I bring this up because I showed the picture to my grandmother right after it was taken and she said of Torty (the tortoiseshell in the picture) that “this one looks like a vicious cat.”
I’m not sure what that means. I think now I’ve been bitten by more cats, dogs, and rabbits than I care to think about. I’ve also been kicked by a turtle. I’ve been scratched and some of them had really sharp claws, and I have the scars to prove it. But each and every incident has one thing in common: the animal didn’t know I was trying to help him. All he saw was a big old scary human hovering over him with a carrier, collar, or in some cases my huge scary hands. Incidentally no permanent injuries resulted, I don’t have rabies, all fingers are still accounted for.
I’ve had many close encounters of the rodent kind. I’ve had more than one really nasty spider bite. Even after all of this there’s no non-human animal who can scare me the way a human being can. Animals react to certain situations—me reaching for them, me accidentally stumbling through their web at night or accidentally setting my hand on them. Carnivorous animals sometimes pursue other animals in ways that seem incredibly cruel to us as observers. I’ve never encountered a lion in real life, but I imagine if I did and the lion thought I looked tasty, that would be pretty terrifying. Yet, seriously, human beings are scarier.
Anyway a couple of things spurred me to think about this topic. One was a brief mention of Sharon Stone wearing a huge fox fur drape which surely caused the deaths of 30 foxes. In the comments on it someone said that people should not be against the killing and skinning foxes for their fur because foxes are “vicious.” Vicious how? Because they eat smaller animals? The person making that comment likely eats animals, and far more than any fox. Because a fox doesn’t want you to pick him up and give him a hug? Guess what. I don’t want strangers or large creatures of other species to rush up and grab me either.
The other thing that spurred my thinking about this was Gary from Animal Writings talking about the bad qualities some humans ascribe to animals, among them the term “mean” which led me to vicious. If you’ve ever been unlucky enough to observe first hand the workings of a slaughter house, or more likely watched on tape as hundreds of animals are forced forward to their excruciating deaths, then you know how badly slaughter house workers react when an animal they are trying to kill fights back and actually manages to bite them or kick them. The animal is vilified, called vicious of mean for doing something that comes to all of us instinctively, trying to save his own life, fighting desperately against being ripped apart physically.
Hunters use the word vicious to describe a bear or boar who, wounded and in agony, lashes out in a futile attempt to drive away his killers. But if someone were trying to kill me, I would react much in the same way, first I’d try to get away, and if I found I could not get away I’d try to frighten my attacker off, and then I’d really try to injure them, to give myself some kind of slim chance of escape, and failing that I’d try to kill them. Some of us think we would not, and in fact many animals die quietly in shock and pain, unable even to turn and look at their killers. But I do think most of us, if we still had the strength in us would fight back.
But it’s just so accepted to many people that we kill animals and eat them that they are unable to process the concept that the animal wants to live, just like a person wants to live. Their reaction isn’t empathy, but outrage. “Your role is lie down and die, how dare you do anything else?”
It confuses me though. Do we really have to prove an animal is noble and has a pleasant personality for that animal to have any right to live? I don’t think we should kill alligators, not because I want to cuddle with one, but because they have their own intrinsic value, because they are alive and want to live, and because it’s not my role to play clean-up cop to the natural world. Let alligators be alligators and do what they will. I’m smarter than an alligator, I can read philosophy, I can ponder ethics, I can think about the impact of my actions on others and on the world around me. So I can choose to be vegan and I do.
I’m not sure what that means. I think now I’ve been bitten by more cats, dogs, and rabbits than I care to think about. I’ve also been kicked by a turtle. I’ve been scratched and some of them had really sharp claws, and I have the scars to prove it. But each and every incident has one thing in common: the animal didn’t know I was trying to help him. All he saw was a big old scary human hovering over him with a carrier, collar, or in some cases my huge scary hands. Incidentally no permanent injuries resulted, I don’t have rabies, all fingers are still accounted for.
I’ve had many close encounters of the rodent kind. I’ve had more than one really nasty spider bite. Even after all of this there’s no non-human animal who can scare me the way a human being can. Animals react to certain situations—me reaching for them, me accidentally stumbling through their web at night or accidentally setting my hand on them. Carnivorous animals sometimes pursue other animals in ways that seem incredibly cruel to us as observers. I’ve never encountered a lion in real life, but I imagine if I did and the lion thought I looked tasty, that would be pretty terrifying. Yet, seriously, human beings are scarier.
Anyway a couple of things spurred me to think about this topic. One was a brief mention of Sharon Stone wearing a huge fox fur drape which surely caused the deaths of 30 foxes. In the comments on it someone said that people should not be against the killing and skinning foxes for their fur because foxes are “vicious.” Vicious how? Because they eat smaller animals? The person making that comment likely eats animals, and far more than any fox. Because a fox doesn’t want you to pick him up and give him a hug? Guess what. I don’t want strangers or large creatures of other species to rush up and grab me either.
The other thing that spurred my thinking about this was Gary from Animal Writings talking about the bad qualities some humans ascribe to animals, among them the term “mean” which led me to vicious. If you’ve ever been unlucky enough to observe first hand the workings of a slaughter house, or more likely watched on tape as hundreds of animals are forced forward to their excruciating deaths, then you know how badly slaughter house workers react when an animal they are trying to kill fights back and actually manages to bite them or kick them. The animal is vilified, called vicious of mean for doing something that comes to all of us instinctively, trying to save his own life, fighting desperately against being ripped apart physically.
Hunters use the word vicious to describe a bear or boar who, wounded and in agony, lashes out in a futile attempt to drive away his killers. But if someone were trying to kill me, I would react much in the same way, first I’d try to get away, and if I found I could not get away I’d try to frighten my attacker off, and then I’d really try to injure them, to give myself some kind of slim chance of escape, and failing that I’d try to kill them. Some of us think we would not, and in fact many animals die quietly in shock and pain, unable even to turn and look at their killers. But I do think most of us, if we still had the strength in us would fight back.
But it’s just so accepted to many people that we kill animals and eat them that they are unable to process the concept that the animal wants to live, just like a person wants to live. Their reaction isn’t empathy, but outrage. “Your role is lie down and die, how dare you do anything else?”
It confuses me though. Do we really have to prove an animal is noble and has a pleasant personality for that animal to have any right to live? I don’t think we should kill alligators, not because I want to cuddle with one, but because they have their own intrinsic value, because they are alive and want to live, and because it’s not my role to play clean-up cop to the natural world. Let alligators be alligators and do what they will. I’m smarter than an alligator, I can read philosophy, I can ponder ethics, I can think about the impact of my actions on others and on the world around me. So I can choose to be vegan and I do.
2 comments:
Using "vicious" to describe a non-human animal is a label of ignorance. I've handled a number if "vicious" dog cases, and any dog behaviorists I've ever spoken to does not use the word "vicious." It's nonsense. A dog may be dangerous, but there's no malice involved.
Only humans are capable of viciousness.
I think culture does try to depict animals in a negative way to
justify the harm they endure. We need only look at children's books - and how the theme is integrated from loving pet... to
dinosaurs, insects and reptiles. That stage seems to be when
we're most likely to question eating them.
I think society has no choice but to make animals vicious "others"... if they expect to maintain the veil that hides their myths.
Animals do have interests in their own lives. And it should matter. It does to me, and that's why I'm vegan.
Thanks for a refreshing piece. :)
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