Having strong sentiments about the death of Man's Best Friend or Lonely Lady's Pussy Muff is understandable, but we routinely kill cats and dogs that are unwanted. Even in a "no kill" shelter most animals are locked up in miserably small cages most of the time and essentially being treated like prison inmates. Their crime?—being orphans.
While killing a dog or cat does carry a criminal penalty in most states (I mean U.S. states and Western Europe; fvck you, Russia), the penalty for cruelty to animals is a fraction of any doled out for any form of homicide, even in cases involving heinous acts and grisly torture. You'll almost certainly get more jail time for making sweet, passionate love to your pet. Perhaps the biggest kick to an animal lover's gonads is the fact that civil law treats pets as property, so if someone takes your beloved companion's life you will only be able to sue for the cost of a new, comparable(ha!) animal and possible its lifetime of feeding and veterinary care.
Perhaps the biggest indictment of our society's mores in regards to pets is what we do when they get old or sickly. WE FREAKING MURDER THEM! Maybe the animal wants to suffer, its joie-de-vivre and simple animal instinct to survive overpowering the pain and discomfort it feels. But we can't tell if it wants to live or not, as we can't communicate with it verbally at least not to have a meaningful conversation about the most important decision your pet will ever make. Well, what do humans do? Do almost every single one them chose to die when they are suffering from pain they can't afford to pay the medical costs for, or when they are suffering from a terminal illness, or when they simply become old and decrepit? I would conjecture that the vast majority of people do NOT opt for euthenasia.
The truth is we just can't stand, for various selfish reasons, to see our once beloved pets as a shadow of their former self so we pay someone to execute it by lethal injection. Shame on us.
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Pantstrovich
11 years ago
I think it's kinder to kill an animal that is truly suffering when nothing can be done. I certainly think it's wrong though to kill an animal because it has become inconvenient.
I've had to preform mercy killings because of finding animals in traps or hit by a car and they were just too bad off. I couldn't allow them to suffer a slow, painful death. I don't think that was wrong but it sure felt awful. I've also rescued many more. Many animals are surprisingly tough; especially cats, and I'm very glad I've been able to save more than I've had to kill, either by my own hand or getting a vet to do it.
It is cruel that people often do not neuter their animal companions and let them overpopulate and end up hurt, diseased, dead or in crowded shelters (usually only to be killed).
As far as no-kill shelters go, I definitely prefer foster homes to cages. There are some lovely people out there that do that. Supporting them helps them continue to do good work for animals everywhere. Becoming a foster carer helps even more.
I agree that it is terrible that animal cruelty is not treated as a serious crime. Most animals cannot defend themselves against humans and it is very cruel indeed.
(To everyone else: I'm sorry for going off topic.)
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