You've said something terribly important about PETA, and any legitimate effort to confront mistreatment of animals: "We are fooled into...cuddling with furry baby beings." I'm not an expert on PETA, but I know some people who are very strong advocates for the "equal" rights of non-human animals. They won't eat meat or anything that comes from an animal, and they won't wear leather. But they do keep pets. They seem to think that because it pleases them to domesticate non-human animals, and because they treat their "pets" well, that it's somehow OK to do this to animals. I myself can't see why it is. Those same people would protest stridently if someone talked about raising cows in cow luxury, in wide open pastures, with other cows as company, and slaughtering them in the most humane and painless way imaginable. But they will "train" a dog and condition it to live as the people would live, very often not in the primary company of other dogs. Or they similarly "keep" cats.
Keep up the great work of challenging people who mistreat animals in any way. And make sure you add, conspicuously, that there is something very wrong, sadistic, with respect to these animals, with domesticating them.
Fred Jonas
And they replied:
Thank you for your inquiry. In a perfect world, all animals would be free from human interference and free to live their lives the way nature intended. They would be part of the ecological scheme, as they were before humans domesticated them. But the world we live in is far from perfect, and domestic cats and dogs are not capable of surviving on their own, so we have a responsibility to take the best possible care of these animals.
PETA is absolutely opposed to breeding. In U.S. shelters alone, up to 4 million dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens are euthanized each year, simply because there aren’t enough homes for them. Given the astounding number of healthy and loving but unwanted animals, we believe that breeding more animals merely to satisfy the desire for a particular behavioral or physical trait is absurd. We do, however, encourage those who have the desire, time, and patience to take good care of an animal to rescue homeless strays or adopt animals from a shelter. In fact, most PETA staff members live with animals who have been rescued from abuse or abandonment.
Thank you again for your inquiry and for your concern for animals.
Sincerely,
The PETA Staff
So I replied:
PETA is sometimes accused of uncivilized militancy in its advocacy of the rights of non-human animals. I myself have occasionally felt on the fence as to whether I agree that PETA is overboard. The alternative is that PETA is just single-mindedly zealous, in a way that deserves respect. The one thing that would allow you to deserve that respect would be consistency. Once you make statements like the one you just made-- that the animals many people like to domesticate would not be capable of living on their own anyway-- you surrender consistency. I don't know where you live, but in the places I have lived, various places, there have been problems connected with "wild" cats and dogs. They breed to their hearts' content, they prey on what they want, and sometimes, they attack people's "pets." They are more than capable of living feral lives, and it is the people, not the dogs and cats, who are complaining. Nobody thinks they're "cute," except the ladies (it's usually ladies) who like to leave food for them. But looking cute or being cute is not of importance to the non-human animals. They're more than satisfied living their feral lives. They don't need people to pet them or cuddle them. It's the people who seem to want that. The non-human animals have each other, and that's all they want. Isn't that sad for the people who wish the animals loved them? These are often people who, by the way, will sometimes say (admit) that they get along with animals better than they do with people. That's the people's problem, not the animals' problem.
I happen to be a psychiatrist. One of my old friends quotes a professor of his on the matter of mental health treaters having sex with their patients: "get your lovin' some place else." So it goes with people who want pets to love them. Get yourself a person, and figure out how to love and be loved by them. Don't domesticate animals and convince yourself that the animal loves you or needs you, by depriving them of what they really want and offering yourself instead.
I'll tell you a great story I hear from time to time, most recently a week ago. This was in response to why one of my neighbors did not want to bring her dog to our "Walk a Hound, Lose a Pound" neighborhood event, and why she doesn't bring her dog to dog parks, either: "My dog doesn't like other dogs." Yup, and it's not the first time I've heard some completely twisted up person make a statement like that. She should ask Cesar Millan, "the dog whisperer," if her dog doesn't like other dogs. He'd tell her that dogs are "pack animals," and there's nothing they like better than other dogs. People should stop kidding themselves, and PETA should stop kidding itself, that dogs and cats need or want people, or to be domesticated by them, for their survival or happiness. It's a fantasy of people.
To be perfectly honest with you, I'm disappointed. I read, and quoted to you, your statement, and I thought you actually understood and believed what you clearly said. You were right to have said it. You're wrong to qualify it now.
And they replied:
Thank you for your inquiry. In a perfect world, all animals would be free from human interference and free to live their lives the way nature intended. They would be part of the ecological scheme, as they were before humans domesticated them. But the world we live in is far from perfect, and domestic cats and dogs are not capable of surviving on their own, so we have a responsibility to take the best possible care of these animals.
PETA is absolutely opposed to breeding. In U.S. shelters alone, up to 4 million dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens are euthanized each year, simply because there aren’t enough homes for them. Given the astounding number of healthy and loving but unwanted animals, we believe that breeding more animals merely to satisfy the desire for a particular behavioral or physical trait is absurd. We do, however, encourage those who have the desire, time, and patience to take good care of an animal to rescue homeless strays or adopt animals from a shelter. In fact, most PETA staff members live with animals who have been rescued from abuse or abandonment.
Thank you again for your inquiry and for your concern for animals.
Sincerely,
The PETA Staff
So I replied:
Dear PETA Staff,
PETA is sometimes accused of uncivilized militancy in its advocacy of the rights of non-human animals. I myself have occasionally felt on the fence as to whether I agree that PETA is overboard. The alternative is that PETA is just single-mindedly zealous, in a way that deserves respect. The one thing that would allow you to deserve that respect would be consistency. Once you make statements like the one you just made-- that the animals many people like to domesticate would not be capable of living on their own anyway-- you surrender consistency. I don't know where you live, but in the places I have lived, various places, there have been problems connected with "wild" cats and dogs. They breed to their hearts' content, they prey on what they want, and sometimes, they attack people's "pets." They are more than capable of living feral lives, and it is the people, not the dogs and cats, who are complaining. Nobody thinks they're "cute," except the ladies (it's usually ladies) who like to leave food for them. But looking cute or being cute is not of importance to the non-human animals. They're more than satisfied living their feral lives. They don't need people to pet them or cuddle them. It's the people who seem to want that. The non-human animals have each other, and that's all they want. Isn't that sad for the people who wish the animals loved them? These are often people who, by the way, will sometimes say (admit) that they get along with animals better than they do with people. That's the people's problem, not the animals' problem.
I happen to be a psychiatrist. One of my old friends quotes a professor of his on the matter of mental health treaters having sex with their patients: "get your lovin' some place else." So it goes with people who want pets to love them. Get yourself a person, and figure out how to love and be loved by them. Don't domesticate animals and convince yourself that the animal loves you or needs you, by depriving them of what they really want and offering yourself instead.
I'll tell you a great story I hear from time to time, most recently a week ago. This was in response to why one of my neighbors did not want to bring her dog to our "Walk a Hound, Lose a Pound" neighborhood event, and why she doesn't bring her dog to dog parks, either: "My dog doesn't like other dogs." Yup, and it's not the first time I've heard some completely twisted up person make a statement like that. She should ask Cesar Millan, "the dog whisperer," if her dog doesn't like other dogs. He'd tell her that dogs are "pack animals," and there's nothing they like better than other dogs. People should stop kidding themselves, and PETA should stop kidding itself, that dogs and cats need or want people, or to be domesticated by them, for their survival or happiness. It's a fantasy of people.
To be perfectly honest with you, I'm disappointed. I read, and quoted to you, your statement, and I thought you actually understood and believed what you clearly said. You were right to have said it. You're wrong to qualify it now.
Fred Jonas
I haven't heard back.
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