Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: cats: the real extreme position

[Ruddick, T.R. (RUDDICK]

Personally, I have owned and loved many cats and other types of pet.
However, I have decided that when my responsibilities to the current ones
(one 12 year old polite feline and one zebra danio) are fulfilled, I will
have no more.

Why?  It occurs to me that keeping pets is anachronistic and not entirely
ecological.

Some types of pet--my beloved aquarium fish for example--result in the
decline of natural populations of species.  I am happy to satisfy my desire
to see exotic fish by visiting public aquaria, where a wider variety of
species can be cared for by eminently qualified professionals, viewed by the
general public, and not collected in such numbers that the species faces
extinction in nature.

And what about dogs and cats, seemingly symbiotic with humans after millenia
of domestication?  I can't see the practical need for them in first-world
cultures (guide dogs and other assist animals excepted), in fact they seem
to cause many problems that could be eliminated only by ceasing to collect
them.  Why should we want to possess another living thing?

I'm not attacking anyone here, just trying to stimulate thought by sharing
my beliefs.  Just stating that I think people need to leave animals alone in
most cases.  I have been known to shout "leave the snake alone" at the TV
when Crocodile Hunter gets a little too grabby...however when they're
rescuing a croc I think they're doing good work.

I'll enjoy other peoples' pets when I can, but for myself it'll be a robopup
if anything.
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