Love Animals
“Animals are my friends, and I don't eat my friends.”
George Bernard Shaw
Our Natural Empathy and Their Amazing Spirits
Most people are born loving animals. As children, we thrill over dogs and cats. The majority of children’s books are about animals. And most children would never think of harming an animal. “You put a baby in a crib with an apple and a rabbit. If it eats the rabbit and plays with the apple, I'll buy you a new car.” (Harvey Diamond)
It’s natural for humans to love animals. Animals are innocent and deserving of love. Anatole France said: “Until one has loved an animal, a part of ones soul remains unawakened.” Animals love unconditionally, don’t judge us and appreciate even the slightest care and attention.
Though most of us have grown up considering dogs and cats as pets,
to be cherished and adored, a visit to any
farm animal sanctuary will demonstrate clearly that all animals are complex social and emotional beings,with unique personalities, very similar to our dogs, cats and ourselves. (This includes fish: see www.fishinghurts.com PeTA now calls fishes, “Sea Kittens.”) Paraphrasing Albert Schweitzer, until we extend our circle of compassion to all living beings, we will not find peace.
Their Amazing Spirits
Animals are truly amazing. In various ways, animals far outstrip many human animals in every sphere, intelligence included. For example,
the African gray parrot Alex requests various foods and toys; solicits information; identifies more than a hundred objects by name, shape, material, number, color, and size; and expresses such emotions as frustration, regret, and love. Another African gray parrot N’kisi, reportedly has an English vocabulary of approximately a thousand words, which he uses correctly and creatively in both familiar and novel contexts. He also modifies verbs to form past, present and future tense. (pg 87 Speciesism by Joan Dunayer)
And intelligence is not the only area in which (non human) animals excel. In The PeTA Practical Guide to Animal Rights, Ingrid Newkirk describes how compassionate and altruistic other animals are.
[Even though] we debase their nature, deny their needs and reduce them to cheap burglar alarms, wind-up toys, hamburgers and handbags … ironically, animals are kind to us. Pigs have pulled children from ponds; canaries have flown into rooms where their gardians were sleeping, frantically warning them of fire; beavers have kept lost trekkers alive in the freezing forest by pressing their warm bodies against the hikers and dolphins have kept sailors afloat in shark-infested waters.
They are kind and self sacrificing to their own kind as well. In Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan’s book Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, a cruel experiment is described. Macaque monkeys were forced to choose between going hungry or pull a chain which would emit food and at the same time electrically shock another Macaque in a nearby cage. Eighty percent of the monkeys preferred to suffer the pangs of hunger than inflict pain on another. One even refused to eat for 14 days. It makes us wonder if that many humans would be as altruistic.
In truth, all of us are born with this natural capacity to love and be loved; to share and consider the needs of others; and to see ourselves in one other, including in non human “others.” In addition, if we, as adults, forget and lose this capacity, every major (and minor) religion of the world and all the spiritual teachings promote kindness and “ahimsa,” or non injury to all living beings as the path of happiness.
In Food for the Gods Vegetarianism and the World’s Religions, author Rynn Berry gives this historical overview, showing how the philosophies, practices and tenets of Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism foster this natural loving path. Veganism (the practice of not using animals for food, clothing, experimentation, sports or entertainment) is fundamental to this way of being and living in the world.
So let’s follow our natural, innate instincts and the path of wisdom, compassion and strength.. Let’s love animals, respect them and allow them to live unimpeded by cruelty and exploitation. And let’s encourage others to do the same.