Tratando a los animales con respeto
By: Keith
La mayoría de las personas que leen este blog con frecuencia saben que yo tengo un conejito como mascota. Su nombre es Mr. B, y él es parte de nuestra familia, no un conejo ignorado que vive en el patio. Yo conozco un poco acerca de los conejos y puedo decir que, desafortunadamente, en muchas familias no son tratados con la misma dignidad que los perros y los gatos. Las personas, quienes no entienden de los conejos, tal vez piensen que sean roedores o que son animales solitarios a quienes no les importa ser dejados afuera en una conejera. Es fácil el pensar eso, también, porque los conejitos no se quejan como lo hacen los perros; es fácil mal interpretar silencio por contentamiento. Así que créeme cuando te digo que los conejitos son más inteligentes y tienen más sentimientos de los que las personas les dan crédito. Ese es el fondo de mi historia sobre el respeto a los animales.
Casi calamidad en el parque:
Cuando las personas ven conejitos sienten un impulso instintivo de acariciar los conejitos. Yo lo entiendo; a mí también me gusta acariciar conejitos. Por lo tanto, no me sorprendió que cuando al llevar a Mr. B al parque un montón de niños nos rodearon queriendo tomar turnos acariciando el conejito, eran 4 niños y una madre. Yo expliqué mis reglas para acariciar conejos, un poco acerca de su comportamiento y dejarles acariciarle uno a la vez. Cada uno lo hizo correctamente y Mr. B era un conejito contento hasta que le tocó el turno al último niño. El último niño era retardado. Yo no sé qué tipo de retardado, pero incluía tener sus brazos y piernas deformadas y una clara anormalidad mental. El estaba muy contento por poder acariciar el conejito, pero cuando movió su brazo y trató de acariciarlo, golpeó al conejito con tanta fuerza que me preocupó que Mr. B fuera lastimado. Y, en lugar de moverse con preocupación, la madre de este niño permaneció inmutada y hasta riéndose de la situación. Ella pensó que era algo tierno. Yo estaba mortificado por su indiferencia hacia mi conejo. El niño, sin embargo, se veía genuinamente preocupado por el bienestar del conejito. El tenía una cara de preocupación. La madre; seguía sentada y con risillas.
Y, ahí fue que caí en la cuenta. Los niños no le faltan el respeto a los animales más que los adultos; y, algunas veces, al menos en este caso, a pesar de la deficiencia mental y los problemas físicos, los niños verdaderamente comprenden cómo respetar a los animales mucho mejor que los mismos adultos. ¿Retardado? Obviamente. ¿Indiferente? Para nada. El niño no dijo nada, pero él estaba tan preocupado por el conejo como el conejo estaba preocupado por sí mismo. Yo había asumido que si iba a haber algún problema la madre lo hubiera anticipado y hubiera ayudado al niño a hacerlo dócilmente (tal vez sosteniendo su mano). Yo asumí incorrectamente, y esa fue mi culpa. Yo no pude dejarle acariciar al conejito otra vez, pero si le aseguré que el conejito iba a estar bien y que no debería sentirse mal por eso (no es su culpa que él no puede controlar sus extremidades). Su madre es una historia diferente. Yo quería levantarme para patearla en el ojo (mi movimiento ninja especial). Pero, en lugar de eso, mantuve mi compostura y dije “yo creo que el conejito ha tenido suficiente.” Y con eso terminó la aventura.
Los padres ponen el ejemplo:
Y lo completamente opuesto también se aplica a mi historia. Como yo lo veo, el niño retardado no era el que tenía el verdadero problema. Fue la intencionalmente retardada madre la que tiene los problemas. La mayor parte del tiempo, sin embargo, son los padres quienes deberían enseñar a los niños. Los animales pueden ser mascotas. Eso significa que ellos estan a nuestro cuidado, y nosotros tenemos la responsabildiad de entenderles. Todo el mundo ama a los conejitos (si tú no los amas entonces eres raro), y los conejitos se prestan para acariciarlos. Pero, no existen solamente para nuestro entretenimiento. Ningún animal existe solamente para complacernos (siendo los perros Chihuahuas la única excepción).
Imaginemos que tú pensaras que los cocodrilos son animales monos. Aún así respectarías sus dientes lo suficiente como para saber un poco más acerca del comportamiento de los cocodrilos antes de siquiera tratar de acercarte, ¿cierto? Los conejitos son inofensivos, pero eso no significa que nosotros no debiéramos tratar de aprender algo sobre ellos antes de agarrarles. Ellos no van a lastimarnos como lo haría un cocodrilo, pero tal vez seamos nosotros los que accidentalmente les lastimemos si no estamos bien informados. ¿El ser más poderosos acaso nos da licencia para no respetar? No. Es por eso que yo les di a todos los niños que querían acariciar el conejito una clase rápida de cómo tratarle antes de que les permitiera tocarlo. La madre debería haber estado poniendo atención y debería haber respetado la autoridad de la persona dando la lección. Ella debería haber mostrado respeto por el animal tratando de ayudar a su hijo. Te apuesto que ella hubiera tenido un poco más de respeto por Mr. B si él tuviera dientes grandes de como 3 pulgadas y la capacidad de comerse a su hijo.
Related posts:
We had a rabbit (lop) when we were living in an apartment with no backyard. It ran around the house, jumped up on our laps for pats, and we took it for walks (a little freaky I know. It was as cat or dog as you can get. Opened my eyes a bit. My previous experience with rabbits and been growing up and ferreting with my old man. Probably killed and ate a thousand or more.
I agree with you and always treat animals with respect and kindness, and teach the kids the same, and then when the time comes to eat them (as is the case with the cows I have growing in the country) ensure a swift and painless death.
Hmmm, not sure my comment suits this post now. haha. But you’re on the the money. I think that there are animals that are seen as less important, and less worthy of respect b people. When our rabbit, Joplin, dislocated her toe the vet suggested with put her down and get another one for $15 rather than amputate the toe and pay $150. Probably not such bad advice but my thoughts are that once you commit yourself to an animal you do the best for it, right up until it’s time to eat it and then… hmmm, I think I better just leave it there.
Thought provoking post as usual!
.-= Reservoir Dad´s last blog .."When They Were Up They Were Up =-.
Animals usually have no voice, so it’s easy to mistreat them– especially rabbits. Keith, way to go for educating that abusive mother. I’ll bet that if she had no concern for animal life, the life of her special needs son couldn’t be much better.
I don’t have any pets. Just very small family running around.
That is quite a ninja skill – we need video
I agree that parents need to make sure children grow up with a healthy respect for animals. I, personally, am not an animal person and wouldn’t own a pet if the decision were solely mine. However, my wife adopted a cat many moons before she met me and I make every effort to ensure that my son treats our cat with respect. The same goes with the dogs we meet on our walks through the neighborhood. He has learned to be gentle with animals, something I’m proud of.
.-= PJ Mullen´s last blog ..Do you feel like I do? =-.
When I was a kid, my dad, who as far as I know was not a vindictive or sadistic man when I was a kid, either accidentally or purposefully put some sort of insect larvae on the wood stove. I bawled like a little girl watching it roll around till it died. It sounds horrific to describe, but didn’t prevent me from burning ants with magnifying glasses a couple of years later. Never had any compulsion to hurt animals though, the hunters who used to hike by our house, I would pretend to freeze them with a “freeze gun” to keep them from hunting.
Maybe I was just an overly sensitive kid…
.-= Drew´s last blog ..Swaddling for Dads in 47 Easy Steps! =-.
Nice article, but instead of saying retarded, say disabled. That is very rude.
Luke: That’s a retarded thing to demand
Love your article and your bunny, he’s gorgeous! Too bad that mother you mentioned thought it was funny about her little boy unintentionally hitting the bunny. People with that mentality are the ones who need to be smacked. And most kids who are raised by parents with the same thought process end up being just as disrespectful – it’s quite upsetting to see these spoiled rotten self-centered kids today who value nothing but themselves. Rabbits have always been thought of and treated this way – aside from those that just don’t care, most people aren’t aware of the fact that rabbits should be a house pet and not stuck outside in a pen, or a dark basement, or garage… or are they aware of the correct way to care for them, just any other animal; you wouldn’t get a dog without knowing how to take care of him aside from buying a leash. Rabbits are NOT meant to be pets for little kids, period. And only for mature, respectful, responsible older kids. Rabbits are very social, they need attention, affection and mental stimulation. Just like humans and other animals, they all have different personalities, but the same needs as far as their mental and social well-being. They need special attention to their diets because their digestive system is very sensitive, and can easily get sick and diarrhea from the wrong diet. Like cats, they don’t require baths. Most importantly, they can be litter box trained! And for those idiots who say rabbits smell bad, well they don’t smell bad, they actually smell very good, but if their feces isn’t cleaned up after them, of course there will be a bad odor! How would your house smell if you never flushed your toilet?? This is all part of what people need to learn before getting one, which sadly they bother to find out (even with all the info on the web!) Even sadder is that the pet stores sell them to anyone, without offering any information or educational material on how to properly care for them – if they did, their bunny sales would substantially decrease, hence less rabbits would end up in shelters, or abused, neglected strays, or get killed. How sad to see such a loving, sweet animal who would make a wonderful pet if given the right care end up in a horrible situation because of human greed and stupidity. It would be equal to putting a puppy out in a pen by itself, in all kinds of extreme weather, ignoring it, forgetting to feed it, or even worse, letting it loose to fend for itself amongst predator animals, moving traffic, etc. Domestic rabbits are NOT wild rabbits, and can not fend for themselves in the ‘wild.’ (The profile of a rabbit that was recently listed for on a HRS chapter website stated that the family ‘let him loose’ because they didn’t want to care for him, and he kept coming back to their door, out of fear was scratching to be let back in, and they ignored him. The neighbor saw this and left food out for him. By the time he was rescued, he was so battered and sick that it will take over a year of the HRS folks to get him back to normal, even though he’ll have some permanent issues.) The word has to get out on this issue, because I can’t bear seeing or hearing about another one going through such terrible pain and suffering! Pet store live rabbit sales must stop, or be restricted when the local shelters are over-crowed with rabbits, as well as the rabbit breeders (who supply the pet stores and follow the same practices as puppy mills!) And if either do continue selling live rabbits, it should be mandatory that the buyer receive full specific information on the care & well-being of the rabbit, that they have to keep them indoors, and have them neutered/spayed when of age, which should be followed up by an agency, i.e. SPCA, and if they buyer doesn’t/hasn’t complied then they should get a mandatory fine or worse depending on the situation. They should have to read that information and wait a few days before actually purchasing the animal in order to make the right decision that they can follow through and if so to get ready for the animal coming to their home. I would have no problem with my tax money going to an agency to monitor such laws. My tax money goes to a lot ‘worse’ if I have to work to upkeep prisoners’ well being then I sure want to do the same for rabbits and all animals. But only in a perfect world, would the day come that animals are no longer abused & neglected – both domestic & wild!
PS: The House Rabbit Society website (www.rabbit.org) has a ton of info on rabbit care, behavior, health, etc. They have national chapters in probably every state, which all have rabbits for adoption. They do incredible work helping rabbits, rescuing rabbits, education the public on rabbits, etc. Even if you’re not a bunny owner, check out the website, it’s awesome! (If you are a bunny owner, or love bunnies, also check out Bunspace.com!)
The House Rabbit Society knows better than anyone else how intelligent rabbits are. Their members are some of the most passionate and educated folks out there. Love to hear their thoughts on Mr. B as well as their own buns!
Thank you for this story. I am glad that the rabbit was not permanently harmed, although rabbits have a long memory and so it may have been traumatized, poor little thing. I myself have owned six rabbits total ever since getting four of them three years ago, and let me tell you, that rabbits are the sweetest, cutest, most adorable, harmless, vulnerable, defenseless angels in the whole world. oh, and did I mention how totally adorable they are? I will confess, though, that I did not realize all of this right away. Unfortunately, I made some terrible mistakes with them, resulting in three of them needlessly dying, but now I have learned from these very painful experiences, and so the three rabbits I have left, are getting superior care from me. I love and adore them more than anything in the whole world.
Keith,
Speaking of R-words. . .the word “retard(ed)” hurts millions of people w/ intellectual disabilities, their families & friends. Using “retard” as a term of derision is just as cruel & offensive as any other slur. Please show RESPECT to all sentient beings, including the intellectually disabled. http://www.r-word.org/
http://www.youtube.com/EndtheRword
Lisa
LB: Sorry to offend you, retard. By the way, you might notice the person I was talking about in the article was actually retarded, a condition he has no control over. Is there a word for being willfully retarded versus disabled retarded? Either way, in one instance I mean no disrespect. In the other I mean as much disrespect as I can muster.
I know you put the parenthetical “(Chihuahuas being the only exception)” as humor, but Chihuahuas have the capacity to be loving and cute as well. I know they get the rap for being yappy and nippy, but I assure you that is the fault of the owner. With a normal dog owner, and not one that is looking for a sort of arm accessory, Chihuahuas are seriously loveable and well-behaved. I’m just surprised that an animal lover such as yourself would single out one kind to rag on.
anonymous: I’m surprisingly unbothered by my own literary licence.
Keith,
Why would I be offended by such a clever & considerate retort?
If your child was anything like the one referred to in your article, I’d like to believe that you’d rather people use a more compassionate (21st century) term like, intellectually disabled versus a (20th century) label like “retard(ed)” that has become slang for any pathetic ignoramus on 2 legs. Would you freely use “retard(ed)” (about somebody else) in the presence of a person w/ an intellectual disability? As you no doubt already know, there are dozens of alternative words for a buffoon, idiot, moron, imbecile, twit or inept jerk. Whereas “retard(ed)” was literally the gold standard of labels & accordingly, it has become embedded in federal education, health, & labor laws (in the 20th century). It’s sadly inextricably linked to the intellectually disabled among us. Rosa’s Law, which has passed the Senate, would remove the term from all legal documents. I was hoping you might consider doing the same – from your vernacular.
You said it best, “Parents, Set an Example.” Perhaps as a parent yourself, you’ll set the example for your kids & their friends – to not use the word retard(ed) as a pejorative (w/ regard to the asinine mother), & instead utilize the myriad of other words available to you, when discussing ignorant, clueless, inconsiderate boobs.
How ’bout plain ol’ stupid (is as stupid does). So many choices.
LB
Well, LB, the reason I use it at all is simply because it offends people who are overly sensitive. I don’t believe in being pressured through political correctness to ditch a perfectly good word. The word retarded isn’t like other derogatory words. “Nigger” for instance, doesn’t actually have any meaning other than to insult someone. You can’t look it up in the dictionary and find an alternate meaning. Thus, that word is derogatory. However, “retarded”, for no other reason than that it has an alternate meaning, is being completely ditched. I’m not having it. The PC police can go bully someone else. I used the word “retarded” intentionally to see just how many people are incapable of discerning the meaning and who fixate on it as if I had used it derogatorily even though I didn’t. Sorry, but I can’t have much respect for those folks. There are two meanings for the word. I really think people should start reading and stop being robotic PC boobs.
As a 11-year Bunny guardian myself (I don’t personally so much love the term “pets”, and don’t think of myself as their “owner), I really appreciate your article. All animals deserve our utmost respect and care, and rabbits in particular, being delicate and the prey of all prey animals, require vigilant gentleness. That mother made my blood boil just reading about her cold-hearted reaction.
There is so much misinformation out there about rabbits!.My rabbits have always had a littler box and the run of the house, for the most part, like a cat. And their own large play area when not given free run. I love seeing people who are conscientious about all animals and “pets”, and especially rabbits. I find it particularly endearing and cool that you happen to be a man being so caring of your bunny.
(My boyfriend isn’t so fond of the rabbit.) Thanks for a great article!
Cheers,
Jocelyn
Jocelyn: That’s interesting that you mention that. The city passed a resolution a few year ago (here in Boulder) that designated owners as guardians of their animals rather than Pet owners. Being a pet owner doesn’t bother me as there is no practical difference between the two terms. However, it might, at least for some folks, elevate their animals to a slightly higher plane. I think the intention was to get people thinking of their pets as something other than toys or objects. But, the people who thought of their pets like that weren’t going to stop just because a resolution was passed. It’s more for the gratification of the few who actually noticed. Anyway, I don’t object one way or the other. Now, how could someone dislike rabbits! your boyfriend needs his head checked!
What a beautiful rabbit, I do love people who advocate for rabbits as house member pets- they are very underappreciated as pets. My 2, litter box trained house rabbits will not allow harnesses and walks however- they chew their harness off. I’m very impressed that your bunny is so willing!
I’m sorry to hear of your park experience, it seems some people feel entitled to allow their children to do whatever due to disability, where she should have made an effort to assure that her child got to experience bunny pets in a way that was safe for them both. I do appreciate that you made an effort to console the distressed child and not add more crazy to the situation.
and whoever commented about the house rabbit society- thank you! that site has made me a much better pet owner (even if the reality is, the rabbit owns me)
Thanks for posting this. I’ve had all different kinds of pets, but I love buns the best. I’ve got two of my own. You have a lot of guts letting a group of kids pet your bunny. But you’re always going to have those people who view animals as lesser life forms – at that point you just have to be thankful you’re not them and living their hollow life.
And thanks for not being sensitive about the retard word. People shouldn’t worry about other people’s words but their actions.
You’re braver than me, my housebuns don’t go out in public. If we go outside they play in the backyard under supervision in their X-pen. And I have to people-pleasing Chihuahuas. They are also bun-pleasing and will sit and lick the bunnies for hours if I left them. But I don’t because I don’t like bunnies that smell like dogs. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, the bunnies never return the favor and lick the dogs – they know better.
I loved your article about rabbits. I’ve owned 2 rabbits and each was very different. A lot of people want to pet rabbits and mine didn’t like to be picked up. I miss them both and each lived a wonderful life. I was never brave enough to take mine outside. I do believe a lot of people think rabbits are stupid but it isn’t true. Thank you so much for your article.
It takes a real man to not only admit openly that he loves soft, cute, fluffy bunnies, but will also write very insightfully about it! Wonderful article!
Dear Keith,
You are an awesome bunny dad, and I love what you have written here.
Just a gentle note, though: Collars are not safe for rabbits. If you take Mr. B for a walk outdoors on a leash (which is risky in and of itself), then please use a harness.
Rabbits have incredibly delicate skeletons, and the neck is the weakest point of the body. If Mr. B were to be startled by something and instinctively bolt while you were holding his leash, his neck could be instantly broken. I wish I didn’t know if true instances where this has happened…but I do. Rabbit muscles are extremely strong, made for quick getaway, and the skeleton is light, for the same reason. The combination can be deadly dangerous if the rabbit is being restrained.
Keep loving that wonderful bunny, and keep sharing the good message!
Take care,
Dana
Dana: You just taught me something new. Thanks! I know bunnies are fragile and have delicate necks and backs, but it didn’t occur to me that the collar would be a problem. But, putting it together, It seem you are right. I’m going to get a harness instead. Thanks again!
Great post. However, and this is coming from an owner of two loved mini-rex rabbits, I think your point would be made more effectively if you dropped the heinous use of “retarded”. It conveys an ignorance far more profound than that of the irresponsible mother in your story.
Ben: Actually, it doesn’t. read back a few comments, and you’ll see I’ve already answered why I used it. It’s ignorant to bow to PC pressure and ditch a perfectly legitimate word. Not used in a derogatory way. The person was actually retarded. I think your sensitivity to the use of language is a little silly.