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laramie at 10:10am on 06/04/2008
laramie at 10:10am on 06/04/2008The other day Oprah aired a segment on puppy mills, bringing a camera behind the scenes to show the conditions under which the animals are kept and bred. (Caged, unwashed, untreated for medical conditions, unloved.)
Then they brought the cameras to an animal shelter and viewers got to watch a dog put to sleep, and the forty-some body bags of the day hauled out to a dumpster to be transferred to a landfill. That was horrifying to see. (Forty a day! while puppy mill crank out all those new pets under terrible conditions.) Oprah and her guests urged viewers to adopt from the shelters and support regulation of breeders. Good idea.
What strikes me weird, though, is how schizoid our society is about animals. Most people don't like to think about these issues because it means confronting that split-personality set of attitudes towards animals. Some animals are cute and cuddly companions we want to protect and care for, pet and enjoy. Other animals are food.
The conditions in puppy mills are no worse than those under which a lot of food animals are raised. Forty body bags a day from the animal shelters is nothing compared to what goes through the stockyards and ends up in the meat section at the grocery stores.
I eat meat. I'll say that up front. I'm as schizzy about this as anybody. I love my cats, I love to pet dogs. I love most animals I meet as living things (mammals, reptiles, fish and birds - I'm not so sanguine with insects and spiders). I will pet them, coo over them and treat them as gently as if they were human babies.
But I was raised on hot dogs and hamburgers; I love a good bacon-cheeseburger. I love my chicken cooked in all kinds of different ways, I love my Thanksgiving turkey.
I used the word 'love' in both the preceding paragraphs, and I used it in two very different ways. Maybe this has something to do with it. How about you? Any ideas on why humans can be so schizzy in our attitudes toward other animals?
Then they brought the cameras to an animal shelter and viewers got to watch a dog put to sleep, and the forty-some body bags of the day hauled out to a dumpster to be transferred to a landfill. That was horrifying to see. (Forty a day! while puppy mill crank out all those new pets under terrible conditions.) Oprah and her guests urged viewers to adopt from the shelters and support regulation of breeders. Good idea.
What strikes me weird, though, is how schizoid our society is about animals. Most people don't like to think about these issues because it means confronting that split-personality set of attitudes towards animals. Some animals are cute and cuddly companions we want to protect and care for, pet and enjoy. Other animals are food.
The conditions in puppy mills are no worse than those under which a lot of food animals are raised. Forty body bags a day from the animal shelters is nothing compared to what goes through the stockyards and ends up in the meat section at the grocery stores.
I eat meat. I'll say that up front. I'm as schizzy about this as anybody. I love my cats, I love to pet dogs. I love most animals I meet as living things (mammals, reptiles, fish and birds - I'm not so sanguine with insects and spiders). I will pet them, coo over them and treat them as gently as if they were human babies.
But I was raised on hot dogs and hamburgers; I love a good bacon-cheeseburger. I love my chicken cooked in all kinds of different ways, I love my Thanksgiving turkey.
I used the word 'love' in both the preceding paragraphs, and I used it in two very different ways. Maybe this has something to do with it. How about you? Any ideas on why humans can be so schizzy in our attitudes toward other animals?
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