A new, probably francophonic member asked in roll call what people's opinions of pets and animal experimentation are. Let's keep it civil! Here's my take: humans and domesticated pets have grown dependent upon one another. I support adopting rescued animals through shelters, and trap neuter return in feral (wild) cat colonies. I don't support breeders, especially puppy and kitten mills. I support service animals. The best ones I have known were mixed breed rescues. experimentation should be an utterly last esort. I beleive we can evolve our scientific thinking away from product research. Behavioral research will be more difficult, but going beyond animal testing should be an active goal. Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?
my opinion: i used to really want to breed my dog, ever since i got him, but in the past year or so, i've been thinking about the animals in the shelters, and i just can't bring myself to create more dogs when there are so many in shelters already. especially after i started to go to this local no kill shelter. i don't think i'll every buy a bred dog again. and in my opinion, experimentation shouldn't be a resort at all. well, maybe in psychological tests, but i wouldn't support any animal experiment/testing if it harms the animal (physically or emotionally) in any way. especially in the case of developing human medicine. to me, it's the same as testing on humans to cure a mouse disease. one is not more or less valuable than the other. if you want to perform an experiment, use willing participants. if you want to cure a human disease, test on humans. leave monkeys and rabbits out of it.
I agree with pretty much all of your opinions, Mama. I'm an animal lover, and I don't think breeders should be contributing to the overpopulation of domestic animals. It's vanity to buy a pedigree pet for hundreds or thousands of dollars when hundreds or thousands of animals are put down in shelters daily. I've owned dogs and cats all my life, most of them rescues or strays, and I've found the rescues are usually better behaved and amiable than the ones I've gotten from breeders. As far as experimentation, I think it should be done humanely. If it is necessary to test things on animals, then it should be done to cause a minimum of distress to the animal and proper care and attention. From a scientific perspective, this makes for a better control for the experiment anyway, so win/win. And Natural Philosophy...I've heard that statement, "If you want to cure a human...test on humans" before. I take it you'll be among the first to volunteer for experimentation to stand up for your powerful convictions?
but wait, vet medicines are also a result of experimentation. Shall we not have meds for our critter friends?
well let's see, if i catch a case of the cancer and this pharmaceutical company want to try an experimental new drug on me to cure it, then yea, maybe so. just maybe. but would i let them inject cancer into me and then try to cure me? nope. and they shouldn't do that to mice either.
yes, i hate it but do i have an alternative? i also hate burning fossil fuels and using plastic and a bunch of other things too. but sometimes there's no way of getting around that stuff.
