I know this post is going to make me sound like some sort of bare feet having, peasant dress wearing, granola eating, incense burning hippie. I am writing it anyway.
I love animals. I have several I cohabitate with voluntarily. They live in comfortable accommodations with plenty of food and water. Most people would call those accommodations cages but I leave the doors open so they can come and go as they please. Usually no one but the parakeet pleases and he doesn’t so much. They are my friends. I hope I rescued them from worse lives they may have had but I am not a fortune teller.
They are not my children. I am not their mother. They may rely on me for comfortable dwellings and sustenance but they did not choose to be domesticated. I give them what I can because I love them. In return, they love me. They trust me. They know I am the least likely person to hurt them. Isn’t that who most of us try to end up with? Those we think are least likely to hurt us?
I don’t own them. They are living beings, with hopes and desires like any other. They have a life they wish to live. Who can own that? Sure, sometimes I need to be the alpha and show them the way in life but that does not grant me ownership. I don’t refer to them as “pets” because I believe that sounds pejorative. I am their guardian and nothing more. We trade companionship. I think I have the best deal.
I get annoyed by people saying I am their “mom” or their “owner.” I love these beings. I would not insult them by pretending to be either. They are smart, entertaining and loveable in exchange for respect and a proper home.
I worry about people who say they are a pet mother, father or owner. Maybe they have issues with wanting to have children or feel a need to dominate. That is not their animal companion’s issue. Is it really fair for a person to place their issues on another being? I don’t happen to believe because humans are the dominant race on this planet it gives us the right to subjugate all others. It is because we are the dominant race on this planet that we are better than that.
