HumanAnimal Relationships in Transformation by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030852771
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

4 Abusing Animals

The many ways in which companion animals serve humans make it very difficult to think straight about the relationship people share with them. There are moral, legal, and social confusions about what even constitutes abuse—and such confusions function at local, national, and international levels. Furthermore, it seems as if conflicts arise even in basic considerations about the nature of our relationship with companion animals: where does “use” end and “abuse” begin? What types of treatment of companion animals are ethical, and which are not?

As mentioned previously, the bond between human and nonhuman animals is characterized by asymmetry and ambivalence. In his seminal book “Dominance and Affection: The Making of Pets,” Tuan (1984) described our relationship with companion animals as driven by opposing, co-occurring states: kindness and cruelty. Humans love these creatures, Tuan states, but do not abstain from molding them to fit their own fickle preferences—often at the cost of the well-being and quality of life of these animals. Our affection to companion animals is therefore deeply intertwined with welfare issues. This notion can be observed already at the stage of breeding domesticated animals. In an ongoing struggle between fashion and function, people shape animals to match their own expectations and their own perceptions of (nonhuman) beauty. In contemporary world, fashion seems to be prevalent (Tuan 1984; cf. Ghirlanda et al. 2013). A tendency to select companion animals for cuteness and a juvenile look seems to be ubiquitous across cultures—but it is also the culprit of many health and welfare issues. A particularly glaring example can be found in dogs: selecting for neoteny ushered in the popularity of brachycephalic (i.e., short-muzzled) breeds such as pugs, Boston Terriers, bulldogs, boxers, as well as Cavalier King Charles spaniels among others. Their body conformation, perceived as cute by many humans, is responsible for a variety of adverse medical conditions influencing day-to-day welfare. These conditions include respiratory problems and inability to effectively blink, making the eye prone to injury and ailments—but perhaps the most disturbing and well-known example of “cruelty by affection” concerns the Cavalier King Charles spaniels. Their disproportionate skulls are often too small for the brain, leading to overcrowding the base of the skull and putting pressure on the spinal cord. Dogs with such conditions are sentenced to recurrent or permanent suffering and simultaneously experience low quality of life. Should the breeders be considered cruel, then—as Tuan (1984) implies—or are dog fanciers merely oblivious, failing the animals they love by lacking in knowledge and insight? Yet even if the latter is true, a certain kind of ignorance possibly constitutes abuse rather than merely neglect.

Perhaps the problem lies in how the distinction between these two types of harm is made. As Arluke (2006) rightly pointed out, abuse is typically linked to intent and considered more serious than neglect. An abusive act is deliberate, while the lack of direct intentions is labeled neglect. Furthermore, attributing higher importance to abuse over neglect can certainly be traced down in legal systems of many countries, including the United States of America and Poland among others.

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