I think it’s a little disingenuous for some to act as if they don’t get the outrage. Unless you’re not living in the West, or are simply playing Devil’s advocate. Or maybe you just like being all hardcore and pointing out perceived hypocrisy because man, you’re just so much more honest and evenhanded than the rest of us.
Look, it’s simply a fact that in the U.S. and many other countries, particularly but not limited to the West, there’s a caste system for non-human living creatures. Right or wrong, we tend to look on creatures with varying degrees of human munificence and act accordingly. Going from lowest to highest level, I’d guess the list looks something like:
- Bacteria
- Insects and vermin (mice, rats, etc.)
- Fish and reptiles
- Domesticated animals raised for food/clothing/other materials
- Wild animals and birds
- Horses
- Dogs and cats
Most of us (not including myself because I’m kind of a freak) have no problem whatsoever in killing groups 7 and 6 ourselves. Group 5 is commonly killed for both sport and eating, and 4 is so common it’s industrialized. But the latter is where people start to balk, which is why you have vegetarians (excluding of course the veggies who avoid meat for health reasons, less for their ethics).
I originally switched groups 3 and 4, but on thinking about it, there are actual laws against killing wildlife, and we have certain rules even for those wild animals who are deemed fair game (literally). I also think many of us who regularly eat meat will eschew killing a wild deer or swan or bear, even though all of these can be eaten. Birds are in an unusual position; many kids with BB guns will shoot at birds, and of course they’re hunted and eaten. But there’s something special about birds; they fly, they sometimes seem to many to be too lovely and musical and ethereal to kill. It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird, as Atticus Finch said. (But he didn’t have a problem with killing Blue Jays.)
Next are horses. I put them in their own category because we have a special relationship with them. (And no, I don’t mean that way! :D) We have a long history with horses; they are ridden and pampered and have served us for generations and generations. They are extremely expensive to own and are feted for racing feats. Some people eat horse meat, and they have other uses (presumably still including glue?), but in general, I think much of society looks on the horse as too valuable, perhaps (on an unconscious level) even too noble, to kill lightly.
And finally, we have dogs and cats. Other animals are pets, of course: guinea pigs, goldfish, mice, birds, rabbits. But they have nothing on dogs and cats for us. Millions and millions of us live with them and take them into our homes, we care for them, we cuddle them, we get to know their quirks and recognize their body language as much as possible; above all, we love them and many even believe they love us back, in their way. Sure, it may be a version of the ‘pathetic fallacy’ but that belief is still extraordinarily strong to many who’ve felt a fuzzy head suddenly come up to nuzzle us when we’re low. There’s pretty much only one reason and method for killing them that’s considered appropriate by most of us: if they’re very ill and suffering. Even then, most of us don’t put a bullet in their heads: we give them a gentle injection and let them fall asleep. And many of us grieve for our lost friends.
I think killing a dog or cat for any other reason feels like a betrayal of the unspoken pact we made when we let these animals into our homes. Sure, in the end, they’re animals like all the rest and so an absolutist may think, “what the hell’s the difference? you’re a hypocrite if you don’t equate Fido with cows!” But it is different for our culture, and those who ignore that difference seem rather cold (if they’re just defending the practice) or – in the case of the freaks in the OP – outright nutters.
