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By Aislinn Ambrose-Rossow Throughout history, humans have meddled with the appearance of animals to make them more appealing to the human eye. Breeding animals to display certain visual characteristics is often detrimental to the wellbeing of the animals themselves. To obtain what a human desires in an animal, an animal may have to be bred artificially, incestually, or unnaturally - sometimes suffering from major health issues as a result.
It is uncertain when and how humans domesticated the wolf into what we now know as the dog. In 13th century to 18th century England, humans bred dogs to display certain traits, such as having muscular builds and aggression (Robitzki, 2017). A large reason behind this was the popular betting sport of bull and bear baiting. In bull baiting, a chained bull has a pack of dogs set on it with the goal to take down the animal. Bulldogs are said to have been so tenacious in their fighting of the bull that they would continue their attacks even with their entrails hanging from their sides. One dog was even documented to have all four paws cut off and still relentlessly attack the bull (“The history of bulldogs and bull baiting,” n.d.). By Emma Fendrick Tail docking is a total or partial amputation of a dog’s tail. It is illegal in areas such as England and Australia, however in the United States the legality of tail docking becomes unclear. This procedure is legal for veterinarians to perform if they have the proper license to do so. However, in many cases dog breeders are taking it upon themselves to do the procedure themselves. I will be discussing the tail docking procedure, risk factors of docking a dog’s tail and also why as a society we dock dogs’ tails. Tail docking is animal abuse and should stop being a common practice.
By Jenna Berry Have you ever walked into a humane society’s shelter area? If you have, you know the feeling you get all too well – your stomach drops, your heart swells, you feel the need to save them all… Even if you haven’t, I’m sure you can still imagine those eyes, looking at you full of hope, loneliness, and sorrow. Now imagine the worst-case scenario – those potential companions are killed, simply because no one wants them or there is not enough room in the shelter for the amount of nonhuman animals coming in those doors with you. Wouldn’t you stop that if you could? That is why I choose to support no-kill shelters, where no healthy or treatable nonhuman animals are euthanized. If a nonhuman animal has the potential to be someone’s companion, it’s worth it to give them a greater chance at life.
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This is a website about nonhuman animals, written by human animals taking a Society and Animals class at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Archives
April 2024
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