We’re entering spring and everyone’s romping with their adopted dogs or purring with their pussy cats.
The magnificent animals – the wondrous “individuals of another species” – are an important part of community. How can we make our earth safe for them? If I ran the world, I’d give a big prize to anyone who identified animal abusers. I’d give them rewards and international applause. They’d get a trophy so gleaming it would make everyone want to win it. People would rush to save animals everywhere.
We are their guardians, not “owners.” How can we protect them? One way to help animals is to minimize the amount of plastic they ingest through meats, foods, airborne ingestion, etc. People are absorbing too much plastic too. Did you know researchers estimate humans are ingesting a weekly average of five grams of plastic – the equivalent of a credit card in our bodies? Here’s another point that might inspire the guys: it’s found that men’s testicles are often full of plastic. Just saying…
I know we all have tons of concerns on our “plates” these days, but let’s not forget the darling creatures that cheer us and need us. Our species have been confused about how to treat animals for ages. As the comedian Seth McFarlane said, “When a child kills an animal for fun, we fear mental illness. When an adult with the capacity to reason does it, we call it ‘sport.” Humans can’t seem to make up their minds about how to treat each other or the animals.
Some cynics say we’re anthropomorphizing when we believe they have feelings, attributing human characteristics to animals. But, Frans Waal, an animal researcher says, “I’ve never liked the word, as if they are unfortunate creatures who have the bad luck not to be human – as if we are the center of the universe.” They are emotional creatures says Mark Leviton, another animal author. He comments caustically, “I don’t think humans are so successful, by the way. We’re destroying the planet.” And on that note, here’s another profoundly important fact found at the National Link Coalition: animal abusers often neglect and abuse humans as well; there is a clear correlation. Beware of humans.
People are for the birds. We change beliefs by the second. Nowadays we view pigeons as a nuisance, but in World War II, 32 pigeons were awarded the UK’s Dickin Medal for animal bravery. During World War I, a pigeon named Cher Ami, saved lives of the “Lost Battalion” by delivering a crucial message, even after being wounded. A hero.
Flaco, the lovely Eurasian eagle owl, who gained fame after escaping from the Central Park Zoo, died in 2024 after colliding with a building in Manhattan, suffering from traumatic injuries, a virus and rat poison.
We simply do not speak their language, so we believe they are not talking to us, that they have noting to say. I became a vegetarian about 28 years ago. To this day I have converted no one. People will always rationalize killing and eating animals, though it brings sadness, I can not turn everyone I know and love away because of this.