# Is it possible to break a commitment to an animal? Does giving a pet away make a person bad? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 1, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-break-a-commitment-to-an-animal-does-giving-a-pet-away-make-a-person-bad/541553 "2010-06-01T21:11:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-break-a-commitment-to-an-animal-does-giving-a-pet-away-make-a-person-bad/541553/41 "2010-07-22T20:27:59Z")
What if you had to choose between a dog that was crawling toward a button that would launch a nuclear weapon, and a baby that might grow up to be Hitler!? Huh!!?? Then what would you do!!!??? In most real-world scenarios, human life trumps non-human life. That’s the way most humans are wired, and I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I’m living with a very affectionate dog that, when he isn’t leaning on me, nudging me, or putting his paw on my lap, watches my every move. Unless he sees a random stranger with a leash or a pickup truck, in which case he’d happily desert me for adventure on the high road. I’m quite fond of him, but I don’t kid myself that he’s incapable of bonding with anyone else. Maybe some dogs are, but certainly not all. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-break-a-commitment-to-an-animal-does-giving-a-pet-away-make-a-person-bad/541553/42 "2010-07-22T20:30:50Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > But in the real world there are already so many more cats needing homes than available homes that we’ve set up concrete facilities in nearly every city that gas them _en masse_ and throw their bodies into incinerators merely to reduce the population. Where have we seen that final solution before? Speaking of growing up to be Hitler… ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-break-a-commitment-to-an-animal-does-giving-a-pet-away-make-a-person-bad/541553/43 "2010-07-22T20:40:16Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > What if you had to choose between a dog that was crawling toward a button that would launch a nuclear weapon, and a baby that might grow up to be Hitler!? Huh!!?? Then what would you do!!!??? > > In most real-world scenarios, human life trumps non-human life. That’s the way most humans are wired, and I don’t think it’s a bad thing. Except in his real world scenario, he specifically said that any human trumps any pet. If he wants to come along and qualify it, so be it, but as it stands, the dog eats the bullet, not the rapist. In my real world, the rapist gets it every time. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-break-a-commitment-to-an-animal-does-giving-a-pet-away-make-a-person-bad/541553/44 "2010-07-22T20:41:18Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > So, for example, you would actually have more care in your heart for say, John Wayne Gacy. than you do your cats? You would have sacrificed their lives to save his? You would have real feelings for him? Well, okay. I should have said _all things being equal_ or something. If I know that the human in question is murderous scum, I’ll probably care more about my cats. My absent that knowledge, both my innate impulse and my ethics are to put the human life first. Total stranger versus my cats? Sorry, I have to choose to save the human’s life first. I’ll feel bad though, but not nearly as bad as I would if I chose either Mrs. W over a person. > [@](#): > > I’ve heard people say that before, and I find it a bit odd. I don’t see how simply being a biological human, no matter how horrible and despicable, makes someone so worthy of care. Hypothetically, if your family dog had just rescued your child from a Savage Murdering Rapist, and then (in this fantasy world) you were forced to choose between him and Pol Pot, you would shoot the dog? How about this? Would you shoot the dog in order to save the savage Murdering Rapist? I can’t stand dogs and would never own one; therefore I cannot respond to this last on the emotional level you seem to be looking for. Two of my sisters own dogs; so do my two best friends. I’d risk injury to save their pets from death if I had to, but it would be for my sisters’ and friends’ sake, not for the canines. And if it were anyone else, I’d not risk my own safety, much less life. I’m not saying I’m indifferent to canine suffering: just that I care about my own safety and health much more. If I see a dog in peril or even suffering and can assist it without peril to myself, then I’ll help it. As for the biological human issue: are you serious? I’m a biological human. Humans are my team. Unless someone does something odious enough to earn my complete contempt (read: murder, torture, or rape), I will always choose their safety over any animals’. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-break-a-commitment-to-an-animal-does-giving-a-pet-away-make-a-person-bad/541553/45 "2010-07-22T20:49:54Z")
Most of the time it isn’t a vile, serial murderer/rapist versus an animal, though. I mean, usually there aren’t that many either or situations, involving choosing between a person and an animal. And I’m sure there are even fewer where the person is totally evil. Most people fall somewhere in between. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-break-a-commitment-to-an-animal-does-giving-a-pet-away-make-a-person-bad/541553/46 "2010-07-22T20:50:18Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I can’t stand dogs and would never own one; therefore I cannot respond to this last on the emotional level you seem to be looking for. As a better man than I once said, and not too long ago, _don’t fight the hypothetical._ But for the sake of the argument, say it’s your neighbors dog who saves your child from the SMR. Which one gets the bullet? Do you shoot the dog to save the man? > [@](#): > > As for the biological human issue: are you serious? I’m a biological human. Humans are my team. Unless someone does something odious enough to earn my complete contempt (read: murder, torture, or rape), I will always choose their safety over any animals’. Yeah. I was serious, but now you’ve qualified it. I was responding to \*any \*human vs. \*any \*pet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-break-a-commitment-to-an-animal-does-giving-a-pet-away-make-a-person-bad/541553.md?page=2)