Ranting about stupid dog ownership

[badger]

Firstly, I'm sor sorry to hear about Leia. It's always so so hard to say goodbye.

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I've sat back and watched the thread morph into something rather nasty, and I'm actually quite sad about it. It always catches me by surprise when I find certain people that I had respect for say rather crude and pointed remarks.

We're so quick to judge other species or certain breeds doing bad things when all we have to do is look at the human race and see all the damage we've done to the planet and all things on it. WE created the pit bull, WE created domesticated cats. WE destroy habitats. WE've made animals and plants extinct.

We shouldn't take one brush and paint one particular breed or species the same colour. Every animal and plant is unique and while there are similarities, they are not all the same.

I don't think there's ever going to be an argument or a line of thought that everyone agrees to. And everyone's entitled to their own opinions, but it just shocks me to see some people who I had respect for make outright comments that really aren't warranted.

[PamNY]

Deborajen, I'm so sorry you lost Leia. It's always hard to lose a family member.

I don't think this thread is so terrible. In my bulldog group the co-moderator calls them "spirited discussions" (even when she's shutting them down) and I think that's a good description.

Whether negative or positive, relationships with animals arouse strong feelings, and that's just reality. I enjoyed reading the discussion about outdoor cats, and I like reading dog breed-specific discussions because I want to know what people think, even if I don't agree with them. As I mentioned upthread, I do think keeping discussions constructive is better because it's more educational, but it's not realistic to expect that all the time.

I have been thinking a lot lately about what humans do to birds. I've been watching a red-tailed hawk nest which started with three babies. The nest is in a park bisected by a busy highway, and the juvenile hawks don't yet fly high enough to be 100% safe crossing the highway. Some of my fellow hawk watchers have been frantically trying to get "slow" signs put up on the highway, and more enforcement of the speed limit. Heartbroken as I am over the loss of the two beautiful youngsters, I think those responses are just an emotional desire to "fix" something that can't be fixed. If red-tails nest in New York City, they are going to face risks, just as they would in the woods.