"You become responsible forever, for what you have tamed"

`Men have forgotten this truth,` said the fox. 

`But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.`

/Antoine de Saint-Exupery/

I believe that we have all read this and most of us had parents who wanted to teach us to be responsible when we were children. How is it that we forgot?

I ask myself very often this question. I always had a soft heart, since I was very little, and I always wanted to take all the stray animals home. All of them! I didn't care if that cat had only one eye, or the dog wasn't pretty. I just wanted to take them home and love them. I was a lucky kid in this aspect, I grew up surrounded by lots of animals. I never much cared for people, they always have let me down. But animals were different, they were my friends, and they have always loved me, for who I am. They didn't care what I am wearing, if I am a popular in school, or for anything superficial people seem to value so much. They just cared that I was there to tend for them.

 

For as long as I can remember I was responsible for my own animals. I had to clean up after them, water them, feed them (except for the dogs), fix their places (of course when I was very young with help). First they showed me what they need, how much food they get every day, and after this it was my responsibility. Not all the animals were mine, so I wasn't the only one caring for all we had, but I helped out with all of them. I will try explain, so you can get a better picture. For example we had rabbits, that we got for every Easter. So the rabbit I got was mine, to name, to play and to tend for and when autumn came and the rabbit grew up I helped kill it and clean it. It may seem a little harsh, but from young age I was taught that animals have their purposes, there are the ones we eat, the ones we keep for protection, and ones we keep because they are pretty (like birds, they have their use, they make your garden or house beautiful, and they cheer you up with their beautiful songs). Of course participating in the rabbits end was not obligatory, but I had a stomach for it as they say, so I did and never regretted it. On the other hand we had a really big aquarium in the house, which was my father`s pride and joy so he fed the fish, but the aquarium was very big, so when cleaning came I helped.

During my childhood we have taken in lots of animals, dogs, cats, birds, you name it, we probably had it for a period of time. Of course there were the ones we only homed for a while, like a couple of birds that were hurt, or dogs our friends couldn't take with them when they moved away and later we found new homes for them (since we had limited resources too). But we have never throw and animal on the street, no matter how much trouble was with it. Once a Saint Bernard came to live with us, it was a cute dog, but it just didn't like to be closed up. We had a big part of the garden fenced down for the dogs, we had about 2 meter high fence above the ground, and about half a meter under. This dog would dig under it, or jump above it all time, so had to keep making the fence deeper and deeper and higher and higher. At the end we even had to make a concrete floor so it wouldn't dig out. And yes it was difficult with this dog, but we never thought about just letting it go because it would have been easier on us.

 

When my grandparents dog died, we went to the shelter close to us to pick them up an other one, to surprise them. It was the worst thing for me, I got so sad seeing all those animals in small cages cooked up, hardly getting any attention. I remember I kept begging my father if we could take some home (we already had 6 dogs at that time). So the answer was no of course.

 

We did buy 2 dogs in my childhood, however most the animals we acquired came to us by faith. They just sort of walked into our lives.

 

And a couple of months ago it happened again. I have lived most of my life in a house, with a garden. But as I grew up I moved into a flat, and now with my other half we still live in a flat (I hope one day this will change, I miss having a garden). We both think keeping a dog in a small apartment is a torture, its not good for anybody, not for the dog and not for the people. So even though we both love dogs (also I love most animals, he doesn't so much, but on dogs we both agree) we didn't get one, because we didn't want to put a dog in a small apartment, we felt is wasn't fair. We also moved around some the last years, so it would have made it even harder. But a couple of months ago, one day I was coming home and I saw a dog running throw the little grass (I wouldn't call it a garden) behind our building, but then it disappeared. Couple of days later I saw it again. Then I figured out she was living in an empty half building just across us. I took her food, petted her, it was love at first sight you can say. She was very kind, no barking, just a little scared (who can blame her living on the street?). A couple of days later I showed her to my other half, and they connected too instantly. So for a week or so I took her food whenever we had some leftover, I played with her, whenever I had some time and we were discussing what to do.

Of course my heart said to bring her up and that's that. But it wasn't so simple. We are on a tight budget and I didn't feel that it would be right, what if we cant feed her? What if she gets sick and we have to spend on a vet? Having some experience I know that just the vaccines cost dearly. Knowing that next year we are moving again was also an obstacle, since with a dog to find a house its not easy, and since we dont have a car transporting her from one city to an other will be difficult too. When we struggle to pay our bills, its hard to make a decision that you bring an other hungry mouth to the table
(and she was hungry). Well at the end our hearts were bigger than our pockets, so we brought her up. Bathed her, cleaned her from flees, got the vaccines (thanks god one of us is a doctor, because like this we only had to buy the vaccines, but we didn't have to pay for the vet to give it to her), got her a leash and a collar, and she got an old towel that she declared her bed. And we live happily ever after:-)

 

 

I told you all this little stories, so you can understand how I feel about animals. I hate animal torture, I hate people that buy animals and then throw them out. I dont understand how people can be so irresponsible with an other life. For me animals, are not just things that you can get rid of when you are bored of them. They need you, even if you are not in the mood to walk them or play with them. And more importantly, its not just that we can love them, they have feelings too. They love us with all their might, and they show this to us every single day, how can we be so mean to them?

Not that long ago (unfortunately!!) I was happy that they are making progress, they make new laws against animal torture. But if you truly look at it, they are almost no use. I can see so many times on the news, or newspapers animals that they have saved from being starved or found them completely destroyed and they are nursing them back to health. Nice, nice...but this isn't enough.  The law should also have a preventive affect, and most of the times what is the punishment? If they find the person responsible? The truth is that we can make as many laws as we want, fill up a whole library with them they wont change how people treat their animals.

For this the mentality has to change, the way people think. We are all God`s creatures. How would you like to be treated like this? Throw out on the road? Starved? Beaten? Of course what am I expecting of people?! They cant even treat each other with respect, how can I ever ask them to treat animals with it, especially if they think we are the dominant race. People think they can do whatever they want to everything that is around them, animals, nature. Makes no difference to them. People tend to forget that they are not almighty. Far from it. Just for a moment use your imagination and think that one day you are out in a forest and a bear or a mountain lion, or a wolf or anything comes out of a bush...you are standing there, no gun, and you know that the animal is bigger, stronger and faster than you... are you still the dominant species? Do you still have the right to disrespect an animal? Or would you like the bear to treat you with respect? Or is it alright if it kills you, just because he can. Or think about a tsunami, or an earthquake, or a volcano eruption... can you control that? Are we so foolish to think that nature is our slave?!

 

 I see that with life becoming more and more difficult people just seem to have an excuse for throwing their animals on the street, and funny thing is that they are not even the worst one. The worst ones are the ones that are just plain irresponsible, they buy or adopt a dog and then just get bored of them, because they realize that having an animal no matter how small it is, you have to take time and effort and love to care for them. I wish people would think before taking an animal home.
And I truly wish people would think about the animal they just carelessly pass by on the street. Because its so easy to walk pass by a someone who is bagging for money on the street and its even easier to pass by a poor animals who cant even speak up for themselves.

 People think one of the biggest problem nowdays is the how many people loose their homes and end up on the streets. Yes, this is a big problem, but by far its not the biggest problem we face nowdays. Its just a big problem, and an other big problem is people thinking that animals are here for us to do as we please with them. That they are disposable. They are not! They are just like you and me, and everybody else. And what affects us, affects them too! And there are so few who stand up and fight for them.

 Where we live the situation is really bad, and unfortunately seeing a stray dog is a very common thing. Sadly there are not enough shelters, there are lots of cities that dont have one, and even less people who are willing to hold out a helping hand for these poor animals. And there is too many of them who end up dead, because they poison them, or hit them with a car, or they just starve to death. We dont have a lot, but we are happy to share it, please think about it, when you throw out some left over food after three days, that you could be filling someones hungry tummy with it. It would take nothing away from you to help someone who cant help themselves.

 

There are so many who have said it before me in a nicer way, in a better way. But the meaning is always the same. And I think the dog says it instead of me, plane and simple so everybody can understand!

 

 Thank you for reading, please comment would love to hear your opinion.