Animals Not Pets

Almost everyone in today's American society agrees that having pets in their household is a great thing.  They can be cute and cuddly and a ton of fun. Many parents would even say that having a pet will teach their children responsibility.  However I believe that having a pet is actually the opposite of a good thing.  This may seem strange to most people, but has anyone ever just sat down and wondered how the pets feel about this whole situation?

My main concern for these animals is that they do not want to live in captivity.  Animals are meant to run around in nature and be free.  They are not meant to be cooped up in shelters and pet stores waiting for some less than perfect family to come in and decided they want to take one home.  Sure some animals do have nice rich homes where they get the best care and have owners that love them.  Take Mike Tyson and his pigeons for example.  On the other hand most pets wound up stuck in a cage all day or chained up in the back yard because most American families are not home during the day.  The parents go to work and the children go to school.  So the poor animals are just left alone.  It is in their nature as animals to want to go out and explore and sniff things, not to lay on a couch and nap all day.  Thats is why I find this is such a tragic issue in today's American society.

Many people may disagree with this by saying that some more domesticated animals couldn't survive in the wild where they belong, like dogs and cats for example.  This is only because they have become so accustomed to being domesticated.  People have had cats and dogs as pets for hundreds of years.  It is no wonder why these animals have adapted and gotten used to our existence.  They are used to living in homes and interacting with humans and other pets   Other animals however, like bunnies and birds, survive in the wild all the time.  Back home I had a family of bunnies that would live in the woods in my backyard.  I always used to watch them run around and play with each other in my yard, then eventually they would scurry off back into the woods to their littler rabbit home.  This is how all animals should live.  Seeing bunnies that spend most of their time in cages makes me sick.  We shouldn't tear helpless animals away from their families just so spoiled kids can say they have a “pet”.  However all too often that is what ends up happening.  A mother has a few kittens or puppies and shortly after they are born they are separated.  Maybe some are given to friends of the owner, or they go to a pet store to be kept in cages until they are sold.  The owner might even decide to keep some of them.  The point is that these poor animal families are being ripped apart before the animals even have a chance to create bonds with one another.  

Another strong reason I have against pets is their cost.  Owning a pet, depending on the animal of course can be a very expensive endeavor.  Lets take dogs for example. Firsts off dogs can be pretty expensive on their own, then take into account all the food you need to buy for it and all the vaccinations it will need and things like that, these costs add up and over the years can significantly affect families.  One could argue that this money could be better used on a child's education or something along those lines.

My last reason that I believe animals should not be pets is that animals that are kept as pets will never reach their full animalistic potential, whereas an animal living in  the wild would.  For example my dog at home has not reached his full potential as a canine.  A dog living in the wild would be able to hunt and get food for itself.  This means chasing and killing another small animal.  At this point I would be very surprised if my dog ever chased, killed and ate another animal. Its hard enough to get him off my couch.  In a way its almost like animals have devolved from wild animals into lazy domesticated “pets”.