Anyone who has owned a dog knows that animals can have distinct personalities. My first dog, Ama, was stubborn and competitive. Whenever I threw her a tennis ball, she would always fight to be the first to get it. Then when she brought it back, she would always stay ten feet away from me, no matter how much I chased her or called her. My second dog, Hola, is the opposite; she lives for affection, and will do everything she is told. My dogs were distinctly different, and possessed “human” traits. There is no doubt in my mind that my dogs loved our family.
DOGS DISPLAY LOVE AND COMPASSION--DO ALL ANIMALS?
My first instinct was to say that dog “love” isn’t as deep human love. Their emotions are much simpler and functional; "...[The dog] doesn't even think about what [he] will be doing next summer, or even next week" (X 743). Dogs love because it’s in their instincts; unless dogs work in packs, they will not be able to hunt. This instinctive love, since it is so chemically driven, is not as poetic as the kind that humans share. But then I realized, like Dana pointed out, that humans probably love for the same reason. Cooperation is an excellent adaptation, and enables a species to thrive. Granted, dogs will never be able to comprehend love as humans do, but this does not mean that it isn’t derived from the same origin. So, if love is an adaptation, then wouldn’t it be possible for all animals to love?
My first instinct was to say that dog “love” isn’t as deep human love. Their emotions are much simpler and functional; "...[The dog] doesn't even think about what [he] will be doing next summer, or even next week" (X 743). Dogs love because it’s in their instincts; unless dogs work in packs, they will not be able to hunt. This instinctive love, since it is so chemically driven, is not as poetic as the kind that humans share. But then I realized, like Dana pointed out, that humans probably love for the same reason. Cooperation is an excellent adaptation, and enables a species to thrive. Granted, dogs will never be able to comprehend love as humans do, but this does not mean that it isn’t derived from the same origin. So, if love is an adaptation, then wouldn’t it be possible for all animals to love?
CHICKEN LOVE IS A LITTLE HARDER TO RECOGNIZE
For the sake of this argument, I’ll assume that they can. Now, as an omnivore, I am left in a moral dilemma: how can I support the slaughter of creatures that have the capacity to love? Is the taste of meat really worth killing animals? Today as I ate my chicken strips I imagined crazed beakless birds hitting each other with their heads. It was a bit harder to get down.
The way we raise animals for consumption today is cruel. The process is driven by economics and the “quick buck.” The cheapest way to kill an animal is certainly not the most humane, but we rarely encounter businesses that are willing to spend extra money. Why? Because they will lose money, and it doesn’t affect the consumers decision to buy. The crime is not consumption of the animals, it is the way we raise them. It has even been compared to the Holocaust by Coetzee--"Each day [there is] a fresh Holocaust" (Coetzee 80)
A DAIRY COW'S EXISTANCE IS A SAD ONE, AND WE ARE TO BLAME.It may seem cruel to want to eat animals that display human qualities, but it is a part of nature. Protein has been proven to contain amino acids that are critical to our body’s nutritional demands. Even though it is possible to attain the nutrients from other sources, this is merely a dietary choice.
It is impossible to tell the extent that animals love one another. Some obviously don’t—fish, ants, and birds—and others seem to only love when it’s convenient (starvation might change things). However, it is unnecessary for humans to devoid themselves of a natural instinct because they fear they are killing creatures that have complex human emotions.
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