My Views on Pets, on Animals and their Right to Survival...

Let me, at the very onset, make it very very clear that I am not against people who maintain pets.l, or those who are pro-pets. This also is not directed against a few people I've observed in my life or a group or society of people in Life. This blog, like the blog of every other blogger on the internet, like the entry in a diary of every diary writer, is supposed to be the expression of my personal views on the matter, except that I felt that I must share my views on this matter with you, my friends, because I feel that my thoughts carry some sort of meaning, which you might agree with - at least I believe so.

In any case, let me plough on ahead. Those who are willing to read, I urge you to read it completely and not leave it half the way through, for in that way, you would've have only half understood my thoughts on the matter. Its like reading the Jihadi proses alone from the Quran and becoming a Terrorist, rather than reading the complete Quran which says what every Dharma out there says - Fight for your Right to Survive and live an honourable life, ultimately in the service of others.

So, my views on pets... Whenever I think of Pets, I - ALWAYS - have images, speech, sounds, memories of the below, among many more, instantaneously flash through my mind:

- Movie: Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Scene: When a Dog is barking on Caesar and Caesar not only shouts back in anger, making the dog cower but later, asks his "Master" - Will - if he is a Pet like the Dog out there

- Movie: Robin William's Bicentennial Man
Synopsis 1: Half the Family call the Housekeeping Robot Andrew "it" while the other half refer to him lovingly as "Him". The owner of the family who is soft towards Andrew, not only notice's Andrew's slowly changing behaviour but also encourages him to be more independent in the activities he does, allowing him to make clocks, read books among others, which leads to Andrew, one day, professing that after reading about the American war of Independence, he too wants to know what Independence is, wants to know what it is, to be free, on knowing which the Master almost has a breakdown as he finally remembers that the Robot Andrew is his "Property" and that he liked Andrew becoming more sophisticated but never entertained the thought that Andrew himself might have thoughts and feelings of his own and that one day, he might want to be free

- Movie: Udta Punjab
Scene: The way Alia Bhat is treated by one of her prisoners, who grows to love her, but how, at the same time, he offers her to the other customers who come in, how he grows to love her, like a thing, how he's partial towards her, how he tries to reason with her, to be good to the masters so that they in turn will be good to her - a lie disguised as a truth...

- History Lessons, videos, documentaries about how slaves were sold in open markets in the olden days where Human Rights was a dream of a dream and how people used to bargain and pay huge sums of amount for slaves with really excellent qualities, about how young virgin maiden were sold for exorbitant amounts and how men slaves were sold for the pithiest of amounts, all varying from requirement and the fancy of those whose pockets were jingling with money and didn't know what to do with it

- Movie: Shawshank Redemption:
Scene: Red (Morgan Freeman) accepting that he has become "Institutionalized" and that the survival outside the jail, after spending 40 of his 60+ years in it, was now unthinkable.

- Movie: Planet of the Apes (2001) starring Mark Wahlberg
Scene: The scene in the Apes Kingdom's market where Humans are taken as pets by the Apes with a dog tag around their neck and the humans kept on a leash

- Game of  Thrones
Character Reek.... I dont think I need to explain. If you don't know what I am talking about, then GoT will be an eye opening experience for you.

Yeah, I know, this casts a very negative light on my way of thinking perhaps, but let me explain my thought process here. First, all the above examples involved human beings or beings with near human intelligence if not more. Animals, thanks to the evolutionary process, have considerably either lesser intelligence, or do not have the means to increase theirs like we humans can. The rationale behind my thinking and the reason I quoted the above from a terrain of thoughts in my head is that Independence of any Living Being is its fundamental right of existence and we humans, do not have the right to deny that right to any other living being, even if its a plant. The above are just a precursor of the thoughts that run through my mind, whenever I see a dog on a leash or an animal in a zoo, or in a circus put on display - if not worse - for the amusement of us Human beings. That it has come down to us, Humans, to take it up, as a "Responsibility", the protection of Animals, of Endangered species, shows the amount of danger, inhumanity, cruelty that we had subjected animals to, over the last hundreds of years and this action is nothing more than an atonement that is a blink of an eye, in the life of the planet and the flow of life, in general. In times like this, it is the sloka from the Bhagawadgita that I find to be extremely apt and fitting:

Jaatasya hidruvomrutyuhu, Dhruvanjanmamrutasyacha,
Tasmaadaparihaaryerdhe, Natvam sochi tumarhasi.

Meaning: What is born, has to die, only to be reborn again, form - irrespective. Such a basic Truth, is taken for granted in the face of worldly attachments - wake up oh reader! Such a Universal Axiom is to be realised and applied, not repented over.

This doesn't mean that you turn a blind eye to the happenings of this world - far from it. What I mean is that I cannot bear to see an animal, a living being, living life the way that its owner says is right, rather than living the way they know as the only way to live. I abhor the habits of dogs, but that is in it's nature, that is how they operate, that is how their genetic programming is. If we were to alter their genetic programming to make them more like humans, then they wouldn't be called Dogs anymore. Instead, what I chose to accept, is this - (1) that is how Dogs are; (2) but I don't like their habits; so lets keep to own areas of comfort and joy and learn to coexist without stepping into each other's territories.

This, of course, is my own thinking and I've also seen, first hand, how dogs crave for love from their owners and how eagerly they respond. And it isn't just dogs, I've also had the unique experience of experiencing love from even Cats mind you, also helped save a kitten - bless my wife - and have seen it express its love. I have also seen how people can sometimes, become blind in the face of their pets - so blind, that they, in-fact, become completely incapable of rational thought... I've also seen how people sometimes love their pets so dearly, like family members but at the same time, consume mutton and chicken with gusto, having a happy layer in their mind which separates pets from eatables. I've also had the unique experience of staying with a room mate who used to tell me stories of having a pet Rooster and how this rooster used to eat roasted chicken. For one minute, when I saw the movie Cloud Atlas, where, in the future, because of Lack of Food, because of over population and shortage of resources - when humans are converted into food and fed to humans in turn - and when the Girl who finds this out, later becomes a Messiah who leads the masses to revolution only to be later sentenced to death and become food herself, I remembered this exact story. What if there was a situation in the future where Animals Kept "us", Humans as pets, or ate our liver and kidney and brain as delicacies? Would we be shivering in cages, or bowls drenched in our own excreta and even worse - misery & contagious fear, waiting for the imminent, slow death to come from the blade, wielded by a hand of a being that considers what they are doing as nothing more than the duty to feed the daily masses and in turn, make money to feed their family? Does that sound rational?

In any case, when I mean to say is that, IF - ONLY IF these animals had brains and thinking capacity like we Humans do, then they would've revolted a long time back against the atrocities that we humans did to them and would've demanded a share of this Earth, Water & Air, for their Fundamental Right of existence... but its because they are below us in the Food Chain, of the  Order of things, that either they chose to live away from Humans and attack as a basic survival instinct or beg for love and food like we know the pets to be.

It isn't just animals but any living being responds to love and affection which are universal in nature and don't need language to be expressed. Animals are just more gullible in that way and respond back with gusto when we show them love. Actually, in an ideal world when a human were to approach an animal, it should theoretically observe what the human would do, and then respond accordingly. But thousands of years of evolution and information passed through the genes tell the animals to NEVER trust the humans by default which is why you will find 90% of the animals to flee on sight, to fear the humans as a basic instinct, their natural instinct. The animals that did respond, have, over time, been "Domesticated" to some extent, which is why we find a lot of dogs as household pets. Cats might have been "domesticated" - perhaps - but I am not sure, as they themselves seem unsure of whether they want to be around humans or not. They seem afraid of humans and treat humans with a lot of distance between them, but can NOT seem to get away from human settlements like the other animals do. I mean, you don't find Deers and Leopards, Tigers being pets of humans - they seem to have totally resisted the human dominance and seem to have preserved & sustained their nature in the process, unlike Cats, which have half lost their nature and Dogs which are totally lost their nature and have become servile to humans. Cats at least have retained their independence but Dogs, wild or pets - to be honest it pains me to see what was really inflicted on them. To wag their tails without their control, begging for food, begging for love, living by the grace of the surrounding humans and being put down as rabid dogs whenever they display their true self. I am amazed, shocked and would almost puke on the spot when I think of the amount of "Domestication", the amount of "Training" that they would've been subjected to, in order to behave like they are behaving now. When I think of this, I ALWAYS, ALWAYS think of the character Theon Greyjoy from Game of Thrones, who is subjugated to monstrous torture, has his genirals chopped off and is tortured until he accepts deep in his heart and most important - his mind, that he is "Reek", a filthy pet of his Sadistic master, who, later on "behaves" like Theon Greyjoy, upon the "orders" of his master. That Dogs are paraded in beauty competitions, are "breeded" according to the demands of the society, have their balls chopped off whenever they get too excited or because they have become a menace to society... I pity those beings that beg for love, for attention and live at the mercy of their owners.

For that matter, any "Domesticated" animal would've been subjected to the same torture. A Cow is an animal, which will never harm another being, unless in self defense. I mean, practically any living being does that, but even among Herbivores, there are beings that display their aggressiveness. An Ox is to be treated with care and the same goes with a Boar. A Deer on the other hand doesn't harm any being by default and you might give me a few more examples like a Rabbit or any others out there, but a Cow - in addition to not harming any creature - also helps humans in any possible way - directly or indirectly. The milk of the cow is nourishment for others. Heck, even the cow dung is helpful to nature and to humans. This is not the case for the almost-entire-animal-population out there, whose excreta is generally avoided by all possible means. This is the prime reason why Cows are worshiped by Hindus - become they are considered the purest beings, devoid of any ill feelings and always helpful to the nature and society, in any possible way - directly or indirectly. That we even subject Cows to numerous ways of torture speaks volumes about us human beings.

True, I might have digressed from my views on pets to views on animals in general, but pets ARE animals and you cannot talk about one without talking about the other. I have seen people say that they love animals but would also have pets. I mean, do such people love animals so that they can have them as pets? Or do they confuse "keeping animals as pets" with "loving animals" and presenting them with what they perceive as "Freedom"? It true because people are indeed that shortsighted and in spite of God giving us the Brain to surpass the Heavens and their Stars, we would want to utilize less than 10% of it and instead behave no better than the animals we came from.

The reason why I say the above is because those who really love animals would rather want to set them free. They would never even bear to see an animal "Domesticated" and "Dedicated" to a household, when being an animal means being one with nature, participating in the cycle of nature, rather than being dictated by humans on when to eat, where to pee and what to do. The day I see an animal beg a Human for a food is indeed a very sad day and the fact that I've been watching this ever since I gained consciousness makes me speechless and silent and I don't really know what to say. A True animal lover would also be a true lover of life in general and would treat every living thing with respect - mobile or immobile (plants). They wouldn't be selective in their love for living beings i.e., you wouldn't say things like you love Dogs but hate cats and profess yourself as an animal lover; you cannot be a person who loves animals but hates humans; I mean, the heart that is kind will react instinctively, be it a hurt kid or a hurt kitten. You wouldn't differentiate between living beings depending upon which breed they belong to or otherwise. Such people aren't animal lovers; such people are partial towards cats or dogs or whatever it is that they profess to "love" and "want as pets". Such people aren't animal lovers. They are just partial to animals but primarily want them as pets.

You might ask, after going through all that I have said, "So what should we do now? Should we watch as others have pets themselves? Should we return our pets back to where we got them from?" and a few other questions which might be very valid. True. We are the middle of an age, of a time, where it has become a habit, an accepted thought process that we can/should have domesticated pets. I've seen Instagram videos of people who brought, fed and have kept two foxes as pets because they were injured and would've died if it weren't for their timely intervention. My wife has also shown me countless videos of dogs which would've died if it weren't for those animal rescue societies that treat them and give them new life. There are instances - many of them in fact - where animals have genuinely been rescued by humans and have been presented with renewed lives. There are also plenty of instances that are the complete opposite, where we subject animals to a lot of torture, either for the purpose of business, by utilizing animals in such a way as to produce materials required for human consumption - irrespective of what is being done to them - or by "domesticating" them and making them servile, dependent upon humans for food and love and others and, like I said, we are the middle of such an age. We can do our share for animals if we truly love them and realise that how much ever we do, it will never be enough... or we can, without ever reading all this essay that I've written, happily perform our part either in utilizing animals for daily consumption, or for getting pets for our own need of satisfaction, to fill, what we believe to be our hole in the heart, with the love of a "Domesticated" creature that is subjected to centuries of torture and nature-bending that what we have in front of us is not the animal that we think we see, but something entirely different. My Wife's family has a Persian Cat, which, whenever I look at, reminds be the lengths humans have gone to domesticate a creature which resonates independence and make it stuck to the household, for life. I mean, it pee's in the bathroom, a cat... A creature stuck in between four walls for life... I pity such a life.

Am not saying anything about my wife's family, but about the original breeders & trainers of the cat. That persian cat has one incompletely grown leg and it also would've died of stones in its urinary section if it weren't for my wife's family's dedication to make him live at any cost - a meagre 5 hour drive to Ludhiana to get the treatment/operation done. The cat too isn't like normal cats. It sits in its place, eats its food, goes to 1 & 2 in the "bathroom" instead of defecating in the open which is a welcome relief, and never ever gets in the way unless it wants something in which case its meows which we will have to interpret as what it wants. The only problem is its hair which needs maintenance and would make households with children susceptible to parasitic infections, especially newborns - which is fine as there are no children in my house yet. My wife's family know their cat and I don't but we both respect our own boundaries. The cat prefers its privacy, me mine and we both respect each other in that way. What I mean is, if it weren't domesticated by the breeders who created it and were left in the wild, it would've - from birth - learnt to live with its defect like it was nothing, learnt to get its own food over time and feed itself, live its own life the way it wanted to, instead of having his balls chopped off and eating stale cat food out of its box, that too, only after it is patted on its head and being told that its a "Good boy"... An when it comes to having other cats out there, they would've sprayed its urine all over the house in the name or marking and would generally treat the house like an open defecation center which would've been a nuisance and while I respect its right-to-do-so because it is an animal and we can NOT expect decency out of it, it in no way, respects my right to have a house clean from germs & infections and leave my wife with some peace of mind, who would've spent her whole day scrubbing the house clean, which even if she is fine with it, makes me want to avoid her pushing and punishing herself unnecessarily. Like I said, Love sometimes makes one blind to the issues at hand and this is such an example.

One might argue that if we were to leave all these domestic animals in the wild, that they would perish in an instant because they are never used to living in the wild. The counter to this argument lies in the argument itself; we humans, have denied these animals to ever test their own abilities for survival, by tying them to our households and making them dependent upon us, for survival. True, some of them might perish if they would've been left in the wild from birth, either on the account of competition, or disease, or predators or any of the other situations they might encounter in nature, but those that survive, are True Survivors, shaped by the events of Nature, exactly as Nature intended; the very goal of Nature is "Survival of the Fittest". We Humans think that we are above it, but our daily struggle to exist, to get promotions, to upgrade ourselves constantly, point to a "Soft" Survival of the Fittest, that is an evolved form of what nature is, ever was and ever will be. I don't guess Nature has gone anywhere. Just as the Humans evolved from the caves and nature to the Society that we see today, Nature and her Laws too have evolved from the Jungle of the Old to the Offices and Boardroom meetings that we see today, where constant comparisons, targets and appraisals decide our survival. We feel that things have changed, but nothing have.

So, yes, coming back to those of you, who might genuinely ask me, "What do we do with our tendency to adopt pets, or with pets in general?", I say only one thing. Before you take an animal as a pet, know this one thing. You might take very good care of it, you might train it in the best possible ways, you might provide it with shelter and nourishment, with protection and above all else, might also love it as much as the pet needs and deserves. Or you can be the complete opposite of whatever said previously. If we assume the good things alone for a moment, please do realise that you have made, a living being, totally dependent upon you and have denied it, the chance to carve out its own life for itself, by itself by living in a fancy thought which you might think as "Love for a Pet". A man might never have become a CEO unless he never fell from his cycle when he was a kid which shaped his mind and his spirit to get back up and ride it in spite of injury and failure. A tiger cub will never know how to hunt and depend upon itself as long as you keep providing it food. The moment it were robbed of freedom to flex its abilities and find out what would happen on the account of doing it, the moment the animal, in its mind, accepts the dependency upon its masters that is created by us Humans and knows for sure, that it cannot live without our help, that my friends... is True "Institutionalization", true "Domestication".

No living being will have to beg, for its existence. Just keep that in mind, the next time you go to a pet shop, to encourage the process of domestication of animals that are not meant to be domesticated. You can love animals even without keeping them as pets, by respecting their need and right for survival by their own strengths and accomplishments, not by how good they can bribe you with tail waggings or meows or looks for food or love. Remember, change begins with you and unless we all renounce this process of domestication, one by one, this whole industry will never leave animals in peace.

Its all on you.