“Animals are not nice or mean,” I tell my students, “but they are not human. If someone is doing something you don’t like, what can you do? You can say, ‘Stop! I don’t like when you do ___’. Can animals do that? Can they talk like us? No, they don’t have words like us, they only have teeth, claws, and stingers. They usually try to get away from you but if they can not, they will fight because they are scared.” I talk to them about cat and dog’s body language and tell them that while they need to ask the owner to pet the dog, they also need to see if the dog wants to be petted or if it wants space.
I generally love animals. But I’m also mindful that many of them can and will kill us, given the chance. I think people love animals (at least the small domesticated ones) because they give us what we perceive to be unconditional love. The kind of love that no other human can give us. They’re not responsible for their actions. Everything they do is instinctive.
“Animals are not nice or mean,” I tell my students, “but they are not human. If someone is doing something you don’t like, what can you do? You can say, ‘Stop! I don’t like when you do ___’. Can animals do that? Can they talk like us? No, they don’t have words like us, they only have teeth, claws, and stingers. They usually try to get away from you but if they can not, they will fight because they are scared.” I talk to them about cat and dog’s body language and tell them that while they need to ask the owner to pet the dog, they also need to see if the dog wants to be petted or if it wants space.
I generally love animals. But I’m also mindful that many of them can and will kill us, given the chance. I think people love animals (at least the small domesticated ones) because they give us what we perceive to be unconditional love. The kind of love that no other human can give us. They’re not responsible for their actions. Everything they do is instinctive.