Essay talk:Why Pet Ownership Should Be Abolished

You might want to tone down the intro which suggests that everyone who starts reading is already angry with you.Bob^{"Life is short and (insert adjective)"} 18:23, 17 March 2021 (UTC)

Yeah maybe. But when you've been doing this as long as I have, you start to understand people are hypersensitive to any suggestion that an industry involving animal suffering should be stopped. Granted I probably shouldn't be so defensive but it's just drilled into me now RockyRob97 (talk) 18:54, 17 March 2021 (UTC)

I understand. But when you start off by telling your reader that they are not in a good mood, pissed off, angry or bewildered then you might not be doing all you could to bring them onto your side. I was certainly none of thoe things when I clicked the link - but I felt some of them after reading the intro!:-)

For the record, the point you make in the rest of the essay is worth making.Bob^{"Life is short and (insert adjective)"} 19:01, 17 March 2021 (UTC)

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for the feedback. I've tidied up the intro RockyRob97 (talk) 22:20, 17 March 2021 (UTC)

Some animals are better off as well-taken pets compared to the wild

One phrase I didn't particularly agree with is a "whose strongest desire to be free". That is not necessarily true. I'd argue that an animal's strongest desire is security and food availability, with social needs for parrots (and I'm sure for cats and dogs as well). There is a huge cost to this supposed freedom. It's known that pets, when taken care of, lead higher quality lives than their wild selves (cockatiels for instance live 10-14 years in the wild on average while in captivity, this is more extended to even around 25 years, practically double), especially ones that are normally preyed on (small birds, reptiles, etc) and aren't domesticated, because nature is cruel, brutal, and relentless. Birds don't mind too much being in cages that are an appropriate size, and some birds either don't mind staying in a cage or you take them out the cage yourself. It's telling that one of the common strategies to lure a pet bird back that has accidentally flown off is to leave your cage outside and hope your bird returns to it. The essay might be better as a critique of not pet ownership in of itself, but the industry and individual maltreatment. I think my personal goals here are to provide these animals protections in similar ways humans enjoy and I think they should be given affordable healthcare. How to achieve these is a different story but I don't think abolishing pet ownership is for the welfare of those animals, as I do believe there is mutual value for caring for an animal. I think animals like cockatiels are ultimately better off as under care and supervision of a loving human rather having to fend for themselves in the wild and starve, catch diseases, or fall under a hawk's talons. Though I also am not really for wanting that hawk to starve and therein lies that tangle about morality and reducing suffering in general. This might lead into further questions about morality regarding animal lives in general (though the essay has discussed about reducing harm being inflicted on chickens, which I also remind you can be kept as great and loving pets, to feed cats and dogs), which is out of scope for pet ownership, but worth thinking about. --It's-a me, LeftyGreenMario! 07:53, 18 March 2021 (UTC)

Cats

... do not consider themselves pets.

What is the status of 'animals merely interacted with' - garden birds etc which regularly come to be fed, creatures (animals, insects, fish...) in an environment which is larger than their normal territory and where they have all the resources they require, and those cases where there is a trade off between 'mild restrictions' and 'being provided with food and other benefits'? Those animals which choose to associate with humans (in some form of mutualism - cats employed as mousers etc)? Anna Livia (talk) 11:42, 18 March 2021 (UTC)

Thanks for writing this essay. I kicked my golden retreivers out of the house today. Now they are free.

Thank you so much for this essay.

I kicked my golden retreivers out of the house today. Now they are free.

I know they are really going to enjoy their newfound freedom.Modjar (talk) 19:55, 18 March 2021 (UTC)

--It's-a me, LeftyGreenMario! 20:09, 18 March 2021 (UTC)

As one non-meat eater to another. This essay should be more cautious.

You rely on commercial sources in regards to pet diets that is actually not entirely factual and may in a sense be making too confident a recommendation beyond what the current evidence suggests which is incredibly inconsistent [1][2][3][4][5]. The lack of an intersectional vegan perspective and the reliance on figures like Peter Singer is a also a bit worrying. - Only Sort of Dumb (talk) 20:05, 20 January 2023 (UTC)