[ SHOWGSD-L ] Recommended: "Do Americans love pets too much?"
- From: gsprock@xxxxxxx
- To: Showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2007 09:23:02 -0400
gsprock@xxxxxxx recommends this article from The Christian Science Monitor
Strange story titled Do Americans love pets too much?
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http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0531/p09s01-coop.html
Byline: Barrie Maguire
Headline: Do Americans love pets too much?
Byline: Gary Bauer
Date: 05/31/2007
Washington - Here's a sad story with a bizarre twist: Last year, a 6-year-old
girl
was accidentally strangled to death by her family pet, a golden
retriever. Such animals are usually euthanized, but in this case, the
dog was treated to an all-expenses paid trip to an animal center in
California.
There, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune, "a team of pet
advocates saw to the dog's every need: Behaviorists assessed its
personality, a doggie foster family took the animal home at night to
ease its feelings of loss, and more than 250 people applied to adopt
the dog."
Why did the parents show so much mercy for the animal that killed
their daughter? Apparently, said the center's public relations
manager, they "did not want to lose another one of their children."
It's but one (extreme) example of a disturbing trend in America: care
for pets is exceeding normal affection and treading into the realm of
exaltation. We're treating animals as humans, and in some cases
preferring pets to people. But an excess of affection per se isn't
the problem – it's the lopsided moral framework that it reveals.
In the United States, 63 percent of households include a pet (up 7
percent since 1988), and pet lovers spent $38.5 billion on their pets
in 2006 (up from $21 billion a decade earlier). Americans now spend
several billion dollars more on dog and cat food than they do on baby
food. And the pet healthcare industry is booming.
So, what's behind the increased affinity for animals?
It's partly due to the growing share of people choosing pets over
children.
Census Bureau data reveal that the proportion of childless women 15
to 44 years old reached an all-time high of 45 percent in 2004.
Moreover, he National Center of Health Statistics confirms that the
percentage of women who choose to be "child-free" has swelled 160
percent in a generation.
Both singles and couples without children are more likely to own pets
and are significantly more likely to develop strong, even parental
bonds with them. In San Francisco, pet owners – "pet guardians"
according to city ordinance – outnumber children nearly 2 to 1.
Standard reasons for choosing pets over people include the rising
costs of raising children, and careers and social standing taking
precedence over family life.
But there's another explanation: the perception that animals are
nicer and more enjoyable than, and even morally superior to, humans.
More people are forgoing children because they feel it just doesn't
seem right to bring a child into a world with so much man-made
suffering, a world where, to borrow from poet Robert Burns, man's
inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn.
It's a rather cynical view, but with recent tragic news headlines
such as the Virginia Tech massacre, perhaps it's not surprising that
more people prefer the company of animals. But our love affair with
animals may be getting out of hand.
A 2003 survey found that nearly as many Britons (33 percent) agreed
that "the English love their dogs more than their children" as vice
versa (40 percent). In America, a recently passed law criminalizing
the mistreatment of animals enjoyed bipartisan support, while
legislation giving women the opportunity to reduce the pain to their
child during an abortion failed to become law. A March Fox News poll
found 46 percent of respondents think pet poisoning is just as
serious or even more serious than poisoning a person.
But valuing pets over people discounts one fact: While animals make
great companions, offer health benefits, and can be a source of
endearing affection (as Aldous Huxley said, "To his dog, every man is
Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs."), they live in a
different moral universe than man.
Human beings are created in the image and likeness of God. And though
capable of monstrous acts, human beings also have the ability –
unique in creation – to demonstrate heroic forgiveness and
compassion. Witness Holocaust survivor and professor Liviu Librescu,
who heroically gave his life during the Virginia Tech shootings.
Witness, too, the tremendous outpouring of sympathy for the loved
ones of those killed.
Some of those most deeply affected by the shootings even extended the
hand of forgiveness to the killer. Clearly, even in the face of
brutality, man – when he appeals, as Lincoln admonished, to the
better angels of his nature – is capable of exhibiting a humanity
toward his fellow man that should make countless thousands rejoice.
• Former presidential candidate Gary Bauer is the proud father of
three children and the owner of a 9-year-old yellow Labrador,
McKenzie.
(c) Copyright 2007 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.
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