Since the dawn of time humanities ability to tame animals had been one of its core abilities. We domesticated animals to eat them, ride them, and to put them on to work. The domestication of our canine and feline friends was a different story though what started as just a mutually benefiting relationship turned wolves and wildcats into our fluffy friends over the years. Although this seems like a really positive outcome there are still some questions we need to ask ourselves. Did we robbed these animals from their original natural state or how did this turn of events effected them or maybe we need to ask can we even go back even if we wanted to? All of these questions need to be looked at carefully to determine the ethicality of our actions as a race against our beloved pets.

 

Firstly let's look at the positives to cheer ourselves up. As humanity, we clearly saved cats and dogs and all other domesticated animals from extinction. As long as we exist they will exist alongside us. We also improved their lifespan quite marginally as stray dogs and cats on average only live up to the ripe old age of 4 while the average life span of dogs and cats as pets are 12 and 16 respectively. The biggest contributor to the domestication of cats and dogs and the real reason they chose to bond with us though was giving them easy access to food and shelter. We did not stop at all that though we took cats and dogs and brought them to all corners of the world with us at the expense of the local wildlife of course. Hundreds of species were hunted to extinction by cats and the other invasive species we brought with us. Along with humans cats and dogs are one of the most successful invasive species ever. They can thrive almost anywhere with the help of humans. Statistics show us there are 471 million dogs and 373 million cats worldwide as pets. So these numbers do not even show stray ones. By comparison, the world's wolf and wildcat populations are just 300 thousand and 20 thousand respectively. The funny thing though we do all of this for our pets for nothing other than love and friendship. Originally we used dogs for hunting or guarding and cats were used for killing pests but in modern times most pets are not expected to do their original work we just want them as companions.

 

So we established that we helped our pets to be the second most invasive species after us along with allowing them to reach numbers that are impossible to be reached in the wild and we keep doing this all for love right. The question is though if our supposed love is ethical or not. We put them in small cages just a few months after their birth and we sell them for gain in pet shops. Is it ethical? We breed them to our liking focusing on aspects like cuteness above all else and in turn, we create animals with a list of health conditions who knows how long. Is this also ethical? We sterilize them when we desire so and sometimes we cast them onto the streets to survive or perish just because it is not convenient to take care of them anymore or because we are just bored of them. It is not like they can turn back and go back to the wild anymore also. Our breeding programs robbed many dogs of their abilities to survive in the real wilderness. Many dogs, size, and more docile behavior coupled with their lack of hunting experiences make them unqualified to survive in the wild. Is any of this in any way sound ethical?

 

Below is a comparison photo of two pugs one from the year 1880 and one from today to show the effects of selective breeding. Today almost all pugs suffer from respiratory issues, eye problems, skin disorders, bone and joint problems, and sometimes even seizures.