My kids loving going to pet stores. They enjoy seeing all the different animals; petting some of them, being grossed out by some, and continually asking "What's that?" They love visiting the pet store as often as they can.
To me, though, pet stores are kind of evil.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think having a pet animal is always a bad thing. We had cats and dogs growing up on the farm and I am so glad we did. But when I go into a pet store I always have this urge to free the animals. Usually they look so sad. Saddest of all are the puppies and kittens in their tiny cages. Usually they look hopeless and tired, consigned to their fate of living in a cage for the rest of their life. The word "inhumane" comes to mind when I see these poor pets who are designed to roam free trapped in a 4 X 4 cage. No wonder people buy them, they want to rescue them. I expect that slave traders used the same compassion from buyers to sell their wares. Even rodents, which I have no affinity to, get compassion from me as I see them sold in cages and then living out their short existence in a tiny box at someones house. Poor vermin.
I suspect that pet stores could house pets more humanely, but it is not cost effective to do so. Sure, they could give a dog a large 500 square foot area to run and play in, but that would cost too much. So they keep them in little cages under fluorescent lives. The sadder the puppy looks, the easier it will sell (as long as it doesn't look sickly of course).
The same thing goes for zoos. As A Thinking Reed says about them:
"I’m against ‘em, basically. Any practical benefit they serve (education, entertainment, scientific research, species conservation) can be provided in other ways that don’t infringe the natural liberty and well-being of wild animals. I mean, I’m not fanatical about it, and there are plenty of other more pressing issues, but I think it’s a practice that’s pretty hard to justify."
Some day I dream that we will live on an acreage in the country and we can get a dog and cat. But I probably won't buy these pets from a pet store. How could I? Every time you buy one (even if you do it to rescue some poor animal), you reinforce the system. The only way to change things is to demand the stores make things humane or withhold our business. That would get their attention.
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5 months ago
4 comments:
I can't really say anything. I bought Zak at Petland. I have to say I'm actually glad I did that though. There were no cats in the paper when we were looking and the SPCA had to put down all it's cats and most of the dogs at that time due to some viruses that spread through the kennels. If I had picked a cat from there, we humanoids would have gotten sick too.
I agree that saving animals from shelters and homes that don't want them anymore is important. Ordinarily, that's what I would have done. For some reason it just ended up that we did it another way. It was the right way for us at that time.
I appreciate your honesty Michelle, thanks for commenting. Like you did, I think everyone should check into private sales/giveaways of pets and the SPCA before even considering a pet store. I've heard that in the U.S. some "big box" pet stores have been linked to so called "puppy mills." Ah, the ethics of procuring pets!
Mark, you make me laugh. How big to I have to print my name so you'll spell it correctly? How long have you known me? My name is M-I-C-H-E-L-E...for a counselor, you're not very observant! :)
Oops, sorry Michelle, I mean Michele!
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