If you're an animal rescuer I am sure you find it unacceptable to abandon a pet.
If you're an animal rescuer I am sure you are against killing shelters.
If you're an animal rescuer I am sure you are against people who do not neuter their pets.
We have three rescue cats, have helped in the past in some rescues and have encountered several people in the business (so to speak). Passionate, good hearted people who will sacrifice their money, time and tidy houses to rescue a (another) stray cat or dog. People who let their dogs and cats sleep on their beds, pillows and even give up for them their favorite chair in the house. People who have a connection with a pet know that they feel, they love and they feel sadness, joy and even miss their owners when they are gone. I have heard many times "only people who haven't had a pet in their lives think animals do not feel!".
And of course they do!
They are intelligent and they have a connection with you. You are part of their pack, their family, they are loyal to their own kin in the same way humans are (or sometimes even more!).You can find thousands of videos online about how smart cats, dogs and other pets are, playing ball, finding & hiding items, opening doors, stealing our food... But so are other animals:
And of course they do!
- a chicken is smarter than a dog: they can complete simple puzzles and play games
- Pigs are as smart as a 3 year old child; they can even recognize themselves in the mirror (a test dogs and cats don't pass).
- Pigs are as smart as a 3 year old child; they can even recognize themselves in the mirror (a test dogs and cats don't pass).
- cows are extremely social animals: they have great memory to find the best spots to graze and drink; they have best friends
- sheep have incredibly great memory for face recognition. They recognize sheep in their flock and are aware when these sheep are missing.
(If you want to know more about animals, please read The Pig Who Sang to the Moon - it is a wonderful book about how animals are in the wild)
(If you want to know more about animals, please read The Pig Who Sang to the Moon - it is a wonderful book about how animals are in the wild)
Even given the above some people, who would do anything and spend whatever it takes on their pets' well being, continue to eat the flesh of other (as social and (sometimes) more intelligent as their own pets) animals, such as cows, pigs and chickens. Some say they only buy organic, humane-killed animals, because the animals suffered less and were well treated during their life (or due to health reasons, such as antibiotic growth). But they ended, never the less, in the oven; you might be petting your beloved dog while eating a cheeseburger, the flesh from a cow.
But why is it that we so strongly advocate against violence towards dogs and cats while we are eating a cheeseburger? Would we REALLY be ok with the fact that someone had a pet during years, fed him the best food, let him sleep in his bed only to kill him for a Christmas dinner? Of course we wouldn't ! In the same way we find it horrible to abandon your pet just to go on holidays!
Even if humanely killed, that cow still was dragged into a slaughterhouse, got her throat cut and got butchered into meat pieces.
How much necessary suffering is on your plate?
How come do we fight everyday at the shelter to save a cat or a dog from a lethal injection; just to go home and eat a cheeseburger?
If people would truly love animals, and not only cute and furry pets, they would be against ANY type of violence towards ANY type of animal; any type of killing (PTS, slaughterhouse...) because in the end they all suffer in the same way they all feel. You cannot assume animals feel because you love your pets but then prefer to think they do not suffer when it comes to dinner.
Worse is that most of the meat people consume, doesn't even come from those humane farms, these meats account for less than 5% of the meat consumed worldwide. So most of the people are supporting a terrible industry that mistreats animals, makes them suffer for the duration of their entire life (short life...) and kills them in terrible ways (but cheap). We just WANT to believe the nice farm pictured on the front of that mince beef package.
So next time you go out and find a stray cat or dog and rescue him/her, think twice at dinner time; give it a second of your time to think that behind 'your' meat was a living animal, as gentle natured as this stray, as loving to their babies as the dog was to her puppies but to whom nobody cared to look twice on his way to the slaughterhouse. He too was scared, alone and didn't want to be killed but nobody saved him.
Do you still want that burger now?
