I'd be lying if I said I'm an animal person...I've never been the kind to stop on the street to pet cute dogs or start gushing if I saw a cute kitten. Sure, sometimes, but I'm generally unimpressed. I like animals, don't get me wrong, it's just that I'm not one of those people who are head-over-heels in love with man's little furry friends.
There's a nice expression, isn't it? Man's best friend, man's furry little friend. And I think most of us would agree...wouldn't we? I mean, sure, animals are nice, dogs are cute and so on. See, we don't seem particularly cruel at a first glance. Humans appear quite nice to the untrained eye.
We certainly like to think so, to think we've evolved, that we've made serious progress. But we haven't.
For years, I've been going by a pet store at the mall, and for years I've watched people go fawn over the cute little bunnies displayed in the cages. Or the cute little doggos. I used to do that too, when I was a kid. The funny thing is, I don't remember wondering why the cute little creatures weren't moving about much. They just sit there, staring lifelessly through the glass.
But then I grew a bit and began to wonder. Why are they so still?
The answer was swift and gruesome – they are sedated. Drugged to be good little robots, and sit there for days, months. I don't know how big is one step in bunny terms, but I don't think they could take more than five steps in those cages. Can you imagine – being forced to live your life in a glass cage, drugged enough so that you're mostly out of it, unable to move more than five steps, before having to turn back? No fresh air, no grass...
Thing is, I think we can imagine. Because humanity's been through a similar experience, not too long ago. Being treated like merchandise, sitting in a cage while potential buyers stare at you, evaluating you (also treating you like merchandise). Your life having a fixed price (and it ain't too high).
Remember? Slavery, we called it.
And we abolished it because it was wrong. Because all lives, regardless of skin color, were equally worthy, equally deserving of freedom. Because it's inhumane to treat a living creature like a toy.
Well, that' exactly what we're doing with these pet store animals. Writing this post, I was about to write 'treated like cattle' – and it occurred to be that we don't stop to wander why we treat cattle like cattle.
The life of a pet store animal is very similar to the life of a slave, a few centuries ago.
Exotic animals
Most animals are taken from their natural habitat (Africa, Brazil,etc), drugged, kept in substandard conditions and taken to a pet store. One of the things you don't know is that many of these animals die, on that journey, because they are treated horribly.
They’re stuffed into tiny, filthy cages and refused proper food, water, and even air. Some animals are even kept in pillowcases or soda bottles.
PETA website
Many of the animals starve, on that journey, fall ill or pregnant. And nobody cares, nobody provides even basic medical assistance.
They are kept without food or water for days, even weeks, in some cases. Also on the PETA for kids we bsite, I read about a crate of over 100 iguanas, kept without nourishment for weeks, because their order was cancelled.
When the crate was opened, over half were dead.
Not so exotic animals
But, of course, not all animals come from the jungles of some far away land. Some come from only a few miles away. Most cats and dogs in pet stores come from breeding mills.
In case the name doesn't say it all, breeding mills are places where these poor animals are kept – also in horrendous conditions – and forced to breed (again, the phrase 'like animals' comes to mind) over and over and over, only to have their little babies ripped away from them.
You know, we humans fight so hard for the right to a choice, and one of our key arguments is that a mother should be allowed to have an abortion, if she feels she couldn't offer decent living conditions to her baby. These animals are denied that.
Can you imagine knowing that your baby will be ripped away from you, drugged, starved, abused and kept in a cage? If this was about a human baby, the newspapers would explode. Nobody bats an eye.
Sick little babies
Over the past few months, stories have appeared all over the news about people buying sick pet store animals. You'd think surely, it was an accident, these things happen. But think about it, these animals are drugged throughout their miserable lives. And this pet business is, after all, an industry, just like any other.
Clothes brands sell you clothes made of weak material, because if your new jeans rip in six months, you'll have no choice but to go back to the store and buy another pair, and so on. Why make good, sturdy jeans that will last you for years, when they can have you buying four pairs in those years, instead of one?
It's the same with animals, they are purposefully harmed and made ill to support the industry. Both their own business, because if your pet dies, chances are you'll be back at the store sooner or later. Also, it brings in large amounts of money to the veterinary industry.
One article tells the story about a family who bought an adorable little dog, from an apparently good pet store, only to notice 3 months in, that he had trouble walking. At 10 months, the poor little thing was diagnosed with a very severe case of hip dysplasia. The family was reimbursed by the pet store, but paid over $12,000 for the dog's surgery.
Many of the websites denouncing the horrible abuse of pet store animals encourage readers to boycott such places by buying from animal shelters instead (while also saving a life, as those animals are killed if nobody buys them in a given period of time).
I think that's a good idea, too.
Also, read. Get information about what's going on, because you're probably not a bad person, but by buying from these stores, you only support an industry that commits atrocities against other living creatures.
I think this says a lot about our condition, as a race. We're horrible. We can do this. And you know what the sickest thing is? This – although blood-curdling – is not the worst we can do, either. Oh no, we can do so much more evil. And we wonder why the aliens don't want to meet us...
Thank you for reading!
Humanity hasn't really come so far from our hideous past. The aliens are probably sitting out there looking down and thinking what a horrible race of creatures we are!
Itu sangat benar @cecicastor
Thank you.
Yes, you know you've hit rock bottom when you kind of feel embarassed in front of the aliens...
Iya