Humble Gratitude by Paulette Dean
Executive Director, Danville Humane Society Perhaps you recently saw two videos that had been posted on YouTube. In one, a dog in Japan refused to leave his hurt friend, another dog. He actually led rescuers to the other dog. In the other one, a dog is seen pulling another dog that had just been hit by a car out of traffic. As I go into schools to talk about kindness to animals, I tell a true story about how a woman’s cat helped keep a parakeet safe from a neighbor’s cat. In my own experience, when my cat , Dusty, died, my dog, Katey, mourned her loss. I have had many other similar experiences. Recently, one of my cockatiels became very sad when my parrotlet died. I have also noticed how happy my cats are to see each other when one has returned from a visit to the veterinary clinic. I have always known, but now I really, really know that animals have emotions. It is difficult to gauge, or even know, how deep animals’ emotions are. It is even hard for us to completely understand what another human is feeling because of our different spheres of reference. Since we cannot communicate orally with animals, and their natural behaviors and characteristics may not be like ours, we simply cannot know the depth of their emotions.
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Sometimes, what an animal is feeling is quite obvious. We have seen dogs with embedded collars in their necks suddenly “come alive” when the collars are removed. They had been quiet and subdued, and then begin wagging their tails and even running joyfully when the object of the pain is gone. A few years ago, someone walking on the Riverwalk brought an abandoned ferret to us. Several days later, another ferret was found in the same area. The two ferrets greeted each other happily. A cat who had been brought to us by his owners became very quiet, and even depressed-looking. We found out that his owner had kept his brother, a cat he had lived with for six years. We carefully screen potential adoptive homes because we want to do everything that is in our power to ensure that all the physical needs, as well as the emotional needs, of the shelter animals will be taken care of in their new homes. The law can make you feed, water, and provide shelter for your animals, but it cannot make you love them and value them as sentient creatures with feelings and emotions. Animals have emotions. Perhaps their happiness or their sadness isn’t on the same level as ours. However, we do any animal a grave disservice when we assume that since we do not understand their emotions, the emotions do not exist.
Cherry The dog is a youngish, female spaniel mix. Her name could be Precious or Sweetheart because she is those things, but we have named her Cherry.
For more information, please contact Danville Humane Society, 434.799.0843 www.showcasemagazine.com
| APRIL 2011 | Showcase Magazine 37