Syrinx - my dogs are not part of nature - period - Comments

just saw this at dogflu.ca

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 21:19:10 -0600

http://www.dogflu.ca/03282008/05/girl_dies_when_parents_choose_prayer_over_medical_help oh well, humans are like that...

we're all part of the same evolutionary process of life

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 17:17:26 -0600

... is what i meant. Humans will eat rats, or fish, or soybeans, or cows, or buffalo, or dodos, or mammoths. Wolves that collaborated with humans developed into canis familarus or whatever the latin name is, thus ensuring their survival while the habitat and food source of other wolves dwindled and they have neared extinction. Of course, in some places they eat canines. And sometimes people eat people. Donner, party of six? No? Five? Hmm, could have sworn I saw six... and Jeffrey Dahmer and Hannibal Lechter, they'll be having an old friend for dinner tonight. And of course, one-celled organisms have always been the largest population of life forms on the planet. And many of them live on us and within us and don't mind processing the rest of us when we shake off this mortal coil. If you want to make distinctions between human culture and civiliZation and domesticated animals as "not nature"and non-human species populations such as cockroaches, rats, coyotes, hawks, dolphins, and sharks, that don't build cities, as "nature" then I can accept that. I was just saying, that in the bigger picture, we're all biological processes on this planet and an alien life form might not make these fine distinctions. How you earthlings tell each other apart, I'll never know. You all look alike to me...

Pets versus Nature

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 16:10:30 -0600

Thank you Gillian for your perspectives on pets and nature. I wish more dog-owners shared them. Your stories of your organic farmer friend reminded me of an organic farming couple I worked with years ago who was very tolerant of weeds in the cereal crops. One reason was that the deer – of which there were plenty around – would browse the weeds but not the crops. They never shot or even complained about the deer, indeed the deer were welcome visitors. I struggled with the pet versus nature issue when Ziggy once proudly laid a bird at our bedroom door. I gained some solace, but not complete absolution, from a New Zealand study that indicated domestic cats had a positive effects on birds by consuming rats, thereby reducing rat predation on eggs in nests; apparently that outweighed the negative effects of cat predation on birds.

Wrong

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 09:12:02 -0600

Wrong. Dogs and cats are manufactured companion animals. They do not belong in nature anymore than cattle, which are manufactured farm animals. If you are simply trying to correct my wording, then say so. Otherwise I think you missed the point. Dogs and cats take a huge toll on wild animals struggling to cope. While then running into their vet provided, warm sheltered, pampered world. They should not ever be allowed to hurt other critters. Never. That is irresponsible and shows a complete lack of awareness of nature. As well as a general ignorance as the role their animal plays. As for Bangladesh , what predator did they banish into extinction that is the real cause of this problem? Where are the hawlks, the wolves (yes they had wolves at one time), the natural predators? And don't get me started on human population issues - that one is just too obvious. What about the climate changes they have contributed to due to really severe pollution? That is also a contributing factor. We humans do not live natural lives. We alter nature in profound ways. That has a lot to do with the situation in Bangladesh. It is an indication of how messed up we are, especially as we wipe out our much needed predators. Eating the rats is not something I'll comment on as I have family members who fought in WW2 who found themselves in desperate situations, and I know what measures they took to survive. We had a problem with Rabbits here the last couple of years (due to killing the coyotes) so they had to be culled. I supported that. But I am still outraged that no one has stepped to try to reintroduce the coyotes to ensure this does not happen again. I love my dogs.. very much.. but I am not kidding myself into believing that if they harm a wild animal that that is in keeping with nature. Because it is not.

yes they are - we all are part of nature

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:14:08 -0600

...and some folks dogs are labrador/retriever/poodle mixes... and some folks dogs are pit bulls and rottweilers folks in Bangladesh are having to eat rats again due to an infestation destroying their crops, the worst since 1959, according to this report from the BBC. and the regularity of the orbit of the earth around the sun that makes life on the planet possible should remind us that we're part of the universe as well, albeit a pretty small and insignificant part.

my dogs are not part of nature - period

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 12:32:22 -0600

I am proud to say that my 2 dogs have been trained to never do harm to the critters that wonder into our property. In fact a very interesting dynamic has happened. By training them to guard the birds that come to the feeders the birds have figured out that they are safe to feed, bathe, play, and pollinate in the yard when the dogs are there. Bonnie and Fergus can sit right up to the feeders and the birds flock around them safely.