Dear Editor,
On May 12, I had the misfortune of finding a very nice and well cared for cat dead on the road on Main Street, by the movie theatre. It was unlicensed, had no tattoo or chip, had been hit by a car. I am no self-righteous Cesar-touting extremist about the care of animals, but this incident compelled me to clarify just what our role as human beings is towards the animals in our society.
In a town like Barrhead, there seems to be a mentality that either one is a pet owner, a crazy pet owner (pets as children), a non-concerned individual, or one is a farmer. Farmers are viewed commonly as a pragmatic and “cold” bunch, where pet owners are commonly viewed as overly emotional projectors who treat their animals like family members. Both farmers and pet owners often cite these differences to excuse all sorts of irresponsible and sometimes irrational behavior.
Unfortunately, farming and pet ownership are basically two very similar things. Both own or possess animals for personal gain, and are therefore animal stewards responsible for a vulnerable population. The personal gain to a pet owner is companionship or unconditional love, whereas the personal gain to a farmer is production, profit, and an enjoyment of the hard work livestock production entails.
For the most part, Farmers and pet owners step up for the animals in their charge. They recognize (sometimes at terrible hours of the morning) that animals are basically defenseless on a lot of counts (cows are just as dumb as dogs, and vice versa) and provide care, maintenance, and protection from harm. Both farmers and pet owners make mistakes, but they mean well, often only hampered by a lack of knowledge and foresight.
However, it is not just farmers and pet owners that should display some kind of moral decency towards a lesser creature. On some level, we all have morals or a code of conduct, no matter our faith or viewpoints. Being as people are the root cause of domesticity, I don’t think it’s unreasonable that we should all have a basic level of accountability for our actions towards animals.
People are terrible, and we do terrible things to one another, but animals never deserve to be wronged. They are guilty only of eating, breathing, breeding, playing and sleeping, as well as giving us love, affection, protection and something to eat. We control their fate. They live under us, they rely on us, and often they die at our hands from a lack of our protection, a lack of our responsibility, and a lack of our concern, all of which we owe to them simply because they lack reason, logic and humanness.
The cat I mentioned earlier was a very well kept male (not neutered) 3 or 4 year old short-haired tabby with yellow eyes, and about 10-11 lbs. He had a white belly with white front legs, and a long tabby tail. If you or someone you know was the owner of this lovely cat, his remains have been laid to rest at the Thunder Lake Pet cemetery. As a fellow pet owner, I’m very sorry for your loss.
Kyla Coulman,
Barrhead Alberta
