What does it mean to be humane in our time?

The great philosophers – Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas – believed that humans were superior to animals and that a measure of our humanity was how well we treated them. In our time, many animal lovers believe animals are superior to people and devote themselves to the preservation, rescue and betterment of animal lives. In America, this change has almost become a faith. From the l960’s to now, the number of owned animals in the United States has more than quintupled, shelters not longer simply house animals but are becoming life-long habitats in the “no-kill” era, a very new and expensive idea for the world.

What does it mean to be human in our time? Obviously, it means having animals in our lives. There are more than 70 million owned dogs, more cats, and uncounted numbers of horses, fish, reptiles, ferrets, weasels, hamsters and mice. People give animals human names, bring them into the center of our lives. The new work of animals has becoming supporting the emotional lives of stressed and disconnected humans. In much of the world, animals are either ignored or eaten, the idea of feeding pets is shocking in most developing countries. In affluent America, the story is quite different.

This week, I’m going to Palo Alto to give a talk to the Silicon Valley Human Society and I want to talk about the explosion affecting the human-companion animal bond, what it means, where it comes from. I also want to talk about the future for animals and the notion of being humane. In this evolving relationship people people and animals – we are spending billions on pet care and health in this country – what does it mean to be humane?

I think it means a number of things:

– Rescuing animals in need.

– Providing animals with good health care, good food, exercise, attention, veterinary care.

– Expanding our notions of humaneness to include proper training. Training is a catastrophe in America, millions of training books sold, few well trained dogs. Training is essential to the well-being of domestic pets, it keeps them healthy and safe, and other animals and people healthy and safe.

– Choosing a dog thoughtfully and intelligently. People get pets impulsively or out of moral imperatives – simply to rescue things or because they are cute or to offer them as Christmas presents. This can be wonderful, it can also be dangerous and unhealthy for the dogs and cats. People need to be taught all of the best ways to get a dog: rescue groups, shelters, good and conscientious breeders.

– It is humane to respect the true nature of animals. The emotionalizing of animals has become epidemic. It is not always good for them, overfeeding, behavioral problems, the medicating of dogs and assaults on humans are skyrocketing.

Animal advocacy includes the love, rescue and proper care of animals, but it is also more than that. We need to understand the emotional impact of the new relationship with pets, we need to find ways to bring them more into the lives of people and not just confine them to yards, homes and play groups. Animals are healing, they connect us to the natural world, it is humane to be responsible and thoughtful about their acquisition, care and true nature.

Therapy dogs are one example of the ways we are expanding the new work of dogs, but we need to explore other ways to find meaningful work for animals so they can grow, learn, evolve and develop their instincts and intelligence. It is not, to me, humane, to turn animals into children or human surrogates. They are different from us.

It is humane to respect and value good breeders as well as good rescue groups and shelters. Good breeders preserve and expand the best traits of animals, from temperament to health. It is humane to challenge pet owners to train their dogs as well as medicate them. It is humane to protect them from the rapidly growing trend – aggressively supported by pharmaceutical companies and many veterinarians – to medicate them for human neurotic problems like anxiety, depression and separation anxiety.

I appreciate animal rescue – I have a lot of rescued animals here on the farm –  I think being humane is that and now, much more. Animal advocacy is not simply stopping abuse. It is stopping abuse and going farther, helping animals integrate themselves into the difficult and hostile world of humans Being humane meets meeting the new challenges humans and animals face as more and more of them are coming together in a landmark re-definition of how humans co-exist with the animals who can adapt to them.

Being human means working with the civic and legal system to bring animals into the workplace and public spaces, to stem the growing efforts to ghettoize animals in backyards and parks. Something is broken in human beings when we are disconnected from the natural world, something heals us when we re-connect.

I agree with Plato, I believe humans are superior to animals in some ways, not in others.  When we worship them, we are doing a disservice both to them and to us. The biggest difference is that we have a conscience, even if we don’t always use it, and we can alter and better our lives. There is no animal in the world that can do that, invent democracy, art or theater. In my love of animals I never wish to lose my love of people. Isn’t that, in fact, the definition of being humane?