to think it's time we stopped keeping "pets?"

[Hullygully]

Why do we still do this?

Apart from working animals, guide/guard dogs etc, isn't it odd that we keep animals in our homes? Expensive, huge amounts of waste that has to be dealt with, extermination of songbirds etc etc

Yes?
No?

Am discussing with dd, so interested in views!

bird raptors obviously not velociraptors!

Oh.

mummytotwoboys Mon 14-Nov-11 08:18:08

"Personally I hate the birds in my garden"

I can't imagine being friends with someone of that opinion. That's just WEIRD

It isn't natural for humans to live in cities, towns etc, but it is impossible for us all to go back to living a rural life. Pets are the nearest substitute we have for having contact with the natural world. I agree with EF that there would be a lot more mental health problems if there were no pets.

The question of what is the actual benefit to the pets in existing is very abstract. Dogs are domesticated; they are not just small wolves but domesticates and would really struggle to survive in the wild because they keep juvenile traits into adulthood. They rely on an owner/parent figure.

But the lack of benefit to pets is a very abstract question - almost on to meaning of life stuff. Cats and dogs are generally not unhappy, certainly no unhappier than people. So you could equally why do we create more children, when we know the world is full of suffering and they may have mental health problems, experience tragedy etc? We have children for our own benefit, I suppose.

MillyR, the theological argument to that is that we have children to replace ourselves. In children we hope that a part of us will live on and be passed onto grandchildren etc. It's our way of staying immortal.

If everyone had just two children, to replace themselves and their partners, there would not be an over-population crisis.

I ain't giving up my fur baby cat for no-one, no way, no how. YABU Ms Hully.

Sorry Rhubarb

There was a barn own living in our square for a while in the early 80s, but he got scared off by the festival fireworks one year :(

There are shedloads of buzzards and whatnot on the outskirts though.

Yes, I'm not saying we shouldn't have children or even bringing an ecological argument into it.

I'm simply saying that people have children and pets for their own benefit, not for the benefit of the child or pet.

True MillyR

However some people have children by pure accident

We have got shitloads of badgers here. I had a stand off with one in the street at 3am recently. It was huge, I was quite scared. We stood and stared at eachother and then thankfully it crossed the road, very very slowly.

Freaky badger creature

Some people have pets by pure accident too. Cats are adept at inveigling their way into people's homes and hearts.

the whole pets thing is weird tho, isn't it?

Yes but one cat can have many owners. 'Snot quite the same as having a baby by accident is it?

Hully, badgers are lovely and as any gardener would tell you, very good at keeping slugs and snails from your garden.

Please... can you imagine the news?

"Labrador is an endangered species"
"The last of the domesticated cats has died, species now extinct"

There would be a thunderous outcry of people wondering what the hell we did wrong and how could we let these lovely creatures die. They would scream that the human race, once again, had proven how monstrous we are.

Why do we keep pets? Because we enjoy it. Is that a bad thing? Nope.

Tell me something, Hullygully, are you a member of PETA?

nope

I shuold be tho. Not v gd at joining things.

Slow worms are better at scoffing slugs and unlike badgers they don't dig up your lawn.

I do like our scary, noisy, diggy badger bastards though. They're proper animals. Unlike hamsters.

Badgers are the DEVIL

they have destroyed all the allotments and gardens.

I wouldn't. Not if you like animals. They kill significantly more animals than they save and they're a raging group of hypocrites.

I was just curious because they don't like pets either. Or service animals.

According to my neighbour they won't destroy your garden if you leave peanuts out for them

I've not bothered with a veg patch.

in case you fancy keeping a hippo

I love it that a wild animal that big and with such fabulous stripes, can wander around our countryside still. I'd much rather see a badger than a dog or cat anyday, but sadly the closest I've got is seeing them squashed at the side of the road.

I've never seen a slow worm or a fox and I spend quite a bit of time out in the country going for walks. I've heard a fox, in the middle of Oldham funnily enough, but never seen one.

Or fancy a buffalo as a pet

I'd gone properly bonkers if I hadn't got a dog, I was turning 40 and my littlest boy had gone to secondary school. It was midlife crisis territory. So for purely selfish reasons I need my dog.