For the love of animals

It is funny how many a pet lover can love dogs but absolutely hate cats  or vice versa.

It is a story that I have come across often enough; more so, over the holidays with my family.

“I really like dogs,” said my nephew P. “But I hate cats.”

Of course, the conversation we were having was about my two-month-old adopted cat Pepsi.

I was extolling the virtues of both my five canine companions and my one feline companion.

The reactions in the family were quite biased and in favor of the dogs, that’s because we grew up with dogs, I guess.

But if there is one thing that a person can learn from living with all sorts of animals, like I have, it’s that if we give the pet a chance  all of them can really be great companions.

I can vouch that pets teach us something new every day.

And, for me, I have learned much from Pepsi over the last two months.

First, she is a good cat and much to my surprise she really likes hanging out with people.

I used to think that cats were snooty sort of pets that only shared love when they felt like it  not when people wanted them to show it.

Activists from Earth Island Institute also joined the protest

But Pepsi has changed this all for me. She comes when we call her and she truly loves to cuddle.

As I write this, I am actually eyeing another cat companion for Pepsi. We spotted an abandoned kitten near our house and I am of the mind that perhaps we still have space in our house  more so in our hearts for another kitty.

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Protests are many and the manner by which people protest is getting bolder even here in the country. I am not the type of person who believes that protests are the best way to get a message across  but sometimes it is the only way that people will hear. I have grown up believing that the best way to get a message across is to say it through actions. But I have found out that perhaps when what we are protesting is cruelty to animals only loud protests are the way to go.

“We were able to enter the dolphin show,” said Anna Cabrera, Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) director. “We unfurled our banners which protested the cruelty of the dolphin show.”

It is truly sad that the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) granted an animal welfare permit to the traveling dolphin show. Matter of fact, in spite of protests by PAWS at the BAI, still the show went on.

It is because the show continues to be allowed that PAWS had to take more drastic measures to get it removed  or perhaps to bring across the message that shows like the current dolphin show in Cubao bring nothing good.

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A dolphin show or any traveling show with animals is not good for the animals.

Often the animals are made to live under harsh conditions so that they can perform for the crowds that come out to watch.

It is cruel and truly sad.

Here are a few reasons why the dolphin show should not be watched:

1. Dolphins in traveling shows are miserable. They swim in small tanks the whole day instead of swimming for thousands of miles like they were meant to.

2. These dolphins have been separated from their families. Don’t let the bred-in-captivity reason fool you. Dr. Naomi Rose, senior scientist for the Humane Society International, in her essay “The Myth of Good Marine Parks,” says, There’s the pesky fact that, despite an active breeding program, a substantial proportion of the dolphins in these facilities were nevertheless captured from the wild. They were caught either in US waters (where the law permits captures under certain circumstances, although none have occurred since 1993) or in foreign waters (the dolphins are typically imported from overseas marine parks which have actually performed the dirty work).”

“The cruel and indifferent exploitation of wild dolphins we have been witnessing in the Solomon Islands is the direct consequence of the well-meaning visitor at a (US) dolphin show buying his or her admission ticket. There is a clear line connecting the two. The only way to break the connection is to stop buying the tickets. Don’t provide the incentive, however remote it may seem to you, for dolphin captures half a world away.”

3. Chlorine in the dolphin pool is not good for the health of the dolphins and eventually blinds them. The funny thing is that the dolphin show organizers deny that there is chlorine in their pools and that they use seawater. PAWS provided me photos of the pool of the dolphin shows held in 2006 and 2007. The color of the water in those photos is the same blue as that of a commercial hotel pool and it clearly tells us that that is chlorinated water. Seawater is not bright blue like that when placed in a small pool.

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If you love dolphins, don’t watch the dolphin show.