I find this an interesting subject to think about. Jon Katz has been writing about it beautifully on his Bedlam Farm blog. As we emotionalize animals to be our babies, we may be robbing them of their most natural needs to be animal-like. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “There’s a larger conflict in the country that has become an animal civil war, between people who have pets and people who have animals,” said Katz, who adds that he and his wife have both on their farm in upstate New York. Those urging a ban of carriage horses, Katz said, “view horses as pets. People who have horses find that ridiculous.” Katz believes the current trend of emotionalizing animals probably had its roots in the 1960s as families began to dissolve and separate, with people spending more time indoors and alone, watching television. Add to that the increased stress of modern society and the isolation brought about by personal computers, and people began to turn to their pets as alternatives to human companionship, Katz said. “They’ve become emotional surrogates, people see them as childlike members of the family,” Katz said.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Apr 2014 13:05:04 +0000
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