Human And Animal Relationship Essay

They bark. They woof. They roar. They quack. Some of them even speak. They hunt, they travel, and they do everything they can in order to survive. Just like us. They have always been a part of our lives, helping us, guiding us, and giving us company. In turn, we take care of them, observe them and use them to tell our stories. We also hunt them, destroy their homes and exploit them at will. Yet they never complain, unlike us.
This intricate relationship between humans and animals is truly irreplaceable, for it has developed through centuries since the dawn of mankind. In exploring this complex human-animal relationship, I will particularly analyze how throughout history, we have used animals as figures to express ourselves. I will also discuss …show more content…
For instance, we tend to consider wild exotic animals to be majestic and superior to the timid domestic animals. Karen Davis, in her article ‘Thinking Like a Chicken’, discusses this idea. She describes the unequal sense of morality that modern day environmentalists have regarding farm animals as compared to other wild animals by stating that wild animals and domesticated animals have “different moral statuses.” By stating that the wild animal’s characteristics entitle them to a “moral considerateness” which isn’t applicable for the domesticated animals, she posits the idea of inequality in the conservation of wild and farm animals. I believe this inequality results in farm animals often being mistreated and exploited as we consider them to be fundamentally our “creations.” Moreover, I believe, because these farms animals have been deprived of their basic rights, they require equal moral recognition as all other species of animals. Furthermore, I believe we get a feeling of masculinity from wild predators whose characteristics we often use to describe ourselves, whereas the names of domestic animals like cows, pigs and goats are often used as slangs. This idea can be well connected with Magic Johnson’s article ‘How to Queer Ecology One Goose at a Time,’ where he contends that nature is often used as mean or a standard of judging human beings. Karen, in her article, further explores this idea by comparing the inequality between animals with the inequality prevalent amongst genders in humans. Due to their masculine traits we consider wild animals to be superior to domesticated animals just like we consider males to be dominant over female human beings. This idea of masculinity is also common if we look at some of the major sports teams of our generation. From the Chicago Bulls, the Memphis Grizzlies, and the Carolina