The nerve.....How dare you?

I was working rather diligently tonight on my poker business. Doing this work does include Twitter and Facebook. After some posting, I was browsing my news feed briefly when I saw a post about animal abuse. Something I have been seeing a lot of people speak out about lately. I found myself reading article after article on a site protesting the mistreatment of animals. In some instances I agreed and in others disagreed. These are all personal choices of mine. I eat meat. I ENJOY meat. I'm not ashamed of that. However, as I browsed I discovered there is one problem in my enjoyment of meat. While I don't believe it is wrong to take the life of an animal to sustain other animal and human life, I have a real serious fucking issue with anything, especially animals and children, being mistreated and abused.

Now, I am aware from a business perspective that it is not cost effective for all the little animals to dance on their own personal 10'x10' rainbow while being adorned with gifts, love, and affection. I understand it is a breeding and slaughter facility, and I realize these animals are not pets - they are product. I can logically accept that in order to meet demands set on these facilities that conditions will not always be ideal or easy to stomach. With that said, how dare you, as a corporation, allow workers to abuse animals?!! How fucking dare you? Let us look at this several ways. First, I would never allow someone to kick, beat, punch, molest, scream, spit, or abuse any of my "property" or "product" in my business. In fact, the poker league's first few lines in the code of conduct tells people they are forbidden to do these things to my property and patrons. Second, I find something severely disturbing about a person who does things like shove a broom handle down the neck of a turkey or grab an adolescent chicken by its wing (cracking it in half in the process) to throw it against the wall - for no apparent reason other than the animal was "annoying". Once an employee of mine exhibited some sort of severe anger and control issue such as that they would no longer be employed. Lastly, these animals don't get to live normal lives and ultimately meet a grave end. They are destined this at birth. They are doing humans and other animals (entire nations for that matter) a huge service. The most unselfish service of all. They give their lives so that we may sustain ours in a fashion in which some of us prefer - eating meat. I would imagine the very LEAST thing a corporation can do is not allow ruthless and disgusting workers to abuse animals already on death row. Of course, I don't know why I would assume as a nation we would take care of something that gives so much for us. Look at how we treat our veterans. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait for my rant on the mistreatment of Veterans as I haven't finished this one yet. Moving on...

I am also very aware of the entertainment value that most all animals possess. To be perfectly honest, I can (and do) sit and watch my dogs for hours sometimes. They are adorable and fascinating little beings. I enjoy the zoo, aquarium, and the circus as much as the next person. Or shall we say, I did. It all is a bit tainted for me now. I understand the animals need to be on display to sustain the livelihood of themselves, the keepers, and the business. I don't necessarily believe you can "exploit" an animal by allowing them to roam a habitat in which humans can fascinatingly peer. I also don't find asking a whale or elephant to do a trick or two to be very much different from my requesting my dog to sit, stay,fetch, get off the couch, catch a treat, be quiet, or kennel up. These are all things that my dog has learned to appease me, entertain me, and make our living conditions favorable. He learned these things for me because we have a very strong bond and because I take care of him. I don't think its shameful to say that if you'd give me a dollar to watch him sit and catch a treat that I would take your dollar. If several people wanted to give me several dollars to watch my dog, I'd accept. We'd perform our mediocre tricks for a crowd three or four times a day for a very short time then go back to living our normal lives. I'm sure this sounds cruel, but the dog would love all the new stuff he'd get from making those dollars. Not to mention, I don't think he'd really give a damn about my wasting one hour of his very "busy" laying on the couch day. With all of that said, how fucking dare you, as a zoo, circus, aquarium, or other wildlife facility, allow people to abuse the animals trusted to your care??!! I understand this is the way you make money, but mistreatment isn't even necessary! Let us look at this several ways. First, again, I would not let anyone abuse my "property". Period. We have covered that. Second, most animals will do most anything to please the people in charge of their food and well being. The ones that won't tend to remain wild at heart. I'm not sure how insane a person needs to be to beat a wild elephant with a pitchfork or whip and scream and prod a wild lion. I will say, whatever level of insanity that may take, that it is far too insane to be my employee. Lastly, these animal friends honestly don't mind making you a buck if you could just manage to stop too thickly padding your pockets and spend some money to make money. All that is necessary are loving and concerned keepers, clean and well planned living conditions and habitats, and time spent relaxing and playing. Instead, the keepers abuse, can't be bothered to clean the habitat or the animal, they are shoved in small stalls or concrete after a long days work, they are never socialized, and are often depressed because instead of fixing all of these clear morally bankrupt and unsafe issues with your business you probably bought a Beamer.

Now to discuss private animal owners. Oh, you didn't think I forgot about those did you? I think privately owned animals that are abused are probably the WORST. These abusers don't even have a corporation, legality, or ignorance to hide behind. They are just disgusting, soulless human beings. I'm sorry. It is not possible for someone who is mentally healthy to look at ANY animal, especially domesticated ones, and then abuse the animal. You can give me whatever excuse you wish, but there isn't one. For those who intentionally abuse an animal, I can't even discuss it. I truly cannot. This entire time I was trying to canvas my brain for some rational and calm way to discuss the intentional harm of a pet. I can't do it. It sends me into such an outrage. Lastly, I realize some animals do fall victim to low income homes or unexpected and drastic living changes due their families misfortune. I just want to say that if you can't afford to feed and care for your animals, call me...call anyone. Someone will help you somehow. Don't be selfish and keep an animal you can't afford to provide care and food. It doesn't mean you are a failure unless you decide to let the animal starve instead of seek help. There are shelters everywhere. If you starve an animal or have it live in deplorable conditions it is ONLY because you are lazy or selfish. Also, don't just throw your animal out in a dog friendly neighborhood and hope someone finds him (or worse, not even look for a dog friendly neighborhood).

*** I do want to take a moment and say a big THANK YOU to the douchebag that threw out a basset hound and terrier mix next to my obviously animal friendly house. In case you were wondering Mr. Dbag, they are doing just fine. The basset hound was given the name Floppy dawg, eats a ton every day, has more toys than can be played with by just him and his brother Einstein, sits in my lap to watch Law & Order, chases the family cat, and sleeps with his loving parents every single night. The terrier was called Seymour and it broke my heart into pieces when I had to separate him from his buddy. I had to make your walk of shame for you and take him to the Humane Society because he disliked men (I wonder why?!!). I gave them a nice donation and pleaded they find him a good home. I saw him a week later as many families were considering him for adoption. They aren't allowed to tell me who adopted him, but I am assured he has a safe and loving home now with a great mom.****

In closing, I wanted to mention pet plastic surgery - specifically dogs. This is bullshit. If you don't like your companion's ears, tail, claws, or teeth, then perhaps you should have chosen a pet that better fit your vain needs. They aren't rag dolls to be clipped and poked and prodded for no reason other than you want them to look a certain way. The worst of these trends, in my opinion, is devocalization ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devocalization ). Yes. An owner can get their dog's vocal cords removed or reduced to "cull frequent and bothersome barking". Are you fucking kidding me? Not only is this so very disgusting and inhumane, it is insulting. People just listen and try to understand for a moment. I am going to bring some abridged and simple man's science into this for a moment. Basically, dogs share 99% of their DNA with wolves. We have discovered that all domesticated dogs were produced from "tame" and curious wolves a very, very, very long time ago when we were hunters and gatherers. When was the last time you heard a wolf bark? You don't. They howl or snarl, and only when separated from the pack or alerting their pack of danger. Lots of physical evolution was forced on domesticated dogs as we bred them and as they no longer needed some of their wolf like traits. Dogs also evolved their communication skills. The ONLY reason a domesticated dog barks is because that is how it learned to speak and communicate with us...with humans. Maybe you should try listening and understanding when your dog barks instead of ripping out a vital part of its anatomy. You'd probably not enjoy me having a doctor remove your vocal cords because I want you to shut the fuck up. Why would your dog enjoy this? It is just baffling to me and insulting to our pets that humans would want to cull something that a precious animal developed entirely for our benefit.

Thanks for reading. Remember, save a life and always adopt!!! Spay and Neuter your pets so their babies don't end up back at the Shelter! And ensure your food and clothing and entertainment come from a humane source!