Is It Ethical to Keep Pets and Other Animals?

[HarleyK]

Is it ethical to keep pets and other animals? It depends on where you keep them

Animals don’t just need enough space to live – they need the right kind of space, too. An animal welfare lawyer defends our pets’ ‘right of place.’

theconversation.com

 

[The Masked Shadow]

I think animals like dogs and cats are good. Things like Great Pyrenees can be controlled by a few walks or daily dog park visit. More exotic pets, like Capybara’s or Monkeys should not be kept by private zoos, only public zoos. I believe so because I think public zoo’s usually want to teach people about animals (and make money), but it is cool to see exotic animals like that. Things like Zebra’s at zoos tho....

My family has 2 cats, a dog, 2 tortoises, Madagascar Hissing cockroach colony (new addition a few days ago), a Bearded Dragon, and a colony of normal roaches to feed lizard.

The cats we let roam around the neighborhood until dusk, because we have a major Coyote problem in our area.

Our dog, Rocket, which is (DNA test revealed) an Australian Cattle Dog, Irish Setter, Treenwalker Coonhound, and Border Collie mix. He is just plain white with spited ears; I don’t know how he is all that. Especially because he was a rescue. But, we take him on visits to a local dog park every day. On the weekends, twice a day. Completely fine. No problems.

We have a Bearded Dragon. Bearded Dragons just wanna spend their life eating and basking in the hot Australian Sun. My family lives in San Diego, 15 minutes from the beach, so it is hot enough where we need to mist him. He has a 65 gallon inside, where he stays at night, and a 500+ gallon chicken wire DIY Cage that was converted from a sandbox out back. He is quite boring. All he does is lay around, waiting to be fed, and basking in the sun. We mist him down several times a day. I don’t believe he needs anything else.

We also have 2 baby Desert Tortoises. We house them in a chicken wire covered cage, the frame being wood so that we can easily pick it up and move it to a different spot. The thing is easily 10 feet by 10 feet. It’s about a foot tall. We usually let them have free reign around the yard, but being 2-3 years old, we always need to be aware. We check on them every hour or so. We feed them greens, and they always find something to chow on while they are moving around. Our fence is totally tortoise friendly, and there is no way a tortoise can get out. When it is night time, we house them in a DIY wood box (maybe 5x3 feet). I don’t think they need anything else.

We added a new addition to our house; a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach colony. We have about 14 in a 20 gallon long. They are super cool, and distinguishable. There is one that is the biggest I take out and hold. I created a natural habitat for them, along with loads and loads of paper towel cartridge tube thingys. This is the thing that I would be considerate on the border of not a good idea. I think we are getting a 125 tall for them. Then they will breed and have some room.

Lastly, the Dubio Roaches, which I don’t think of as a pet, more like a food. I created a natural habitat for them with leaves, and toilet paper cartridge things, because they find that in the wild ?. They have everything they need, and could want.

Now, back to the article ?

I agree with some parts, like hens should be housed in a slightly humane way (though they still pump them with steroids ?). I think monkeys, toucans, yaks, and other exotic animals should not be kept as pets because they need space. But if it is a certain space, with certain requirements, then I think that would be fine. But nobody will go through every animal species saying “oh, this species needs at least one dead palm tree, a 1/4 of an acre plot, and it needs to have at least 30 plants”. I am not really sure what to say, or why you posted this, but this is the longest post of mine, and it was damn fun to write lol.

 

[Dalfrey86]

I’m here with the popcorn and snacks.

 

[Deadeye]

Simply put, if you have the means to keep something and you care for it properly, there should be no reason (except law, I suppose) to keep you from being allowed to keep it. Good pet owners, if they do it right, deserve to be able to keep pets. Some things that are just too big, dangerous, etc. should be left to zoos with the true means of keeping them though.
Obviously if an animals needs aren’t met, there is a problems, even farm and food animals deserve adequate conditions.
Curious to see what kind of debate this starts though...

 

[PYRU]

Why not I'm already pink.

Imo a lot of people confuse ethics with anthropomorphism. You can ethically keep most animals. There needs to be some common sense applied. If your cows, horses, etc are stomping around in muddy feces then you obviously need to reevaluate what your doing.

In the US we're accustomed to paying a certain amount on meat. Are the majority of people willing or financially able to tote 3x what they pay right now?

 

[FJB]

Domestic cats should not be allowed to roam outside the house for any length of time. They are among the most destructive animals out there, in places they don't belong. It is not their fault, but their nature. It is our fault because we know better. I love cats; I have two.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; A while back a community did have a feral cat program. The would trap the cats have them spayed or nutered and then released again. Did not make sense to do that to me.
Every spring I knock down robin's nests as they build them in my carport. Reason is neighbor hood cats, both feral and house cats, will climb onto my truck to get into the rafters. The robins sit on a fence giving me the evil eye while I knock down their partily constructed nest. They do not get it. One year they eventually nested high on the crook of my gutter down spout which was fine.

Hello; I posted the above in another thread a while back. This last spring the robins nested on my back porch on an old piece of exercise equipment and fledged four chicks. The cats could not get at them.
This topic of how ethical it is to keep pets is brought up from time to time. I keep only fish as pets anymore. I see the bad side of the hobby and try to minimize that side in my fishkeeping. I cannot do much about the commercial parts of the hobby and must share a fair portion of guilt for the bad practices. That I do purchase from fish shops keeps them and the hobby going with the bad practices included.

Here is something else to consider about dogs and cats. The food fed to such pets could be used to feed people is my take. I live near a college campus. I can see parts of the campus from my yard. Three of the family homes near me have become student rental housing. Pretty much all the college students now have dogs or cats. I guess it is some sort of "fad" of this era as it was not the thing to do back in my student days. I did not have time to fool with a dog as an undergraduate student, nor the extra money. Back to my point, what is the answer to the ethical bit of how our dogs and cats are better fed than some people at one level. That while some dogs and cats are being fed there are people actually starving at a more dire level? Try to not picture a starving child next time you feed a pet.

 

[Ulu]

I think this whole debate centers on whether you think that man exists for the good of the earth or the earth exists for the good of man.

The only reason that a lawyer is in the business of defending the rights of animals who cannot pay him a dime, instead of guilty humans who will pay richly, is that rich people interested in this debate Pay him big Bucks. They also stirrup media support for their ideas, which helps the lawyer.

He makes More than he can make by defending indigent humans that cannot afford lawyers.

So in this, like all crimes, follow the money.
And understand the crime that is being committed. Peoples business and personal rights are being abused because someone rich doesn’t like what happens to an animal.

What happens to a human? Well people like animals more than they like other humans in many cases.

 

[esoxlucius]

If the pet owner absolutely fulfills ALL the needs of the pet in question for that pet to thrive, then that's acceptable in my book. Pets can be a brilliant addition to a family, enriching peoples lives on many levels. Now that would mean doing extensive research on the pet of choice BEFORE actually committing to the animal, and declining to get that animal altogether if in any way they knew they were going to fall short in fulfilling those needs long term.

But of course in the real world it certainly doesn't work like that. For each true responsible pet owner there are countless others who can't even look after themselves and/or their children properly, so what chance have their poor unfortunate neglected pets got.

It's a hot potato this one that's for sure.

 

[The Masked Shadow]

See, this is why we rescue all the animals we have. Rescued the Hissig Cockroaches from a friend, who had them, and didn't want them. Got our puppy here. Lizard was from a Petco, and he had mouth fungus, and would've died. Cats; rescues. Tortoises; escapes from someone's house. Instead of people buying dogs off of a breeder, people should buy rescues.