Animal rights or Animal welfare?
In our Demons and Deities series we mention non-supernatural creatures periodically as part of the daily lives of our characters. Throughout the series, we often mention dogs, cats, horses, and other livestock and their place in our fictional world.
Knowing Demons and Deities takes place in this world in a parallel universe, what does this have to do with our world and how are the two connected?
In our nation and around the world, laws being pushed which bring up issues our characters would feel the need to fight against.
So, the difference.
Animal welfare is exactly what it sounds like. It’s about the care, housing, and treatment of animals, wild or domestic, which come into our care. Animal welfare wants to ensure humane treatment of all animals, even if said animal is being raised for food, or hunted, or kept as working animals or entertainment for us. It’s about a connection and knowledge of our food supply. It’s about caring.
Animal Rights, on the other hand, have the ultimate goal of wanting to end any and all interaction between humans and animals. They would rather see an animal dead than owned. PETA, one of the largest animal rights groups in existence, has one shelter which currently possesses a 98% kill rate. Now, we fully understand that not animals can be saved or should be adopted, but this is extreme. Unfortunately, the HSUS, The Humane Society of the United States, is a bedfellow of PETA helping the government push through their laws and agendas. (This is not to be confused with your local humane societies.)
These, and many other animal rights activists and activist groups are responsible for violent terrorist acts against people who in all actuality treat their animals well. Why? Because they don’t agree with anything outside their agenda. They are often cruel and hateful, not only to adults who are truly doing their best for the animals in their care, but towards children. Their love of life ends where the human race begins as many would rather see a child die, than a person use an “aversive” training tool to keep their dog safe.
How does this relate to Demons and Deities?
Easy. Several of the characters own pets, live on farms, or simply have a love of animals in general. In Demons Among Us, Charles and Miranda have two American pit bull terriers and a tabby cat. Selena has a standard poodle and a Main coon cat. Leilah and Devon have a cat, a flying fox (a type of bat), an iguana, and two rats. Johnathan has a horse farm and several dogs, possibly a couple cats though they aren’t mentioned. While none of these animals makes a serious appearance, they are mentioned because of the positive impact they have on the lives of their owners.
In the upcoming Flowers and Bones and Death in a Headlock, Rosalind’s family has a small homestead farm to provide a decent portion of the food for their family. She also ends up with two familiars, one of this world, one of another.
In the upcoming Dancing with Demons, Katalin’s world relies on the power of horses. She also has a pet companion, not of this world.
Now we knit the two together. Animal rights activists have woven their way into every aspect of the government. While it’s not a topic addressed in the books, the laws that are being pushed through would seriously compromise our characters, just as it’s doing to people in the real world. Laws that state how many pets you can have, not they have to be well cared for regardless of the number. Laws which dictate the types of pets you can have, right down to the breed or breed mix. And it doesn’t always matter if that’s what they are, often times, they just have to look the part. Laws that legislate good breeders out of business because they can no longer afford to preserve and improve the breed they love. Laws which strangle out and suffocate small farms because they can’t afford to stand up against the big AG corps.
Laws which limit the tools you have available to train your dog with. (This side note is a rant of Z. The training tools themselves are not evil. They have a place. No one training method works for all dogs. No one tool works for all dogs. Like everything else, this should be about accurate education, not banning or legislating.)
People need to pay attention to these laws. Even if they don’t affect you now, they will in the future. These laws are a form of tyranny and oppression. While they may not seem major in the scheme of all of things going wrong in our world, for many of us, our animals are the one thing that keeps us sane, for all of us, our food sources keep us alive. But life without the comfort of our animals isn’t a life I want to live.
