Some people say that we shouldn't "anthropomorphize" animals. That is, we shouldn't ascribe human characteristics to lesser creatures.
The people who say this are usually "professionals" and "experts." Folks who are trained in these matters. Folks who make their living in the use of animals.
These people say that animals can't feel emotion. We're silly to think they can, they're just animals.
Emotions. Fear, joy, love. No, I guess I've been silly when I thought I've seen a terrified dog, or a cat who rubbed against my leg purring. That dog that ran and leaped at a Frizbee, it wasn't happy to be playing. Ridiculous. The dog that ran past one person and to another, greeting him with "kisses," didn't really have any idea that the person was his own, wasn't showing love, attachment and recognition. The cat who meowed loudly on the return of "her" owner wasn't expressing loneliness. That's just silly.
How can anyone say that animals feel no emotion? Isn't that the ultimate egotism to deny that another living thing can feel what we feel?
Or is it something more, something worse? Is it that, in diminishing recognition of the cognitive and emotional life of another creature, humans can feel (!) justified in causing that creature pain, in separating it from its family, in using it and deciding when and how to end its life?
It's "just an animal."
As are we.
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