Reply #24: This thread really touched me...

[StellaBlue]

and was pretty well-timed, for me, personally, as I was looking on petfinder earlier at the various dogs in my area up for adoption.

I left my two adorable house rabbits back in the UK, and I am trying to decide whether to rehome another bunny or get a dog. I am going to be living in a small (like 500-700 sq ft) apartment, and working 35-40 hours a week.

ANYWAY... is it just me, or do stories like this, or moments in general when we really stop and think about animals as individuals, which anyone who's ever had a pet or even a livestock animal will tell you is just what they are... do you then think to yourself, even though 'we' don't eat dogs... that you should really be a vegetarian? Pigs are smarter than dogs, after all. And can you really look into the eyes of a cow and then go out for a burger, knowing how cattle are treated?

Anyway... I just can't help but make that connection. Maybe I am a freak, but I have more feelings about this dog than about a small child. Probably because dogs ARE so loyal and upbeat, and (unlike most people I feel that) babies are just willful, selfish little creatures. Same as us only worse. haha

But I wouldn't eat one.