Animal Abuse

"What did I do wrong?"
"Why did they hurt me?"
"Why did they abandon me?"
"Am I going to die today?"

These are the familiar opening words to the Humane Society animal abuse ad. Each time it comes on, I can't help but hold back my tears as I hold my dog close as a reassurance the she is loved and cared for. I guess that's what I get for watching Animal Planet for 2 hours; that ad was bound to come on a couple of times.

It breaks my heart every time I hear about animal abuse and cruelty. By our rules, animals do not need to give us consent to mutilate their bodies, we do not have to respect their bodies, and we often pass them off as stupid and unfeeling (I use "we" loosely, as in the entire human race). If we all took a moment to observe animal behaviors, it would become very apparent that they think and feel and actually create some pretty ingenious methods for going about their tasks. And animals that are bred as pets (mainly dogs) are easily trainable if you are willing to listen to them and read their emotions.

If you are going to adopt a pet, yo need to be willing to love it and take care of it and respect it as a member of your family. It is not a toy, it is not an accesory, it is a living, breathing, feeling, sentient being that wants nothing more than to be loved and have a family. That is why it breaks my heart when I hear about animal cruelty; a living creature was misused and abused because of a human's ignorance and own twisted emotions. How could you hurt something like that that only wanted to love you and be loved by you? How can you hurt something that has given you it's undying loyalty? How can you hurt something that didn't have a choice in what life it was to have?

That's what realy hits me; the animal didn't chose to be brought into an abusive home, an abusive home chose the animal. The animal can't protest, can't make its own choice. It has its fate chosen for it and too many times that leads to abuse.

And it's not just pets. Animal testing is a heartbreaking sight to me as well. Again, the animals did not give us consent to ruin and poison their bodies and minds. What gives us the right?

And that's my bit of ranting...

As far as what I did today: Browsed the World Wildlife Foundation website, the Humane Society website, knitted, went on a four mile bike ride, and ate Pocky.

That's all for today!

Until tomorrow!