To find an effective, ultimate solution for many of the animal welfare and protection issues is not at all easy. Even though we are apt to consider them as really simple. If we start a debate about the cause of abandoned animals, health issues, or any other trending topic, we always hear the same tired old reasons trotted out, even if they are not even accurate or factual.
Basically, we over-simplify the nature of these complex problems and in addition, we have such strong feelings about them it is impossible to think things through calmly and dispassionately.
However, it’s vital that reality and the true nature of a problem are acknowledged so they can be tackled. You cannot just concentrate on the periphery of a phenomenon to find the root cause of all the trouble. Otherwise you are going to miss the ‘enemy’ you are fighting.
When I have a high fever for a few days, and I’m suffering pain, then I visit my doctor and may get some pills. If I go back three days later with more severe problems, I may get stronger pills. These are my external symptoms, and they are treated as such. But who knows what is really going on inside my body? What leads to all these easy-to-spot symptoms?
If we are just scratching the surface without trying to find the root cause, we will also be unable to find the remedy itself. This means recovery is certainly going to be postponed or even cancelled permanently.
The same is true in many different areas of animal welfare.
At times it can be a real challenge to break the ice and go into greater depth when we are dealing with topics which are taboo or even things we just don’t want to consider or start a conversation about. Seeking the truth can easily stir up a hornet’s nest. Not to mention that knowledgeable, reasoning debates seem to be more and more outdated nowadays. Just pop onto Facebook and check out any conversation about any controversial topic.
When any kind of animal welfare issue arises, excessive emotion also follows, at times accompanied by a deeply sentimental attitude. All dogs must be taken care of, everything needs to be done, and everything ought to be sacrificed to achieve that. Yet, there are times when life is just not that simple.
We have forgotten what we once knew of animals, wildlife, and all nature’s cruel unwritten laws.
Nature dictates savage terms and life conditions. One of the most basic yet strongest instinct is to stay alive at any cost. Conformity to this cruel competition for survival is deeply coded in the genes of each species.
On the menu of a cute leopard seal there are other seals and also cute penguins. Lions hunt down and tear apart a gracefully-moving gazelle in a blink of an eye. Certain apes kill the members of other colonies without hesitation.
Nature is both amazing, beautiful and at the same time extremely brutal and heartless. Most of the time, we forget about this vast complexity, however it is vital to know the real traits, natural behaviour and needs of animals for many reasons.
This is absolutely true with dogs. No matter how long ago domestication started, they are still animals, which should not be forgotten when we make a decision or judgement on doggy issues. Even if there is an appalling tendency to force humanlike roles onto them.
Take a look at the debate about so-called ‘dangerous’ breeds. In many countries, certain breeds are banned. Not only breeding them, but keeping them at all is prohibited, in order to reduce the number of dog attacks and protect the human race. In some cases when the regulation came into force, those dogs already alive were euthanised, and if any of these banned breeds are detected, by law they must be put to sleep. Even though we already know that the majority of dog attacks occur as a result of the irresponsibility, carelessness, and ignorance of humans. It’s easier and less complicated to ban certain breeds than to tell the majority of dog owners they are too incompetent to keep a dog, no matter how much they want one.
As the protection and the respect of animals became part of our social norms, a really sentimental image of dogs also developed.
For instance, how great is the possibility of successfully rehabilitating a rescued dog that was born out in the wild and segregated from human interaction without forming any human-canine bond? We know that these dogs have different behaviour patterns compared to those which have been socialised in the human environment since birth.
Or we could even talk about all those dogs which are born in a human environment but still not socialised, spoiled, untrained and additionally becoming mentally instable with massively aggressive inherited traits.
No matter how much you love dogs, you cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that the world is full of dogs (even if it is not their fault) which can be a real threat to others (both human and other animals) due to their traits or unsocialised nature.
What do we do with those uncontrollable dogs with serious, dangerous behavioural problems which cannot be fixed in spite of all the available rehabilitation methods? Just think about the ones rescued from dog fights.
What do we do with those dogs having serious, irreversible health conditions or terminal illnesses which can be stabilised but won’t ever allow the dog to have a full, normal life without pain or serious difficulties?
Where is that thin borderline where one chooses between letting a dog keep struggling on, and giving up, on behalf of them of course? And who has the right to decide, either on prolonging the suffering of a dog, or putting it to sleep?
Regarding shelters, we ought to take into account that keeping, handling, and rehabilitating dogs with serious behavioural or health issues takes lot of time and in most cases, even more money.
Let’s hypothesise that all the assets being sacrificed for one extra problematic dog would be sufficient to help another dozen dogs with fewer flaws and disadvantages. Keep in mind that shelters usually have limited staff, most of whom are volunteers, and very limited financial resources.
Just considering euthanasia for animals in these situations will not really make anyone popular. Putting dogs to sleep seems to be deeply incompatible within the bounds of animal protection, though these concepts do not necessarily exclude each other in certain situations, if you choose rationality over sentimentality.
There are certain deep social issues that can have a direct or indirect effect on animal welfare and protection. We are prone to neglecting to face them in case we interfere with other sensitive matters such as different culture norms, deep poverty, deviancy. All these social factors can lead to problems like animal abuse, mistreatment, insufficient healthcare, or using dogs for dog fights for instance.
Furthermore, the usual animal welfare tactics rarely work in these cases.
Problems of animal welfare which directly or indirectly stem from poverty, lack of general education, illiteracy, or substance abuse cannot be handled or fixed with simply condemning these people and put the shame on them. Criticism, no matter how justified it is, will have no effect and will never change anything for a better life of animals.
There are more sensitive, socially challenging topics underlying the surface of animal welfare issues than we are ready to admit, we don’t even want to face up to them or confront them. In most cases, sense and logic together fight our emotionally-driven urge to help animals in need.
Seeking answers and solutions embraces ethical dilemmas, and the big question is whether we are able to draw a borderline and find the proper balance.
One of the toughest things is that in many cases there is, at the moment, no good answer or decision. Meanwhile we are stuck with our tendency to over-simplify what we perceive, leading us to categorise the world in terms of either black or white.
You can be either challenged or turn blind eye to all those issues lurking beneath the surface, but in the latter case these problems and dilemmas will remain unsolved and consequently continue to cause trouble indefinitely.
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