Rubystars wrote:
> "Rat & Swan" > wrote in message
> <snip>

>> And will your grandson be neutered and kept indoors?

> Rat I wasn't going to say anything up until you said this. Are you opposed
> to neutering cats and keeping them indoors?

While they are companion animals? No. I strongly recommend it.

> Those are two things which are
> strongly in the interest of cats!

I agree -- the interest of cats kept as pets. They are not in the
interest of cats who are free.

The poster claimed her cats were no more controlled than her
children. I doubt this very much, if for no other reason than, in
most cases, human children grow up, leave home, and develop lives
of their own. The basic wrong, in the AR concept, in keeping
(and breeding or neutering ) cats and other pets is that we have
made them permanent dependents -- whether as slaves or food or
pseudo-"children". Obviously, the well-cared-for (not pampered )
pet, or even better, companion animal, will have a much better life
and welfare than a battery-cage hen, a calf in a veal crate, or
a fighting dog. That is good for that pet. But he/she has a better
life _at the whim of his/her owner_. The owner could as easily have
abused or neglected him/her -- any episode of _Animal Precinct_ or
_Animal Cops_ ( or a stint in rescue ) will show how bad it can get.

What ARAs believe is that the basic master/pet relationship is
morally wrong. The life of the animal should not belong to the
master -- even the kind master. The animal should own his own life.
That does not mean the human cannot have a relationship with the
animal -- something like Jane Goodall's friendship with her
chimpanzees or the relationships in _Never Cry Wolf_. Those people
didn't just observe at a distance; they touched and interacted with
the animals -- but they did not control them. Humans who go to places
(like the Galapagos Islands when they were first discovered) where
the animals have not had contact with humans before, are often amazed
that the animals do not fear them and run from them. Fear of humans
is a learned behavior in wild animals. Not that we will live in a
Disney world or a Dr. Doolittle world. But we can have a much more
friend-like relationship with animals who are neither our prey nor
our possessions.

Rat