I agree. The one caveat being that there are thousands of animals in shelters who are going to live in cages for years until they’re killed. If the alternative is someone can adopt them and give them a happy life in a loving home, that’s the obviously better option.
Breeders can go fuck right off, though. Every cat or dog bred into existence condemns an animal in a shelter to die.
Part of how I think about this is that the demand people have for owning animals creates the demand for breeders to make them. Simply not wanting pets would doom less to this fate.
Of course, this perspective is too reductive to capture what’s really going on in reality. But I suspect it could prevent a good bit of animal harm.
Yes! I still question myself because I adopt when I can just so they don’t stay in the streets, but I don’t call my family of dogs pets. I treat them with respect and don’t judge them based on human prejudices, but the rest of the people expects me to treat them as inferior and disrespect them ;:/
And guess what?: those people are usually the ones that are abusive to the dogs/cats that live with them.
Well, do they own the animals or not? I think ownership of other animals is part of my core issue.
Owning the animals, then calling it another name is worse in my view. Especially animal friends, I think owning another living thing but calling it your friend is the foundation of a unhealthy relationship. You purchased the animal. I do not have friendships that begin with buying them.
Honestly? Fair point. I find it hard to not extend this to animals but it most likely isn’t something animals consider at all. I mean, dogs likely all have William’s Syndrome, so they are happy with how we treat them in most scenarios. But owning animals I think leads to a lot of secondary animal cruelty caused by breeders and abandoned pets.
That’s true - humans gonna human, so we’re prone to treating animals under our care like shit. And also true that dogs have been domesticated by us so long that they’ll often remain loyal even when we mistreat them. It’s the mistreatment of animals that’s the problem, not the ownership itself.
Owning pets is not moral and I think it’s strange how normalized it is to have pets
I agree. The one caveat being that there are thousands of animals in shelters who are going to live in cages for years until they’re killed. If the alternative is someone can adopt them and give them a happy life in a loving home, that’s the obviously better option.
Breeders can go fuck right off, though. Every cat or dog bred into existence condemns an animal in a shelter to die.
Part of how I think about this is that the demand people have for owning animals creates the demand for breeders to make them. Simply not wanting pets would doom less to this fate.
Of course, this perspective is too reductive to capture what’s really going on in reality. But I suspect it could prevent a good bit of animal harm.
Yes! I still question myself because I adopt when I can just so they don’t stay in the streets, but I don’t call my family of dogs pets. I treat them with respect and don’t judge them based on human prejudices, but the rest of the people expects me to treat them as inferior and disrespect them ;:/
And guess what?: those people are usually the ones that are abusive to the dogs/cats that live with them.
Is it different for you if someone said having pets or “animal friends” instead of owning?
Well, do they own the animals or not? I think ownership of other animals is part of my core issue.
Owning the animals, then calling it another name is worse in my view. Especially animal friends, I think owning another living thing but calling it your friend is the foundation of a unhealthy relationship. You purchased the animal. I do not have friendships that begin with buying them.
You’re applying morality to animals, who don’t give a shit about such things. As long as you take care of them and treat them well, they’re happy.
Honestly? Fair point. I find it hard to not extend this to animals but it most likely isn’t something animals consider at all. I mean, dogs likely all have William’s Syndrome, so they are happy with how we treat them in most scenarios. But owning animals I think leads to a lot of secondary animal cruelty caused by breeders and abandoned pets.
That’s true - humans gonna human, so we’re prone to treating animals under our care like shit. And also true that dogs have been domesticated by us so long that they’ll often remain loyal even when we mistreat them. It’s the mistreatment of animals that’s the problem, not the ownership itself.