Ancora Imparo: Pets and other Animals

{Warning: I'm up on my soapbox for this post}

I was out of cat food so after dinner tonight Jeff and I went to the pet store. As usual we fawned over the kitties waiting for adoption, played seek with the hiding lizards, watched the birds, and were amused by the small rodents. I both love and hate the pet store. I love that everything there is for the comfort and joy of animals. I hate the idea that some of the animals there won't find a home. Tonight was obedience night so there were a lot of dogs roaming around the store. I was in dog heaven.

I left the store thinking about pets and the "other animals". The American Pet Product Manufacturing Association estimates that we will spend $10.5 billion on pet products and services here in America in 2008. Dogs will go to daycare or the groomer. Cats will get expensive toys that they will shun for tissue paper and hair ties (I'm not speaking from experience or anything here :-) ). Dogs and cats will get elaborate Halloween and Christmas costumes. Heck some animals get massages and psychotherapy. There is a story out there in the news that Ricky Gervais's dog got Botox.

I'm not saying that we can't love our pets. I know I love mine. But I'm an animal lover. I also love the deer that live in the creek near my house. I feel sorry for the raccoon that met its end on the road the night before. And I watch with sadness as new housing developments go up and more wild land is plowed under to make way for movie theaters and strip malls. I don't understand how we (as a society) can have such love for our pets and such apathy for the rest of the animal kingdom.

October 4th is World Animal Day. The day, which was started in 1931, celebrate the animal kingdom as a whole and our relationship with animals. There was little notice of the day in the press. With a quick Google News search I found 76 mentions of the day, 10 of which were from the US. Pakistan actually had more mentions of the holiday. The news actually has very little good things for animals. The current administration is attempting to rewrite the EPA guidelines to allow businesses and other government agencies to determine whether their projects will injure the environment. That's a little like asking the coal burning power plant if maybe they shouldn't build because the plant could destroy some wetlands. I have a hard time believing they will care.

The World Wildlife Fund, one of the largest conservation organizations in the world, had a budget of $160 million for projects and administration. That is only $10.3 billion short of the pet product market. We hunt animals, conduct research on animals, confine animals for meat, cage animals, and destroy animal habitat. The hardest thing for me to understand is the apathy we as a society feel for these creatures. I read a story recently about a huge wildfire in Florida. The reporter happily reported that no one was injured. There was simply no mention of the hundreds upon thousands of animals that lost their lives. We simply don't notice them.

I'm pointing the finger at myself recently. I have been meaning to join the World Wildlife Fund or the Humane Society for a long time. That, by the way, is not just for pet animals but for all animals. I certainly can't say I helped at all on October 4th. Instead I flew home from a cruise. Talk about expanding my carbon footprint. But my eyes are starting to open. I look at the ever expanding city and wonder what will happen to the wild places. I wonder how people can ignore the damage we have done to diverse ecosystems. And I wonder how long we can justify population growth at all costs and in the same breath talk about culling wild animal populations. But that is a rant for another day. I'll leave you with these. Some beautiful images to remind you how incredible our natural world is. May we learn to love our animal neighbors.

Reuters/Beawiharta photographer of this newly hatched Green Turtle