"The root of all animal cruelty lies in the ownership of animals."

Judy Stone said this to me several years ago, and at the time I thought to myself, "Yes, that's an interesting take on it", and I thought about it for a wee bit, and thought that I understood, but I really did not comprehend at the time the significance of what she had said.

That sentence has niggled about in my head for a long time, and every time I see a chained dog, it pops up again. Every time I read the endless columns of puppies and kittens for sale, and dogs and cats that need new homes, it is there in my mind. Every time I hear of any person who for whatever reason keeps a tiny dog in an apartment and forces it to use a litterbox or newspaper because it never goes outside, I think about it again. I think about it when I see shock collars for sale in pet stores, when I see live fish in tanks in Wal Mart, when I see a four month old puppy with mutilated cropped ears ridiculously taped up on its head, every time I see a dozen eggs or a package of shrink wrapped meat go through a grocery till, and I thought about it especially when I watched on television people in Asia stuff live chickens into gunnysacks and bury them with bulldozers, still struggling and kicking. All this because they may have been infected with a disease that could harm humans.

Dr. Danten has expressed my feelings so very accurately and completely. I respect his decision to never own another animal after his old cat has died. I wish I could say the same, but it seems every time I turn around there is another suffering animal with no one to help. Chained dogs, dogs dumped on highways and backroads, cats left behind in apartments or on the streets in frigid weather, thin, scared, frostbitten...

If a genie popped out of a bottle tomorrow and said to me "Jen, I can grant you the wish of an end to all animal suffering, but it means that you will never own pets", I would say "Go for it!"

But there are no genies in bottles, so we humans must advocate for a kinder world, and hope that one day humans will cease owning other species.