Re: Is Having Pets Evil?
Is Having Pets Evil? | Classidential, a blog by [Redacted]
I promise I'm not picking on you! I really like this post. If you're passing by, please go read OP's post first.
I think about this fairly regularly, and from one perspective it does look evil. From another perspective, it looks good. From a third it's like I DUNNO
So an evil one, sort of that which you paint - basically you're taking an animal captive, taking away it's freedom, forcing it into a kind of life it wouldn't (MIGHT NOT) choose. I'm super opposed to animal subjugation, but in pet-keeping we do generally try to give the animals good lives, make them happy, meet their needs. Well, good pet owners (owners is a concerning word) do anyway. For farm animals, it's an entirely different story. But we also will forcefully prevent our pets from running away. Cats try to get out. Dogs try to get out. And BOY, if I see a house-dog free in my neighborhood, it's the happiest creature I've ever seen.
But we also live in a tricky world. I do think it's grey. Because I have my doubts that the cats and dogs will do well if we free them all today, or even if we stop captivating new ones that are born. I feel like my cats love me and probably want, in some capacity, to be here. Mine are purely indoor. But some people do have indoor-outdoor cats which really do have a good degree of freedom. They choose to come back. I find this relationship incredibly ethical, in terms of the human-cat relationship. But then cats are said to wreak havoc on local ecosystems, so is it ethical for the local ecosystem? I have no idea. Grey grey grey.
One of my indoor cats got out 6 months or a year ago. He never came home. I hope he found a new home and is happy. I looked for him, we waited for him, watched for him. But I had a personal conflict about "If he wants to be away, is it wrong for me to bring him back against his will?" I think it would be. If I'd found him, I still would have brought him home.
A "good" perspective is that we're giving them "better" lives, or whatever. Keeping them safe. Feeding them. Caring for them. Giving them love. I'd ask the cats if they could talk. You address this some too.
I run into some of these same moral conundrums when thinking about KIDS. Cuz there is a lot of control in child-rearing. But eh, i'm not trying to get into all of that.
Regarding the canary, you say "but at least in nature, it is fulfilling its role," and there's one challenge I want to present here. Are we separate from nature? Could Human-Pet relationships be considered the "natural order" (or whatever) because we are nature? I don't know. I think it's interesting to think about though.
And I share your feeling that I put humans before animals. I kinda hate it though. I'm not a fan of human supremacy. But low-and-behold I have my loyalties, and they are to humans.
It's both infinitely awesome that we get to think about things like this. And it's a bit of a cruelty, too. In a way, it would be nice if our lives were like movies to be observed, with no moral dilemmas and such.
Again, loved your post on this.