I got into a discussion with a friend of mine recently about animal rights. Basically, I was at a petstore with this friend and the kid working there said that he wanted to have a ferret, but just one. I said that he shouldn't have just one, because it wasn't good for the ferret because a human simply isn't active enough to play with a ferret the way that ferrets like to play. I hadn't noticed, but afterwards, my friend said that I had crushed this kid's dreams of having a ferret at all, since from what my friend heard, the kid was barely even allowed one.
Well, I'm sorry if I hurt the kid's feelings; I probably should have been less direct; but I do think that the ferret's well-being is more important than the temporary hurt feelings of the kid. I think that having a pet is like having a child. If you can't provide a happy, healthy environment for it, you shouldn't have it. This means, that if you have a social animal, then you are obligated to provide it with companionship.
Also, you should provide animals with the space that they need. A dog needs both space and companionship. Really, you should spend many hours a day with your dog. This is easier if the dog is in the house with you when you are home. It probably wasn't very fair of us to keep our dog outside in the winter in the backyard. No one wanted to be outside in the winter, so she didn't get much attention, and she wasn't close enough to the street to watch the world go by.
With fish and other small creatures, I think they also need to have a larger amount of space then the bare minimum for survival. Sure; a person can survive in solitary confinement for years with the right food and water, but the quality of life isn't very great. From what I've read, I'd imagine that it is a similar situation for fish.
Bottom line: If you get a pet, think about the pet's quality of life!
On a lighter note, there was a really cute baby ferret at the petstore with some interesting spotty markings. She was very cute and adorable and was climbing right up my arm when I put it down into the cage. If I were allowed to have more ferrets, I would have been tempted to buy her and call her "Spot".
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4 comments:
Karen,
I do appreciate your interest in the (well being) of animals and it seems that it’s far more important to you than the feelings of people around you (especially those people who spend enormous amounts of time around you and is considered a friend) and I know that you’re not a very social person but maybe you should try to think a little before you speak and in this case, write. I don’t think any person likes being called inhumane including yourself (hint: Think about someone calling you inhumane and ask yourself if that’s the feeling you would want to give someone else) I trusted that when we discussed this at home it was the end of it but obviously you had more venting to do than you let on. Regarding the person in the store, I see that you failed to see how much you hurt that individual and that in itself is sad, but what’s even sadder is that your attitude lacked common sense. Do you really think that if that guy wanted a ferret your words would turn him away? Now if you took a different approach and spoke to him with a nicer tone and looked him in the eyes you would have had better results and then you could argue that you saved the ferret world and didn’t upset a human in the process. Sometimes I believe that your intentions are good and then other times I feel that your just being an ass (but I still love you) Now your belief that you have to have two ferret’s is kind of weird especially since you said something to the guy at the store but said nothing to the man that we saw yesterday on our way home from the Laundromat about having two ferrets (hmmm?) Furthermore, did you consider the fact that the guy at the pet store could come home from work and play with his ferret everyday? Since that’s what you do anyways. Let me explain… Chaos and Fuzzball are in their cages while you’re at work and you come home and let them out everyday to play then you put them back in their cage every night, right? So if you had just Fuzzball and played with her everyday when you came home wouldn’t that be the same benefit of having two ferrets? I think so. Now lets say you don’t play with them all the time while you’re at home and you take a couple hours out to watch TV, will that couple hours ruin their lives?, even though you sleep-in a couple hours sometimes on the weekends. Seeing as they “hardly ever play while in the cages” (Karen, 4-25-06) I think my little scenario would work. Also, in your blog you spoke about providing the ferret’s with a “clean” Environment, why don’t you think about that for a second (hmmm?) (No hard feelings but it had to be said, and if I could save just one ferret then it’s worth it). And when you show me pictures of you visiting Beta Fishes natural habitats, then we can discuss Charles Alexander’s well being.
All in all, think on these things. You might never remember a persons name or job or favorite food, but you’ll never forget what they did especially when it affected you.
Love,
J.A.W.
James, I appreciate your concern and am glad that you posted. It shows that you care. I still don't think that that kid at the petstore should get a ferret if it means having just one ferret. However, as I stated before, I could have probably put it to him better.
A few comments to other things that you wrote:
1) The guy on the way home from the laundromat already had a ferret and was planning to give it away, so telling him to get another one wouldn't have been very useful. Ideally, I think that he should either bring it to the ferret shelter or let me do it so that people who know ferrets and have other ferrets can take care of her.
2) The only reason that it is OK to leave the ferrets home alone all day is because they have each other for company. They can wake up and play with each other or they can go sleep with (or without) each other as needed. If I had just Fuzzball, I would not be able to play with her anywhere near as well as another ferret can, even if I had the time to do so. I don't know very many humans who are happy being frequently bitten and rolling around on the floor as much as a high-energy ferret requires; especially a baby ferret like they have at the petstores. So, no, it's not the same thing.
3 They hardly ever play in their cage because I let them out to play outside of the cage frequently and they are tired when I put them back, so they sleep until I take them out again or until they get hungry or thirsty. If I did not let them out so long to run and wrestle and climb outside of the cage, they would have more energy to be awake inside the cage. When I am not able to let them out, they amuse each other/themselves in the cage. They have a buddy to be with and are thus not alone while in the cage.
4 A clean environment means an environment free of organic stuff decaying/molding that could lead to sickness in a pet. It doesn't have to be tidy to be clean. There is a big difference between having a lot of clutter and having a place be dirty. There is nothing in my apartment that is going to make my ferret sick or upset a health inspector (except maybe the dishes in my sink, but the ferrets can't get up there). They have enough litter boxes, and their litter boxes are cleaned at least once, sometimes twice a week as needed. They are bathed if they get feces or anything else nasty on them. This is in stark contrast to the filth in which I found Fuzzball when I first met her, where she spent most of her life, alone, in a cage with her excrement in every corner and urin on the cage floors.
I'm not trying to change your mind about anything, thats impossible.
1) I'm willing to bet you that the guy that we met on the way back home is not going to get rid of his ferret. You can tell that much. He might have been thinking about it (as I was thinking about getting rid of Charlie) but not going through with it. He showed the same love in his eyes as you do when talking about your rats. But then again I can read people pretty well and you might not have been able to see that.
2) Regarding having one ferret, you seemed to have avoided what I said so i'm not going to indulge you. But I will say that if you love an animal enough you will waste away energy playing with him or her and I know people who have (a) ferret that has lived long healthy lives that's why I dispute what you're saying.
3) And swettie I don't want to hurt you, you know thats the last thing I want but your home is beyond clutter. I was talking to my housekeeper (who is a professional) and she spoke to me about things that can get into the air and harm the ferrets. Everytime you flush an unclean toilet it releases things into the air that can sit on your bathroom counter tops and toothbrushes and everytime you open that bathroom door your letting that stuff into your appt. and pile up on things and harm the air that your ferrets breath. And everyime you touch your kitchen of which you haven't cleaned, and go and play with the ferrets you're putting them in danger. (sometimes you have to go beyond vinegar)I don't clean up so that my appt. can look good, I clean up because it's healthy. Also, you know I don't mind helping you clean up every once in awhile but it's not neccessary. It's kinda lazy and embarassing. Please don't cover it up saying that appearences doesn't matter to you because you know it goes beyond that. If you take thirty minutes every day and do some light cleaning it'll make a HUGE difference honestly.
-Jamie
"Regarding having one ferret, you seemed to have avoided what I said so i'm not going to indulge you."
No...I think I made it pretty clear that I don't think that having one ferret is OK: "If I had just Fuzzball, I would not be able to play with her anywhere near as well as another ferret can, even if I had the time to do so."
As far as cleaning, you can never really clean enough, can you? There is always grime and stuff that you can't see...always the bit of mold just below the surface in the shower no matter how hard you try to clean it; always the stuff that falls between the crack between the stove and the countertop (at your place too!)
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