This is a little off topic for an art blog (as usual)
(Try not take this post too seriously. There are plenty of important points I don’t cover, laws and safety in communities etc, and ultimately it’s just a joke. But anyway…)
I’m always amused when there’s a video of someone who has a fox or a cougar as a pet in their home and people are getting mad in the comments.
Some call the owners crazy or stupid.
Others scream “animal cruelty” regardless of the space and care afforded to the animal in the video.
And, you know, perhaps there is some merit to those views. Wild animals are dangerous and it’s enchanting to see them out in nature “where they belong”.
But the rallying cry is what makes me chuckle, and it’s the same for both comments.
“Wild animals are NOT pets!”
Cuz, yeah. They kinda are.
You do realize that there would be no such thing as “pets” or even livestock animals if some “stupid” “crazy” motherfuckers way back when, hadn’t been trying to ride the huge super strong animals that could cave our ribcage in with a kick or touch the big scary predators that could rip our throats out.
The only thing that distinguishes a wild animal from a pet, is human involvement. A dog is just as capable of being as wild and feral as a tiger is.
Did ya’ll think that domesticated animals just popped out of the ground one day?
Nah, I mean, it took 10-30 thousand years but we dom’d the fuck out of those animals.
And now ya’ll can sit back and smile dreamily as you think about horses on a beach while petting your psychotic ferret as your dog chews up the couch and your cockatiel shits on the printer.
Look, as a species, were fucking insane and we try to pet EVERYTHING. I think that’s our most redeeming quality. Forgo primal fear and the violent natural order of life and try to love and stroke all the fuzzy wuzzy critters with our soft dexterous fingers.
We got ourselves out of the wild and into the relative comfort of modern life, why not share that with creatures that don’t have thumbs?
And I don’t know if some of ya’ll of have actually been out in “the wild” aside from the occasional hike in the hills outside of L.A., but it kinda sucks. Especially, if you have to live in it. All the time. What with the constant threat of starvation, 70% infant mortality rate, exposure, disease, human poachers, and all that fun shit. Being a wild animal doesn’t make hunger and the cold bite any less.
So when peeps see a cougar in a big climate controlled house with toys, a massive yard, a family that it clearly loves and shows affection for, a steady Vet recommended food supply, and no cares in the world…
Some see an abused animal. So they pull their hair and scream “cruelty” and demand that this animal that was raised in a house all its life where it was loved and provided for and knows no other world, be thrown out into the -15 degree winter weather where it can be “free and happy”.
The humble beginnings of the Domestic House Cougar.
The ultimate answer to the dog supremist question: “What’s ur cat gonna do when somebody breaks into your house?”
Ya know, just…give it a few thousand years. We’ll get there. With modern knowledge and breeding, we can probably get that down to a few hundred years.
And yeah. Some people may die. It’s a risk even today when working with animals, domestic or otherwise.
But everybody’s gonna die anyway, House Cougars seem like a worthy cause to me…
Besides, how many people do you think died during the 20 thousand years spent trying to turn wolves into your fat potato-sack of a Corgi?
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