People are now being tried for homicide if caught poaching gorillas. The companionship of an animal will reduce your blood pressure. Animal hoarding is considered a mental illness. These are just a few of the national news headlines nowadays. Are we, as humans, meant to co-exist with animals? If so, how ought we to co-exist?
There was a time when our ancestors saw animals as either, a nuisance, a resource for food or a partner in work. Clearly, these relationships still exist but these attitudes are on the decline as we begin to relate emotionally to the animals around the world. We now seem more aware of the potential ‘evil’ nature in humans. Animals are defenseless right, so who will defend them? Who are we to say if a cow has more or less rights than a chimpanzee? Categorizing and ranking the importance of an animal to distinguish its rights still seems to be the way of an old, human mentality. Today, I propose the idea of humans seeing ALL animals as equal, with equal rights.
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Liz Bradley is a dog lover who lives in Ottawa, Ontario with her husband,