Day Sixteen

Respect.

One word. Seven letters. Two syllables.

Yet so many people do not have any, for themselves or others. I personally do not understand how that happens, but it does. If I have lost my respect for someone, I still treat that person with respect. Just, I'm more guarded. That person is now a "frenemy." But I won't go around slandering that person's name.

Animals.

It sounds silly, but one should always treat animals with respect. If I accidentally step on my dog's tail I always apologize and give him a hug, even though he doesn't understand my words or what a hug means. It helps me feel better. If I stepped on his tail and kept going, I'd feel guilty.

Likewise, if I accidentally poked my horse's eye while putting on his bridle, I apologize and give him a kiss on his nose.

I don't tease animals. Getting bitten hurts, and could have consequences. If a dog bit a person, that dog could be euthanized even though he was provoked to bite.

Learn to read an animal's body language. Look at the ear set, the way the animal is stationed. I learned within a couple of days how to tell if a large cat was angry. It's obvious. The ears are flattened, the teeth are bared, the mouth is probably open. The eyes are narrowed.

That's why it bothers me so much when people attack animals, or say that the animal attacked the person unprovoked. That does not happen with a healthy animal.

I took a class last winter, and I have mentioned it in passing on this blog before. The class was called "Ecology of Hunting and Fishing" and it revolved around hunting and fishing (Oh really? I couldn't tell from the name) and its impact on the environment. I found the class to be pointless, actually, because we focused so much on the history of hunting and fishing and not the sport in modern times. It was interesting. Just, the description was misleading.

Anyway. So in this class, we discussed animal treatment and gun safety. We weren't allowed to practice shooting, but we talked about guns a lot and how they were used, and the different types. Birding, the dogs used, and so forth. One constant trend through all this was respect. The professor stressed that while it was okay to take a picture with your kill, the kill had to be cleaned up first. There shouldn't be blood visible and the picture had to be classy.

For example, say I shot a deer. I should wipe up the blood and make sure the tongue was inside the mouth. I then needed to kneel in front of the animal and hold it up using its antlers. I couldn't just take a picture of the deer lying on the ground all bloody. I couldn't pretend that I was riding it, or hook it up to a harness and "drive" it. If I shot a bird, I needed to go and retrieve it. It wasn't fair to the bird to leave it lying on the ground. What if it was still alive but severely injured?

That's why, here at the Center, I treat all the animals, dead or alive, with respect. I don't tease the tigers (that's an exceptionally dumb idea anyway) or pick up the singers and spin around with them. If an animal doesn't want to do something, I don't force it. For example, Foldo, one of the singing dogs, is very shy and keeps his distance from new people. I had to do enrichment with him one evening. I decided to put peanut butter in a paper tube. Samara loved her treat, but Foldo wouldn't come near me to pick it up. I didn't corner him and make him take it. Instead, I rolled it in his general direction and left. If I cornered Foldo, he might bite me. And it would be my fault.

When I prep chickens, I try to treat them with respect. I'm not a fan of chickens, but even the dead ones were once living. They ate, they searched for a mate, they slept, they lived. I do what I need with them - some cats don't like to eat the feathers so a few need to be skinned - and that's it. I don't hold them up and make them dance.

Likewise, rats. I hate rats. I can't stand how they smell, and their claws... euuugh! Still. They were alive. I don't throw the rats down on the table to prep. I put them down gently. I hate when I accidentally break their bones (sometimes I get frozen rats and I need to straighten them out. Rat prep involves cutting open the abdominal cavity to make sure everything is fresh). When I finish prepping a rat, I put it down in a bucket. I don't throw it, I don't drop it. I put it down.

I'm very fortunate that at the Center, the staff feels similar. While it's okay to take out the heart and examine it while cutting up large whole prey, the Center doesn't condone taking a picture with it or making a joke out of it. The heart, folks. It kept this animal alive.

Just. Treat each other with respect. Animals, humans, dead things. They all deserve your respect.