corvus
Posted : 10/20/2006 6:48:15 PM
What annoys me about this whole argument is that it's impossible to resolve it. On the one hand, my aunt's perfectly safe lab cross got shot because she meandered across a grazier's paddock one morning. She shouldn't have been there and the farmer had the right to shoot her, but he also knew the dog and could see that she was no threat to his sheep.
On the other hand, a pack of dogs killed our neighbour's 2 goats that were tethered in our front yard just a couple of nights after they were taken out of the safety of the fenced yard. I didn't see the bodies, but I saw the amount of blood and it was pretty heartbreaking thinking of how terrified those poor goats would have been, tied up and unable to get away.
We have pig dogs over here as well. On the one hand, the pig hunters are taking care of a serious pest species. Pigs are devastating to our environment. On the other hand, sometimes they're irresponsible and the dogs run off to breed with dingoes the moment they're released and 12 months later you've got dingoes running around with the head of a mastiff. A little girl not far from here got killed by pig dogs because she climbed under the fence to play with them. She knew the dogs, but had been warned never to go into the yard on her own. No, they don't make real good pets. We don't have catahoulas over here, and our cattle dogs aren't big enough to take on pigs.
When it comes down to it, it's too big an issue to make all-consuming, generalised decisions about. The way I see it, an animal doesn't deserve a whole lot more regard from us just because its brethren happen to make good companions. I happen to think cows can make wonderful companions. And horses. And yet, our wild brumbies are making such a horrendous mess of our high country that we've little choice but to hunt them down before the whole ecosystem up there collapses. I might be insane, but I believe all domesticated animals have been so altered by us because of our purpose-breeding and there have been so many enormous success stories from it all that there's little point in stopping now. And really, purpose-breeding inevitably produces unsuitable individuals and you have to do something sensible with them. Whatever you decide, it's going to be up to you as the person who's deliberately brought these animals into the world. As long as the hunters/breeders are responsible and care for their animals, I don't think any of us are in a position to tell them how they should be dealing with their failures. I think of it in the same light as I think of my wild hare. I have had people look at him, exclaim over how beautiful he is, and then say "When are you going to let him go? He doesn't belong in a cage." Well, no, he doesn't, but he's coping with the cushy lifestyle very well. I love him enough that I would let him go the moment he wasn't happy anymore, and no one has the knowledge or the right to make that decision for me. It's between me and him.
I adore dogs, but I don't like people deciding that a dog's life is worth more than a cow's life. Or a sheep's life. It's not. It's not worth more than a human life, but someone gave us the smarts to impose our will on all those animals. What are you going to do about it? Deny what you are? The best you can do is reconcile yourself with it in a way that makes you feel comfortable. For me, that's acknowledging that humans are in control of all the animals in their care and can decide on a whim whether it lives or dies. I believe that kind of responsibility can, if treated with the gravity it deserves, do a lot to help build a person's character and help them understand what nature is all about.
Incidentally, I have seen cattle killed at a slaughterhouse. Here, they put a bolt in the top of their heads. They don't even know what hit them it's that instant.