. When we took him to the veterinarian to get fixed and declawed, the veterinarian didn’t even notice any damage to his leg. My mom is just ridiculous and a cornball. She is not creative at all. That’s how his name became Kitty boy.
Kitty boy is the most amazing cat I’ve ever came across. At first, I hated him. As weird as it sounds, I got extremely jealous of him. I was raised as an only child and all attention was always on me. I was always the center of conversation between my parents. Then my parents started referring to him as my brother. So when he came into our lives, he quickly took my spot. When I was little, I was carried to bed. Kitty boy gets carried up to bed every night, as if he can’t walk on his four legs up the stairs himself! He also eats ravioli, hoagie, chicken, pizza, cheese steak, and the list goes on. He gets fed better than some kids and gets his dinner made for him. He also has his own playing area full of I have to say roughly a hundred toys. Even if I referred to him as a cat, my parents would get angry and correct me. “He’s a family member”, my mom would refute. After a few months, I got over him and realized he’s just an animal.
However, he’s not just an animal. When I let down my guard with him, I realized he’s a miracle. I’ll admit I talk to him like a person. I’ve played with him for an extensive amount of time. I’m not sure if any of you know about Main Coons. They are enormous, muscular, hairy, obedient, extremely smart, playful, and friendly. They are not lap kitties, though. When I am upset, he’ll sit with me and just stare at me with his big green eyes. Everyday when I get home from school, he greets me at the door and I pick him up. As I pick him up, he leans into my face and I kiss his head. Also, Kitty Boy’s meows fluctuate in pitch so it’s like he has his own voice to communicate.
We also have five outside kitties that we feed. Their names are Sox, Snapple I, Snapple II, Rusty, and Shadow. The names basically tell you what they look like. The cats just recently started to trust us because before you could never even reach to be a foot away from them without them darting away. We also have a Beta fish. My mom had an identity crisis with the fish. She first named the fish Ms. Fish (Don‘t you just love my mom‘s creativity). Later we found out it was a male. Then the fish’s name became Captain Jack Sparrow because of my mom’s obsession with Johnny Depp and his character in Pirates of the Caribbean. Fish are harder to read and communicate with. I only pay attention to him before I take a nap because watching him swim makes me tired.
There is a mutual understanding that can evolve between an animal and a human. Talking isn’t the only way to communicate. You can communicate through body language. Body language follows our moods and feelings. I can always tell if my cat is content or upset through his isolation or his friendliness. Animals should be born with the natural rights that humans have. They should be respect and loved. I’d never go out protesting for their rights or even become a vegetarian. Honestly, animals have the instinct to kill and survive on their own. Domestic animals have it easy. Domestic animals have shelter, food, and warmth for free. Some animals have a better living condition than yet again some humans. Cruelty is awful, especially when people instigate an animal’s instinct to kill. Those situations occur in the wild without our help, though. Activists concerning animals are wasting their time. Do something for yourself and your country that is a bit more useful and empowering. There are far worse issues that exist in this world than animal’s rights. Providing love, food, and shelter for a pet is beyond enough. Pets can burn a nice size hole in your pocket. They do repay you with love. Love does not have a price.
I have 5 dead cats burried in my backyard. Two of them I watched die. One of those two I actually held while he bled to death.
I am by no means a cat lover. I really only loved one of the cats that lived at the house. His name was Shadow, and I got him from Jordan. I knew him since he was about 2 weeks old. I had actually chosen a different cat from the litter, but Jordan's sister took that one to the ASPCA when they moved.
At all hours while I was home, I did everything with Shadow. He slept in my bed, we played while I was waiting for the bus, and I talked to him a lot. Could he understand me? I have no idea. I've talked to an imaginery audience since I was six, so I really don't think it made a difference whther or not he understood, as long as he listened.
You see, I didn't have too many friends. I didn't spend much time with the ones I did have, either. My parents didn't give a damn about anything I told them. I figured that out when I was eight. That one little fact crushed me for a long time. Regarding me, all they cared about were my grades, and how to improve my grades. Actually, I mispoke. My mother didn't care. My father always listened, even if it didn't make sense. This is how I've always been able to look past his drinking and his temper, because he cared. It's just too bad he spent all his freetime windsurfing (this was before I learned how).
The point is, Shadow was always there for me. I always knew what he wanted, and he never left me alone when I needed a friend.
Ok, enough of the mushy stuff. PETA can just stuff it. I am totally against the raising of cows for beef, but it has nothing to do with any pity for the creatures. It has to do with our water, land, and food. Livestock consumes twice as much as humans, at least in the US. In addition, the land they use up is left in shambles. This is nothing like the soil left behind after a harvest. The land takes years of restoring before it's reusable, rather than months.
Remember, I don't believe in going "cold turkey" when it comes to the environment. Do that, and you'll be eating meat or using electricity just as much as (in not more than) before you quit within weeks. Even if you have extremely strong willpower and you're able to last more than a month, your happiness will suffer. So just use moderation and you'll be fine.
Petitioning for animal rights is not a waste of time. While I don't think animals have any rights whatsoever, the petitioning for their rights helps out mankind in the long run. I'm sick of being the "fat country." I go to McDonald's two or three times a week, but then I exercise enough to work it off. Maybe they shouldn't serve fat people? That could put them out of business......I don't know. There's no way to satisfy everyone. I have enough trouble finding my own happiness, you really think I worry about some random chicken?
Dogs hate me, by the way. I don't know why, but they attack me. The only dog I feel safe around is Matt's dog, because I've known him (Bandit) his whole life.
@ Sergei
I love how you just throw that controversial opinion out there. Makes me want to give you a hug, man. But you better believe I'm gonna have to top it with a little Military ditty (sis taught it to me).
This is for all you baby seal lovers out there.....(it's sung as a cadence)
Way up north where the air gets cold
We're running out of money and we're running out of gold
So now I earn my living
Killing the baby seals
You can hit `em with a bat you can hit `em with a brick
You can poke `em in th eye with your eye pokin stick
That's how I earn my living
Killing the baby seals
You can slash `em in the head you can slash `em in the throat
Then throw `em in the back of your fishing boat
That's how I earn my living
Killing the baby seals.
But really, the thought of breast milk ice cream, especially Ben and Jerry's is easily the grossest, most disturbing thing I've heard in a long, long time.
To Matt
Trust me, I know my way around the internet. Animals rights is one of the subjects I spend my time looking up. I also look at a good number of arguments too. It's entertaining. It keeps me away from chatspeak.
In other words it's my anti lolspace/failbook.
A not so subtle jab^
No I'm not taking it back^
In response to Alison:
Buster is a darn cool dog. “my father vetoed and substituted Buster.” you have a very democratic family. I agree with your view of extremists. They should be able to express themselves, but I do not plan on jumping on the band wagon any time soon.
In response to Meg S:
“However, their offspring don’t fight, because they are brothers and sisters, and they love each other.” Classic. You make a good point when you say that we need to help ourselves first, especially if someone spends thousands of dollars on a pet that they don’t have. This not only puts the person spending the money at a disadvantage, but if the person doesn’t pay the debt off, it is no good for society.
To Ben:
To grossiest part is would we really know the differance if tested? I shudder to think about it.
Alright, now time to get my piercing brilliance all sharpened for comments. My first shout-out is to my homies Ivan and Brendan for announcing the evils of PETA. Next, on to Eva. I've gotta say, your comments on the usefulness are among the most cynical, yet objective, things I've ever heard from you. And then out to Tamari, just as a side note, I've always seen those cats at your bus stop, but I figured they were just hanging out (It is weymouth). That's dedication for a cat to do that. I'm impressed.
Well Bunje I have to say this topic has me totally uninspired. Whether this is because of my double hamstring cramps, a gift of Adkisson and his bleachers, or my verbal war with my mother that I had too much homework to fold laundry, but I’m inclined to say that the source of my lack of enthusiasm resides within a notion that I am partial too but others shun, I hate animals.
But before I’m locked in the brig by the ebullys who lurk around this blog I’ll elaborate on the questions you posed in the blog and maybe after answering them you will understand my "associations" with animals.
Do I have a pet? Well first of all the very term "Pet" implies ownership, that I dominate another living creature. Therefore my answer to that would be no. Peradventure you mean a nonhuman companion who I happen to reside with, then yes I do have a "pet". His name is Abraham and he is a velociraptor and I love him. Yes a velociraptor, their breed is hard to come by these days as they went extinct a few million years ago, 75 to be exact. But I chanced upon one on an autumn night as I strode through Diagon Alley. And just my luck there was a sale, so for a mere 3 snickers (or whatever the wizards use for money) I was able to head home with Abraham at my side. Now you might find Abraham to be an exotic name, but as I assessed the values of my new velociraptor it was the only name that fit. He was fast, deadly and quite proficient with nunchaku. I tried to think of the names of all the ninja/warrior/nunchuck-weilding warriors I knew, so of course I thought of Abraham Lincoln. Now naming a velociraptior after this famed ninja seemed incredibly logical so I promptly imprinted the name on the top of his electrical compound. The 750 watts of high voltage was the original Lincolns only weakness so I figured that it would also work to keep his reincarnation from attacking me in a fit of hunger. Now my explication on my pet may contradict my statement early that I do not like animals, and that is the truth, they attack me in packs when I’m miles from home trying to flee on a scooter, they attack when I’m running at the mainland cross-country course, and the jerks even steal my food when I’m sitting in the lifeguard stand. But I do not dislike Abe as he is not an animal, he is a monster. That is fact, he sits atop the food chain king of his surroundings and it would be insulting to categorize him with fluffy the housecat.
While Abe and I share a very close bond built upon the shoulders of fear and intimidation I do not believe that we can communicate on an emotional level. Science tells us that animal’s only act with learned and innate behaviors, innate being natural instinct and learned coming from stimulus to the environment. And we know science has never been wrong, I mean look at scientology that's some foolproof logic right there. But back on track Abe's innate behaviors tell him to jump through the fence and devour me, but his learned behaviors say that 750 watts of unforgiving electricity stand between me and him. So on some level animals may learn to interact with their owners, but not in an emotional sense on their part.
Hello PETA, I also have a four letter acronym for you that I will refrain from using so Bunje doesn't have her blog seized by our overbearing superiors in the main office. But in all seriousness as many of you know I am a person who values reason and holds it in pretty high regard. To me it seems pretty unreasonable that there are people out their exerting their energy against someone who yells at his dog while people die of starvation, illness and war across the globe. The millions of dollars PETA spends on animal protection is ridiculous, just like our military and insurance agencies we could end all the immediate problems of the world with this funding. Do not pass me off as a cruel and uncaring person; I do think that animals have valid humane rights. By no means are they as important as human rights as we are simply the best suited organisms to survive at the moment. Although I think that unjustifiable animal abuse should have the death sentence. We don't need to waste money holding criminals like that in jail cells, again it's impractical. I find organizations such as PETA to be hypocritical though. They seem to want the best of both worlds, how can we continue to produce infinite humans in a finite space and expect to feed them. Thus harvesting livestock will naturally give them worse and worse conditions to support the human population. If you really want to stop animal abuse in the way of production then stop making babies, it is that simple. And I will be the first to support experiments such as the silver spring monkeys where the subjects were abused beyond imagination to yield scientific results that helped millions of people survive and recover from strokes, and I bet you would two if the information from that experiment would save the life of let’s say your mother or your new born baby brother. Even the information we learned from Hitler's torture experiments is implemented today in the medical field.
In conclusion I find that there is a thin line to walk between ethical treatment of animals and the practicality of the matter. Both sides will have to give to issues from the other side. Especially on issues such as animal testing for medicinal purposes and on the other side the protection of endangered species. As for me I will continue to eat my quadruple BK stackers with delight, but I will also send Abe on someone beating a puppy in the park =]
Okay, so animals and their rights as living creatures is a topic I can comment on for ages, but I am thinking about writing an occasional paper so I’ll save some of that for later.
Although I’ve had countless animals over my childhood currently I have two dogs, two cats, and one horse. My two dogs and Maggie and Casey. Both are older, yet still bark at the sound of the door knocking and hide behind objects when in thunderstorms. However, this individuality and human traits of fear and curiosity simply explain how connected human traits are to those of animals. Just like Jenn said, my dogs know when I’m upset. If I’m hurt of just sad, I can always count of my mutt Maggie to be whining at my feet and tossing her head at me. I must say that we definitely feel most connected to domestic animals, but wild ones still develop the same emotions, they are just caused by different stimuli and responses. My cats, Sweetie-Pie (I named her when I was six!) and Muffin (my sister named her obviously), have been around the longest. Sweetie Pie is our oldest pet and she fits the perfect stereotype of a cat (I compare all cats to Homeward Bounds Sassy!). She is calm and stays mostly to herself, but she still acknowledges her family for attention and love. The other cat is more needy of attention, but still stays to herself. I must say, that if nothing else, no one can argue that animals don’t possess the characteristic that craves attention and loving care. Have you met one pet that doesn’t enjoy being pampered on a daily bases. This is just like humans, who can’t stand to be ‘out of the loop’ and aloof from society. The constantly need to be told how wonderful they are.
The pet that I am most connected to is my horse Santiago. I had no say in his name (we bought him when he was 6) but I refer to him often as my Spanish horse. I am obviously most connected to my horse because when I’m with him, Ii am sitting on his back and our thoughts and slightest body movements flow as one for the hour or so I ride a day. This contact is not the only way we are connected but it is the most prominent. While riding, the slightest shift of my weight to the left causes his right haunches to swing out and bend slightly to the right. A soft sense of pressure form my thumbs on the reins causes his pace to lessen and beat to become more calm. Not many people have these tingling and extremely sensitive feelings that control their body. People say dogs can hear from miles away. How can people say animals have no emotions and human characteristics when there sense of environment and changes through the atmosphere are ten times greater than our own. Back to my beloved friendship with Santiago, I consider him one of, if not, my best friend. As corny as it sounds, our relationship is much closer than I’ll ever be with any human being. I’ve learned that no matter what I can trust my horse. If Ii mess up, he saves my ass over larger jumps, and if he stumbles, I’m there to hold him up. Our bond is an intense partnership that exemplifies the ideal art of teamwork and trust with one another.
My ridiculous relationship with horses began with my first pony, Chance. Ask any Mullican and they’ll answer that he was all I talked about. Chance capitalized some of the greatest moments of my life, and we shared a friendship that could never be broken even though he passed away June of last year. I remember crying for days, wishing to have the many days and minutes back that I shared with him. When I first got Chance from a animal rescue in PA (LAPS) he was a stubborn, skinny pony who like Blue, lost trust with the human race. However, by opening my heart to him, he returned the favor. He threw me off of his back more times than I can count, but this does not differ at all from the countless arguments I’ve gotten into with friends; and we just get over it. He taught me how to forgive, trust, and persevere through any circumstance. And before many of my friends, he is someone I will remember for the rest of my life and after.
Like I said, Chance was rescued from abusive owners by an organization called the Large Animals Protection Society and I now assist them with foster homes for horses and fundraising, because I am so thankful of the friend they blessed me with. The one lady Jo-Ann has a small but sufficient amount of land with a barn. She has about 8 horses a few goats, and a donkey. She spends her own money supplying these animals with food, shelter, vet visitations and other special needs and dedicates the rest of her time to finding and convicting other people who neglect their pets. For someone, who own a pet…you bought/found this creature and swore when you did that you would take on the responsibility of caring for it. It deeply confuses me when people neglect their own pets and treat them similar to the way slaves were treated. But, as my dad has told me numerous times, some peoples’ minds are just f’ed up and they find entertainment and escape their own problems by abusing these animals. Anyone who dedicates their time to saving endangered species, stopping elephant poachers, or watching over abused and neglected domestic animals has my deepest praise, affection and thanks for all that they do.
I don’t have any pets, but I do have a “dog” I call Baby and a baby dinosaur. Baby is actually a 3 year old boy. But since he barks, bites, drools, walks around on all fours semi-frequently and has been trained to obey some commands, I personally think he counts. His name is really Burke Aidan, (although I vouched for Aidan Burke) and it was chosen because Burke is my mom’s maiden name and Aidan is just cute. It also means “little fire”, which is perfect for him. I call him Baby more often than I call him Burke because he really is my baby. He learned 3 names when he was just starting to speak and they were in this order: “dad”, “nana”, and then “mama”. I’m Nana, and I’m pretty proud of the role I play in his life. Plus, until he was 2 we really thought he was the last of us… until the baby dinosaur came along, that is. Baby dinosaur is my sister, mainly because she has a tendency to RAAAAAAAAAWWWWRRRRR! She’s less than a year old and still isn’t a crier. When she’s unhappy, she literally yells incoherently at you while scrunching her face up and clenching her fists. And even when she’s happy, she’s still a dinosaur: when Aislinn learned to sit up on her own, she used to test her balance by throwing her head back and opening her mouth, like she was roaring at the sun on mute. Normally, due to the weight of her head, this tipped her over backwards which was unbelievably cute, and hence she’s the baby dinosaur. (these names aren’t so strange. My sister Lizzy was Liz-bits for the longest time: Margaret was Mug-a-lug and Liam was Buddy til he started going to pre-k. He came home crying one day, saying “they call me Liam at school”, thinking they were making fun of him.)
I usually try to not repeat what all the bloggers before me have said, but it seems a little bit unavoidable this week. Communicate is defined as “an imparting of knowledge; making known”, and animals generally do a pretty good job of that. A dog scratching at the door is making it known that he wants to go outside. A cat sitting next to an empty water dish imparts the knowledge of the cats thirst. They most definitely can communicate. As for animal-rights activists, everybody has a passion. It’s just when that passion becomes more detrimental than it is helpful that we end up with problems. For instance, a person with a passion for hair could make a really good hair stylist. But if that person starts going nuts, realizing they have no customers and kidnapping people just to do somebody’s hair, well, then that’s bad. There is such a thing as too much activism, but as a concept, no, they are not wasting time frivolously. I just wish there were people who would dramatically feel passionate about saving people too. In my opinion, we need to respect all types of life a lot more than we do currently: genocides ignored, eyes turned away from extinctions, deforestation run rampant. We are destructive and uncaring as a people, and that needs to stop. Animals have some natural rights, just like everything else in the world. That doesn’t mean they should be pampered and bedazzled, just respected. All of those comments on Paris Hilton’s total over the top-ness? TOTALLY ACCURATE. I agree 200%, both pertaining to animals and people.
I love my pets so much that it is indescribable. I have two dogs and one cat. My dog Duke is a German Shepard, but he is the runt of the littler and so he weighs about 50 pounds (tiny for a German Shepard I know). We got him as a puppy around March which for any of you basketball fans is March madness. The two final teams were Duke and Connecticut, so it was either Duke or Connie and well we chose Duke. I rarely call him Duke; I call him Emo, Emo D , and Baby Duke. I always call him Emo D because well he just seems Emo to me a lot. He will just lay on the ground with the cutest face but it kind of makes him look depressed. When his ears aren’t up he always looks depressed. Duke knows how to spell the word ball, open doors, and look cute all of the time. When anyone spells the world ball his ears immediately go up and he finds a ball right away. Moving on to our other dog Bell, she is a poodle and terrier mix. We got Bell when she was about 2 and we had gone to the shelter to look for a dog, the word “euthanized” was in big bold letters on her card. I had asked my mom, “What is that word”, and since I was so little she did not want to explain it to me. She merely said to the worker, “We will take her.” I was 6 when we got her and was obsessed with Beauty and the Beast, which is exactly how we got the name Bell. Bell has a puffy tail, long eyelashes, and big eyebrows. She was adopted once before we had gotten her and was severely abused. My parents took the chance in saving this little ball of fur who weighs about 40 pounds. The people who adopted her first abused her so badly that they smashed her voice box, scared her for life, and returned her to the shelter when she was 2. Finally, about two or three years ago was the first time I had ever heard her bark. I feel like I see her gentle timid soul right through her glazy eyes. Bell will always be daddy’s girl; I can see the joy in her whenever she is around my dad. Next up is my ultimate baby boy Max. While I love all of my pets equally, Max holds a special place in my heart. I had always wanted a cat and one night a kitten that was malnourished had showed up to our door. You could see his bones sticking out, and he was clearly a stray kitten. It was a few months after we had gotten Bell that Max showed up to the back door and I fell in love instantly. I begged my mom to keep him and the rest is history. I always loved the name Max which is why I named him that, he is like my little man. Max is getting older but it took him a little while to get used to me. He is an indoor and outdoor cat and so he does whateva he wants. He is one cool cat! Max sleeps in my bed, lies on my lap, and loves to play. That cat can put a smile on my face no matter how bad my day is. I think that I can communicate with all of my pets whether it is in commands or even in the tone of your voice. When I tell my animals that I love them I think that they can sense the care and love in your voice and actions. I may not be able to communicate with them through words but I think that actions are a different story. They can tell when I am angry because they back off, when I am sad they are there to comfort me, and they make simple moves that bring a smile to my face. As far as communication goes I think that emotions speak for themselves. How animals react can speak as their words. Not that I have too much experience with all animals, but my thoughts come from the experience I have had with mine. Go animal activists! More power to you people for standing up for what you believe in. While I do believe that there are many problems to concur with humans, animals deserve a “voice” as well. I would never judge how other’s choose to spend their time which is why I can not judge animal activists for spending their time on animals. If their passion is for animals I am glad that someone is sticking up for the animals. There are soooooo many people in society who don’t use their voice at all and animal activists are there using their voice for good causes. I could never compare animal rights to human rights. I think that they should have the right to be treated with love. Animals do not have nearly the amount of rights as humans do, but I think that it is our job to look over them. They are commonly mistreated and this I know from first experience with my dog Bell, it really upsets me to think that anyone could do that to a dog. I think that giving animals the rights that we have would be a little too much, but they do deserve the right to be treated properly. I would never say that there is a limit to what we should do for pets. I could never be a vet. because if people could not afford a surgery for their pet I would do it for free, I would be broke because I would pay for the medical supplies and not get paid for manual labors. Animals deserve to be treated with care and love. I do not think that there should be limit in what people do for others and so there should never be a limit in what we do for animals. “Treat others as you would like to be treated” is a common quote that is perfect for this circumstance. Humanity should treat animals how they would like to be treated!
Maegan R.-
“I don't think that ANY activist, no matter what they stand for, is wasting their time. Even if I don't agree with their views, or think what they are fighting for is stupid, I appreciate and admire their ability to act upon an issue in hopes of making their world a better place. KUDOS, ACTIVISTS!”
Well said Maeg, I couldn’t have put it in better words myself. I feel the same exact way as you on that comment. People should do whateva they want. Power to the people! Those who take a part and stand up for what they believe in Is what is so great about this country.
Hayley A-
“It turns out that I made the right choice. Once we set her out onto the lawn, she hurdled out of that car and ran circles on the lawn. Just circles. We could all tell she was excited to be in her new home, making us fall even more in love with her.”-
Hahaha little Tally. She runs in circles all of the time. :)
Meg Lee<3
To Myra:
"I believe that animals help us to find our humanity. They way we treat our animals determine how we treat other people, or how we would if we lived in a world without rule where the only thing we have to answer to is ourselves. Think about it, we rule in our relationships with our pets, we choose when they eat, were they sleep, we decide their lives. We are in charge and have no rules to adhere to when with them. How we treat them is up to us and us alone, there is no force that can impose how we deal with them. We have the power. So whether we are nice to them or brutal depends on our humanity."
I love your blog. I never really thought of how humans are in control of an animal's life, maybe even survival. I agree with you completely on the fact that if we treat animals horribly then more than likely we treat the people around us that way, too. Thinking about that now and my friends, I think that is a really fair statement to make.
To Mike:
"There should be stricter laws regulating the treatment of animals in food plants, and harsher penalties for the mistreatment of animals."
I agree with you, but really do food plants for animals even test the food before producing it? (Not sarcasm) There have been so many food recalls for pets from a wide range of food companies. Harsher penalties would be nice. Is that even realistic? Sad to say, the majority of people don't really value an animal's life to any comparison to their own life.
Oh, Matt, your naivety about the wizarding world amuses me so. Everyone knows that wizards use Knuts, Sickles, and Galleons.
For the current exchange rate please visit:
http://cgi.money.cnn.com/apps/hpcurrconv
Ok matt capone. your blog is my second favorite. Diagon alley! ahhhahaha!
Hilary- "For example, I don't think an animal should rule a country or be ridiculously pampered (cough cough PARIS HILTON YOU WEIRDO cough)." You make me laugh almost every time you speak. But I agree with you here, sometimes people go a little to far!
Mike N- The crickets, hahahaha. I thought you were kidding at first, but I was wrong. I enjoyed reading your blog and I'm glad you did your research :).
Tarah- " I love her to death and don’t mind petting her and feeling her bald spots that she feverishly licks at all day. I have no clue why she does this. I guess it is just her mind starting to go. She is just begging to look old to me which is heartbreaking to me." I love Pumpkin and her hair-less, drooling self.
Sergei- I always enjoy reading your blogs and perspective on things. But I feel oppositely on your reasoning that animals shouldn't have rights. Yes, we are dominant and more powerful than most animals, but this does not give up the “go ahead” to abuse them. So these animals who, for the most part, cannot stop humans from hurting them, are suffering. We can help them have a better life if we choose to.
In response to mega maeg's comment:
It seems that in your eccentric behavior you have found the fine line between practicality and compassion. Which is hard for me to believe from what I have seen of your relations with Jackson ha-ha. Your thoughts on PETA are also well placed, we can't guide the actions of others but just because we don't support them does not mean we should put down their attempts at what they believe is right.
In Response to Jon S's comment:
To testify to Jon's claims that dogs hate him I can firmly say that they do. I have seen him mauled by single dogs and by multiple dogs at the same time, to my great amusement I might add. But animals in general seem to distance themselves from Jon except for my dog which has taken to humping his leg...Apart from my dogs leg fetish which automatically made him partial to Jon, all of Jon's others attempts at befriending an animal fall short to say the least. But then again maybe animals are wary of him as he used to crush daddy long legs between his hands when he was 6 to gain "spider powers".
Hilary- Remember when we pretended that Grady and Sheila were married, because obviously they were!
Tamari- I don’t really know you, but with every one of your blogs I learn more and more about you! I personally love cows (it’s a weird thing) and that fact that you owned one was amazing to me!
Johnny- “This probably makes me the biggest hypocrite for eating meat, but I have to agree with you Bunje. Angus burgers? Cheesesteaks? BACON!???? I love tofu, but there’s nothing like the real thing.”
That statement is amazing. I am not much of a meat eater, but I am not a vegetarian either. But that fact that you adore bacon makes me laugh. And I could totally hear you saying that in real life.
Jenn:
I know we share an identical love for animals and our ponies died around the same time last year, but I love reading what you have to say to.
" But to a certain extent. I hope (yes, I said hope) that all animals be treated with as much love and affection that we give to our own family and friends. But, then again, we don't all show the right kind of love towards people. The people who beat their wives and children, I wouldn't trust them with any pets"
This statement is basically the reason behind animal neglegence. How can humans repect animals when they can barely love and respect their own species. The world is so full of hatred that it makes i so hard for people to accept people, things, and animals for who and what they are.
MIKE N:
You always answer in sarcasm, which of course I enjoy (liked the whole cricket deal), but I would agree with Matt and say that you were very insightful here as well. I will not take your advice about watching the videos on PETA because I dont need a change of heart in this particular issue, but I admire you for seeing it. And I know you didnt see it like make people did when they watched the guys name I cant spell being hanged. You watched it because you needed to be able to feel the animal's pain to understand it. Unlike many individuals in the world, you didnt enjoy watching animals being burned, cut, or kicked around. Watching this opened your passsion to the thousands of animals being abused.
To anyone who said this:
I disagree with many people when they say that animal rights are important, but not as much as humans. The more we contnnue neglecting animals, the more species become extict and endangered. Our world still follows as strict chain of energy flow, and disrupting in because of ignorance or feeling that it is substandard will soon harm our environemnt.
My dog is my life. Snickers greets me with a wagging tail each and every day that I come home from soccer practice, and waits patiently at the top of the steps whenever I leave the house. He is an 11-year-old black and brown Yorkshire terrier and was my first real pet. Approximately two years after I got Snickers, who received his name for his snickers bar looking coat, we got Cookie, a 2-pound Yorkie for my sister, but he only lived for one week, and died from kennel cough, which he caught from his kennel. So we complained to the kennel and they gave us another Yorkie for free. My sister named this dog Cookie 2. Cookie 2 looked like an exact replica of Cookie 1, and that made it even harder to bear with his death. Cookie 2 died on his first birthday from eating poisonous plant fertilizer, and I was crushed. At that point in my life, I didn’t want to be connected to anything. Part of me believes that I am so connected to Snickers is because he was the one who stood by my side after all of those tragedies.
Currently there are three dogs in my house, but I don’t consider the other two mine because I don’t have to take care of them. My sister’s dog is a 5 pound 5 year old dachshund named Cali, and she is the cutest thing that I have ever seen. My little sister named her after her best friend, which I thought was a little weird and awkward, but I got used to it. She has black short hair and the biggest brown eyes that always look like they are on the brink of tears. My mom is responsible for my 2.5-pound Yorkshire terrier named Caesar. He may look like an adorable petite stuffed animal, but be aware, inside a headstrong bull lurks waiting to pounce at a red cape. (No really, don’t go near him wearing red, he will flip out) We didn’t get to name Caesar, because we didn’t get him until he was about a year old. One day my mom was carefully driving down the street when she saw a woman walking her dog. She thought that the dog was the cutest thing that she had ever seen, so she pulled over her car and began to talk to the woman. Jokingly, she said, ‘If you ever don’t want your dog, I’ll take him.’ The lady replied, ‘Really, you can have him.’ The woman had just has a child and couldn’t keep up with the responsibility of taking care of a spoiled puppy and a newborn child. What are the odds of that happening? But either way, Caesar is now a part of our family.
I believe that pets can understand more than sit, stay, and roll over. Pets have the same emotions and feelings that humans do, but just express them in different ways. Snickers will take off faster than a marathon runner if you even mention the word bath, and dart under my mom’s bed where he can hide.
All beings deserve some form of rights whether they be the right to make their own decisions or choose where they want to live. Just because humans can vocalize their rights and rule the top of the food chain doesn’t mean that we need to be insensitive jerks. Animals don’t have the luxury of being able to stand up for themselves, and I think that as humans we take advantage of that. I love how PETA calls out the cruel pet kennels and dog food brands that test on their audience. It isn’t right that people can light a cat on fire and not get in trouble at all.
"My little sister named her after her best friend, which I thought was a little weird and awkward, but I got used to it. "
BRITT!! That was seriously one of the funniest things I have ever read.
britt's dog caesar...yeah...two words. SCARY MONSTER-BEAST-ALLIGATOR-DOG-THING-MONSTER. Enough said. Freakin crazy animal!
I this point in time, I have the privileged of owning a pet. This particular and unique in every way pet of mine is a big, over-weight, cuddly Great Dane with white fur spotted with marks of black all along her body. Her real name in the cohort has definitely become one of the landmarks of Billy Cheatham, and that is Edison. My family actually has no idea where the hell her name came from, only the story behind her. We were looking for a new Great Dame at the time, still being somewhat distraught over our old companions death. We had a call from a person who heard we were interested, and couldn't keep her because the landlord didn't approve of her presence; this was probably because no dogs were allowed and she toppled him over when she saw him at the door. The story in a hut shell is this lady came with her behind a Shoprite, told us she would give us the paper work through the mail, let us drive home without calling us, and we never heard from her again. Edison's a big cuddly lump who was skinny before she started stealing bread from our closet and eating out of the trash. She can be an annoyance sometimes but I wouldn't trade that big baby for anything.
Just from living everyday with an extremely large canine, I believe it's very possible we can talk to animals in many different ways. Just look at calling your pets name. They respond to it instantly, whether they run over and lick you all over or just turn their head to see “what up wit' it.” When you yell at them, they tend to know they aren't in the best manner with you. If you pet them, they know that you approve of what they are currently doing. My brother has a Guinea Pig of his own. IT has been proven by scientist who actually know what their doing and through Bored-Cheatatology that your Pig will respond to you shaking its food bag. There are almost endless ways of communicating with animals, just like human beings. Whether its hand signals, facial expressions, or even talking to your pet. To argue that your pet doesn't communicate with you is absurd and almost impossible. Through training or just hanging around their masters, pets can communicate quite well to people. When Edison has done something bad we know it because she prances in with her tail and head down like a condemned prisoner on death-row. When the pig is hungry, it begins squealing and “purring” loud and obnoxious as myself. Animals are constantly sending signals to each other and other creatures, whether it be through physical appearances or vocal expression. The connections of pets and humans is undeniable.
I personally believe that all animals have a purpose of some sorts in this world. Whether you believe it to be our position in evolutionary charts or out of mere design/build, animals are their for a reason. Some animals, such as your common pets or almost helpless animals, have been domesticated and adopted to being our friends, our companions, and our servants. You obviously won't see a grizzly bear playing fetch as you may see my Great Dane(at least when she wasn't so fluffy). Now there are some exceptions as to every rule, such as the crazy man on history channel who lets bears eat off his face and doesn't think their violent. It's my personal believe that all these animals were designed around our existence. The canine is our companion, the wolf is our fear. The bird is our inspiration, the tiger teaches us about nobility and pride. Whether intended for a physical lesson or intellectual moral, they all have a purpose in our life's. With this purpose comes a certain amount of rights. Cattle, sheep, and assorted other farm animals were meant to be eaten, so people like P.E.T.A. Really do piss me off. Now some wild animals can and should be killed, but most should be left alone. No one has the right to walk up to a toucan and slay it for fun. NO ANIMAL DESERVES TO BE ABUSED OR HARMED AND LEFT TO SUFFER. As a hunter, my attitude towards animals is somewhat distorted for lack of a better word and I am not totally clear on all. I would just as well pet and deer as I would slay it. In fact, I'd slay hundreds of deer. Thousands. However, I believe that's one of their purposes in this world is to be slain for our food supply. As self-centered as that may seen, my believe is their service to us. Now wounded a deer then watching it suffer is simply intolerable, as it is with any animal. I think when it comes down to it, activist have to pick their battles more-wisely. Sometimes they tend to step into the business of the wrong people. Leave those alone who justifiably kill animals for supplies and go after those beating dogs in the back alley. Michael Vick needs to die.
My dog Biscuit! If anyone ever hurt my dog or tested poisons on them, I’d probably do the same to that person or their dog. Biscuit, a.k.a MAME was adopted about 5 years ago into our family from an Animal Shelter over Thanksgiving break, hence giving her the name Biscuit due to my love for food during this holiday. I guess I too Ms. Bunje, am a hypocrite for naming my dog after a holiday that is based on eating turkey, among other things. I’d like to believe that I can communicate with my dog, but I can’t honestly think of a moment that I’ve had with my dog where we were thinking along the same lines. Of course she gets happy when I say, “Outside!?” Or when she sees my mom’s car pull in the driveway, but these things are routine and are things that become habits. What I do see in Biscuit as well as other animals, is their ability to communicate with each other. Although this is obvious, we often take it for granted, or even may not believe that animals endure emotions, like our favorite horses: Blue and Brown. To divulge into the following example you must know that my dog is half Chihuahua and half Pomeranian, which makes her look like a puppy golden retriever. And to get a better idea of my dog, she is one of those tiny little dogs, standing at about 10 inches, that believes she can out-fight as well as out-bark any dog she sees, regardless of size. Knowing that my dog is like this, it was surprising to recently see her make friends with our next-door-neighbor’s dog, Boomer (Jack Russell). Whenever Biscuit see’s Boomer approaching the outskirt of our house she immediately jumps at me to let her out. Likewise, I’ll often find Boomer’s head popping up in my window from time to time looking for Biscuit. Seeing this connection that they have, tells me that they have a friendship beyond just common territory. In fact the other day, when Biscuit was racing up to Boomer, and Boomer continued to ignore my dog, Biscuit led a few more attempts before she gave up completely. Looking back on this, and feeling complete sympathy for my dog, knowing she was disappointed, this same event now makes me wonder whether animals really have these emotions or rather we give them these emotions because that’s how we would react if we were in the same scenario. This same idea is mimicked in Alice Walker’s ‘Am I Blue’, where Walker compares the communication of people to American men who marry foreigners. “What then did the men see, when they looked into the eyes of the women they married, before they could speak English? Apparently only their own reflections.” Do we love the things that don’t communicate with us, because we assume that they’re on the same page as us? Although I sometimes feel guilty when my dog see’s me up to something that I shouldn’t be up to, I cannot honestly say that dogs and humans can communicate the same feelings and ideas. To a certain point I believe that all animals deserve to have the same right to life as humans, but going back to what Hilary said, I believe that animals were placed on this earth to be inferior to us, as well as be a source of food.
As far as animal rights go, I believe that animals should have the right to food, shelter, and a good owner. It is very sad to see animals being hurt for the sake of us as human beings to be able to shampoo our hair for about 45 seconds. Although this is an important cause to take up, I do believe that there are more just causes to take up concerning our fellow countries and fellow human beings. If you’re going to dedicate your life to changing something, it might as well be something that saves, affects, or influences people. Dedicating your life to save a few rabbits, I see as useless. Giving some time in your day to help these rabbits is more rational, after all how much can you fight for in a rabbit’s life? What people should be doing, is maintaining their best at treating their pets safely, as well as giving time to correct those who don’t follow these same ideas. Whether this be giving some change to the Animal Shelter donation jar at the 7/11, or taking the shock collar off of your uncle’s dog, we all take accountability for the wrongdoings as well as their justifications in this world.
Cheaty...i love EDISON <3
and Matt Capone...
I distinctly remember back to first grade, when we were BEST friends...you used to LOVE dogs. Like, more then anything ever in the whole wide world. Right? I might be mistaken, but I seem to remember this about you...
And just to be random- Abby, my uncle has a jack russell named Boomer! But he's not your neighbor.
Matt:
"Now my explication on my pet may contradict my statement early that I do not like animals, and that is the truth, they attack me in packs when I’m miles from home trying to flee on a scooter"
I just want to say i was there when that happened and it was one of the funniest moments of my life.
"Currently there are three dogs in my house, but I don’t consider the other two mine because I don’t have to take care of them"-brit gg
Holy crap! that must be crazy! ha!
Eva B:
"Animals have at least one right; to live without an oppressive master. That right is guaranteed to all living things, animal or plant.
Now, I’m a fish lover. I have, in my room alone, four goldfish and four beta splendens."
So you own poets of your own but none deserve to be "oppresive master"? Doesn't thtat make you an oppresive master. Granted, those fish wouldn't leave an area much bigger than the tank in their lifetime anyway, but the idea of freedom is still their. However, I do understand you mean someone giving them a certai namount of freedom, but your still oppressing them no matter what. But then again, some of them need it as far as I'm concerned. I could rant forever about this to myself...
Meg l's blog was probably one of the best :]
"The activists have a cause and hey go them! For giving their time to something bigger than themselves I look up to them. I know that movie stars tend to go extreme with their dogs sometimes, but really they are just treating them the way they are treated. Is it extreme and frivolous? Yes."
This is very true as much as I want to argue with you.(:p) I just think it's a problem when they step into places they shouldn't, like constantly messing with us hunters... I'd just like to say to those against hunting: 1.75% of all animal deaths and exterminations are from hunting. 60+% is probably from freaking extremist who ahve to the trees cut down destroying eco-systems so they can eave signs in hunters faces. Step off.
by the way, that last qoutation i had was from linds c
Edsion loves you too Dev :]
Eva B: “An animal’s life may not be equal to that of a human’s, but cruelty is cruelty. Whether you are ripping off a spider’s leg, or skinning a kitten alive, it’s animal cruelty, and it should be stopped.”
-This statement really made me relook at my position on animal rights vs. human rights. It’s true that cruelty is cruelty no matter what object its being inflicted on. So I guess the battle isn’t against the victim, it’s against its oppressor. For the activists who are taking a step towards eliminating these oppressors, whether it pertains to humans or not, it’s not so much the animal’s rights were advancing as the cruelty were removing.
Brittany G: I remember every one of your dogs, and the way they came into your life completely describes your family! Your little sister is adorable and would name Cali after her friend, and your mom says whatever she wants whenever she wants, it’s easy to see why the lady walking down the street couldn’t say no to her! Haha i love all 8 of you!
There once was a point in my life where I did actually have pets, cats and dogs, but alas they are no longer with me. They have gone to a better place where dogs can cavort with other dogs nibbling on each others ears, and the cats get to be as lazy and fat as they possibly can get. That place is known as the caring, but mildly creepy, lady down the street's house. I unfortunately moved into an area where animals aren't allowed, so I had to part ways with my family friends. Originally, I had one cat named Harmony, a little dog named Sierra, a goat named Max, a huge turtle, two roosters, and a fat hen, but at some point Harmony spit out a kitten named Sylvester, my sister found a stray kitten, and her boyfriend brought a dog named Buddy into my rather large collection of animals. Yes, I know, wow that's a lot of animals. Its almost comical how many animals I had, considering I only truly liked two of the cats and my dog Sierra.
Furthermore, the names of the animals are derived from a variety of sources ranging from a child's malapropism to the first name that popped into another child's head. The name Harmony comes from the fact that as a child (and still secretly)I was obsessed with Harry Potter, but was a horrific reader when it came to the awkward names in the story, causing me to call the character Hermione, yes you guessed it Harmony. Laugh as you may, its hard for a second-grader to figure that name out, and to this day, only out of habit, I still call the character Harmony. But I digress. Sierra, which was my sister's Yorkie, got her name from the crappy 1994 Cutlass Sierra that my sister was driving at the time of buying the miniature animal. The spawn of the malapropism, was named Sylvester, due to his black with white marking resemblance to the cartoon cat that my mother loved to watch with me when I was younger. On the day that my sister actually found the stray kitten it was close to one o'clock A.M. and it was almost run over by my sister in her horrible car, so she picked it up and used the horribly cliched named of Lucky. Although i frequently joked and said the cat was unlucky, since it was my sister that happened to find it. The goat received it's name from my five year old nephew who was given the opportunity to name the disgusting creature. My nephew decided on the name Max, considering every time the animal made spoke its language it sound like "Maaaaaaaaaxxxxxxxxx". Unfortunately, the rest of the animal's that lived on my makeshift family farm called a house go nameless, largely due to their unimportance and minimal effect on the family.
Moreover, some of my cuddly friends I feel had a deep connection with me emotionally, which was almost as they could sense my thoughts and my feelings along with my words. On the other hand though, some animals I felt were completely out of tune with anything humanistic, or on any level with humans. The cats seem to be the most responsive to feelings and displays of emotion, even though much of their acknowledgment consists of actually moving and realizing I exist. Whenever I was feeling down in the dumps my cats would magically come slinky up to me, climb upon my lap, and then just sit and stare up at me almost to inquire "what's wrong?". Sometimes I would actually sit and pet my cat as I explained what was wrong, and it just felt as if they understood exactly what was going on. Also dog's are great at reading human emotion and understanding their speech. My dog would shirk away in fear if I stormed through my house in fury, or jump around when pure joy would radiate off my body. These connections also seem to work backwards though. Well, not so much with the cat except when its hunting. When one of my cats were hunting or hungry it was obvious, because they would always have a certain maniacal or longing look in their eyes. The look that just says, "I'm going to devour something with my bare claws after stalking it through the shrubbery", or "I'm ravished please put some kitty food in my bowl". Dogs on the other hand are almost experts in the field of relaying information back through the connection. Dogs have a plethora of ways that they communicate with humans. For instance, whenever my dog would sense danger it would try to warn a family member by growling at our feet along with tugging on pant legs. Its clear that a connection between certain domesticated animals and humans is present, and in many cases is extremely strong. Meanwhile, other animals display cases where a connection is just nonexistent between humans and animals. Max, the goat, for example contributed to this conclusion. Nothing I, or anyone else for that matter, did changed they way the goat would react. Whenever it saw a person the goat would take a piss into its face, and then proceed to ram them with the pee-stained skull of his. No amount of shouting, running away, tears, or expletives would stop the goat from its constant headbutting. An even better example of the lack of communication between a goat and a human is presented in one such instance when I caught my goat trying to regain its wits after ramming head first into the concrete wall. The goat stood dazed for a couple of seconds making its horribly screeching goat call, then after a moment it seemed to realize I was standing a mere twelve feet from it. All it did was stare at me, even while I tried to swoon the goat into stopping its incessant rams. Then after about thirty seconds after the swooning began, it seemed the goat realized it was head butting something and charged at me. Even after I showed all signs of gentleness, the goat just decided to screw any forms of communication and butt the hell out of me.
On a different note, it seems that animal rights activist, like PETA, are fighting for a just cause, but they are fighting a losing battle. Although these activist will make changes in the fields of protection for animals and prevention against animal cruelty, getting them actual acknowledgment of their rights is a little to far. People as a whole are aware of the obvious separation between themselves and animals, and are subject to exploit them. It is a glorious thing that PETA is attempting to accomplish and its possible to some degree, but ultimately animals are the equivalent to cuddly slaves that they treat massively better. Many people don't see animals as companions or friends, but as property. Maybe, I'm wrong, but it just seems as if PETA can protect some animals just not all of them. For instance, people rally behind PETA when they are attacking someone for a cruelty to an animal or a cat, but people don't seriously care if a species of fish are eliminated in cruel ways or if a animal is being periodically scared for comedic effects. Those are both forms of animal abuse and cruelty but people aren't forming gigantic petitions to get these things solved. From a first hand account of living with a animal activist, these are things that are wasted efforts, considering my sister would parade around her petition against something like toads don't have enough growing space in a pond and the rest of the family would inquire as to why do something like that when its not really important. Ultimately, animal activist groups have the right idea in trying to establish animal rights to be protected from cruel and abusive treatment, but some of animal activist petition for things that will never be accomplished and doesn't have the support necessary to make any real changes.
Additionally, animal activist are not wasting their time attempting to better animals when people are living in abusive situations. People have the option to try to find help on there own, while the only thing animals can do is fight back, ultimately resulting in their death. For those without voices, someone must stand and speak. An animal cannot just run away from a cage, or cry out for help from anyone around, although many people are in situations where they can't either, but it's the fact that people have the ability to do it. Animals are forced to accept what is happening to them with no ability to protect themselves, except their instincts, and in abusive animal situations animalistic violence usually leads to death of the animal one way or another. Also, animals have the right to live without human oppression and abuse, along with the right to roam freely. It seems selfish that people should force an animal to be confined against its will to their lives, for instance capturing a wild animal like a crocodile and forcing it to be apart of the suburbs. All animals have the right to be away from unwarranted attacks from humans, and forced animals. For example, an animal, unless extremely dangerous and in the process of attacking, should not be harmed by another animal or human unless for a food source. Animals are entitled to these rights, just like humans are entitled to "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" (John Locke).
Finally, humans should be limited to the amount of help they provide for animals world wide. Despite the fact that animals need a sense of protection from humans established by humans, animals can not be overly protected. If overly protected an animal's rights become constrained. For instance, if humans place a protective installment making all animal abusers live in areas away from defenseless creatures, like we do with certain rapist and child molester, animals would then be limited to their area of travel. Its almost like eating too much of McDonald's. Eating McDonald's at certain times and instances can be a deliciously glorious thing, but over eating of McDonald's will result in obesity and heart attack. These limits should be arranged with the animals instincts in mind. In the end, any type of protection that affects the way an animal will ultimately act, should be considered an overly protective and destructing policy.
Sarah:
Wow that's a good point that PETA actually tends to kill many of the things it attempts to rescue. I was actually watching a cartoon the other day that made fun of the way PETA protected animals. The show had a caged lion that looked as if he was about to die from starvation, and they were bragging about how they taught a lion to become vegetarian. Its one of those things where PETA just tries to protect an animal, and they end up overprotecting it causing more harm than good. I'm happy you brought up this point, because I didn't think about it until after I had already posted.
Not cool, Jani. Not cool.
Also, does Rachael know about the kitten thing? I mean, we all know about the cheesesteak thing...
JORDY--YOU HAD A GOAT?????????
To Billy Cheaty; How does having pets make me oppressive.
My fish have large, clean bowls, and large, clean tanks. I ask nothing of them. If they can be put in the same area without killing each other, they are. If not, they get plenty of plants to lounge around in. I ask nothing of them. They swim about, socalising with the other fish, and thinking their own fishy thoughts. They don't get eaten. They don't die of dropsey or fin-rot. They get live food, and don't ever have to worry about missing a meal. The bettas don't have to worry about the puddle in a rice paddy drying up (which is where the wild ones live) or having their fins torn off by rival males.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that sounds like a fish's idea of the good life.
Is anybody here?
No?
Last post!
I am so sneaky.
not really :)
Alright. This is an interesting factoid that I found in a book of birds from the early '60's, under the entry "homing pigeon."
"In a different category were the 'shore-sighting' birds carried by ships of olden times. The tecnique was know in countries as far apart as Scandinavia and Ceylon. Ravens *corvus corax* were favoured and were released when land should be near: if the bird made off, it not only confirmed the presence of land but indicated its direction."
Well, aside from being a cool concept, I think that this is a useful debate starter. It particular, I'm thinking of the arch-flood-biblical story where Noah releases first a raven and then a dove. It strongly implies that whoever took down the story was not a sailor himself: he would have found the raven more useful than a dove, as the raven would show which direction to sail. A landsman would see the same act as betrayal. But it also suggests that the story at least comes from a sea-fairer, because the release of birds was a real and widespread practice.
I am not remotely familiar with religion, so I want to hand this over to someone who knows more than I do. But does anyone have an opinion there?
If we're going to fight over the last post, we should have some kind of subject.
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