draggonlaady: (Default)
draggonlaady ([personal profile] draggonlaady) wrote2011-04-28 12:56 pm

Your daily dose of ridiculous

The editors of Journal of Animal Ethics would like you to know that “despite its prevalence, ‘pets’ is surely a derogatory term both of the animals concerned and their human carers.”

The highlight of the article, as far as I'm concerned: “We invite authors to use the words ‘free-living’, ‘free-ranging’ or ‘free-roaming’ rather than ‘wild animals’. For most, ‘wildness’ is synonymous with uncivilised, unrestrained, barbarous existence. There is an obvious prejudgment here that should be avoided.”

Prejudgment? I suppose so, but it's an accurate judgment. Anybody who thinks that wild animals (yeah, I said it!) are civilized, restrained, courteous, and kind (or whatever the opposite of barbarous is) has obviously never seen a wild animal. How much kindness does the squirrel expect from the owl? How restrained do you think a moose typically is? For frack's sake, why don't these people go do something useful, like volunteer at a wildlife rescue and SEE some of the damn things, and maybe help them in a real, tangible way instead of hiding out in an ivory tower telling us to re-arrange our vocabulary?

[identity profile] fr33f0x.livejournal.com 2011-05-11 03:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Would you patch up a wounded coyote you found on your own? One without insurance or an owner. You know... a free one?

[identity profile] draggonlaady.livejournal.com 2011-05-11 03:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Absolutely. And any coyote brought in by someone else would promptly become "property" of my non-profit, and any bill on it would be mine unless the finder made a donation. It's illegal to keep wild caught native animals here, so I would not be giving it back even if someone brought it in. I'd patch it up and turn it loose as close as possible to where it came from.

ALL the wildlife I work on is "free"... All bills are paid by donation, most of the donations are made by me. The state pays me back for none of it.