What is your favorite animal? My answer without thought when I read this was, my dog. I was tempted to just type my dog and be done with this post however, I got to thinking, and now I am not sure about my answer.
Oh Don’t get me wrong my dog is my second best friend, my first is Shanna. I told my middle child this about a month ago and he nodded his head and said that made sense. There is a great book I read earlier this year titled, “Some we Love, Some We hate, and Some we Eat”, written by Hal Herzog. Hal is an expert on the psychology of human-animal relations and teaches at the university. I loved this book it’s a great read however, the book made me become a vegetarian. I also love that Hal studies and teaches this subject. Its important but, (there is always a but) aren’t humans animals? The answer is yes humans are animals.
Humans argue that the superior intellect of the human distinguishes humans from animals but I would argue that humans are not really much more intelligent than any other animal out there. Dolphins, Elephants, Ravens, pigs and chimpanzees all give humans a run for their money when it comes to intelligence.
The fact that humans have approached other animals as superior skews the scales and I think has affected the way humans have lived on the earth. Instead of being stewards of the earth and part of the animal kingdom the human animal has killed more humans than any other animal on the planet except for the mosquito. If humans were a more humble and compassionate animal I wonder how much different would the world be?
Anyways my favorite animal on earth is Shanna then my dog storm.
The Corrigan Encore 