Property or Companion?

The debate continues. Many towns, cities, and municipalities still consider animals “property,” like a car, or a toaster.  And for this reason, many animals are treated as non-feeling, non-thinking things.

I was raised with animals (siblings notwithstanding).  For the entirety of the time that I lived in my parent’s house, there were animals.  Dogs. Cats. Ducks. You name it, we probably had it at one time or another.  It was there that I first learned that animals’ needs came before mine, for they were mostly unable to feed themselves or care for their injuries without the aid of humans.  I carried that learning with me into adulthood.

I always make sure that my dogs are well-cared for, healthy, and as happy as I can help them to be.  I understand that not everyone holds these same ideals when it comes to animals.  If they did, there were be few or no abuse between humans and their four-legged companions.  There would not be shelters overfull of dogs that had been abandoned, horribly mistreated, or simply unwanted.  This way of thinking has also led to an overabundance of puppy- and kitty-mills around the world.  Dogs used for fight contests proliferate.

Several years ago, I applied for a job at my local no-kill humane society.  One of the questions asked during the interview process was how I felt about euthanization.  I thought the question odd considering it was allegedly a no-kill shelter.  Another question asked me whether I’d ever been involved with any animal rights groups.  This one also sent a red flag up in my mind.  Why ask such questions when the shelter was purported to be “humane” and non-injurious to animals.

The reality is, of course, there is no such thing.  Recently, this same shelter was publicly busted for euthanizing hundreds of thousands of animals that the shelter deemed “unadoptable.”  Needless to say, I did not get the position applied for at the shelter, and felt somewhat vindicated when I read about the media exposing them for killing the animals they were charged with helping.

True, some animals are bred specifically to provide a need to others.  Cows produce dairy and beef.  Sheep provide wool.  However, what is necessity and what is frivolous?

It has been continuously discovered that dogs benefit humans in numerous ways.  They can be trained to sniff out explosives, drugs, cancer and other maladies, as well as help with the psychological state of terminally ill patients, be trained to detect seizures before they happen, volunteer to work with prisoners, underprivileged youth…   The list is long.  And it seems that every day some new feat is discovered that dogs are good at.  Animal therapy helps those afflicted with depression.  They can rescue others from harm.

My dogs are true companions.  I care for them and feed them like family.  Though I recognize the differences in our species, they are no less compassionate, loving, nurturing, and entertaining.  They feel sadness, pain, and can reason out complex problems.  Perhaps not on the level of quantam physics, but hell, even I can’t do that.

So where is the line that deems a dog “property” instead of a true companion?  Show me the definition that provides that these ultimately beneficial animals do not help in the betterment of humanity?

I get so tired of and frustrated by laws that penalize dog owners for mundane things like taking dogs off-leash to play in the park or to romp in the woods.  Dogs are singled out and vilified by non-dog-lovers who would like nothing more than to destroy everyone else’s happiness, perhaps to make themselves feel better in the short term.  Dogs do not vandalize, burglarize, destroy property, spread graffiti, steal, or any other criminal acts that many humans perpetrate.  Yet they -  and their owners – are punished for attempting to enjoy themselves.

Recently, I began a group called AWOL (Animals Without Leashes) to fight this injustice.  At my court hearing at the end of the month (for which we were fined $300 for my dogs allegedly causing a disturbance when in fact it was the man who pulled the knife on them who caused the disturbance), I will stand up for the cause.  No longer will animals be treated as mere property in my presence, nor will I allow others’ to treat them as such.

Film at 11.