The Human In All Animals

By Starlynn Costa

A golden retriever playing basketball. A tabby cat wearing a costume. A parrot taught to repeat human words. Each of these is an example of personification of an animal. It is very easy to do this, especially when we see how similar animals are to us. Like a human tanning on a white sand paradise, a lizard sits on a rock to sunbathe. Like a human who flexes their muscles for a body builder competition, a wolf makes his fur bristle in the presence of an enemy. In fact, there are far more similarities between animals and humans than there are differences.

However, no matter how cute or clever animals may act, they are not meant to be a novelty item for human entertainment and exploitation. Animals should not serve as a show, a mascot or a dress up doll. If humans give animals the qualities of a person, then animals should also be afforded the same respect a person is. This means we must observe an animal’s personal space; we should allow them to live their life in peace. For instance, myself and many others have decided not to visit zoos or aquariums. Confining animals to a tiny enclosure and allowing throngs of spectators to gawk at them is not the way to treat animals. They deserve far more respect and dignity.

Humans are careful about what animals they choose to consider human-like. Dogs, cats, and other companion animals are considered to be “part of the family.” In other words, they are accepted as members of the human family. But there are other animals we do not accept as being human-like. These are the animals we eat. Chicken is not the name of an animal, but rather the name of an item on the menu. Fish, the name of a silver-scaled and fluttery finned creature, is a name we also use in the kitchen when we fry up “fish and chips.” We try to fool ourselves into forgetting that not long ago, that bite in our mouth was part of an animal who pulsed with life; we keep the eyes, the head, or anything else that suggests a once-living being off our plate. For larger animals, we attempt to create even more distance between the lively individual and the protein on our plate. Instead of pigs and cows, they become“ham” and “steak.” We erase the cow from the beef, the animal from the food.

It is strange that, as a society, we choose to humanize some animals, but dehumanize others. There are animals we treat as puppets for our amusement, and animals we don’t even consider to be animals. This is a philosophy we follow from birth, but we don’t have to listen to it anymore. Each animal, in their own unique way, is a human - just like you and me. I am asking you, as one human to another human, to extend your compassion and respect to all animals.

Starlynn is a student athlete at the University of South Alabama. She runs cross-country and has a passion for animal rights. @starlynncosta