Well, once again I am home late and exhausted from work and class……

Tonight I was fortunate enough to not have to dissect the brain of a sheep. The option of studying the plastic human brain models was given and I was ever so glad to take it. I understand the premise of performing dissections and that viewing an actual organ is completely different than the plastic model, but I just couldn’t help thinking of the sheep those brains came out of.
Did you know that sheep have the ability to remember a large number of faces, including humans, for years? And they can recognize different facial expressions? (I learned this in a facinating article from National Geographic about Animal Minds)

This got me thinking about a number of things….

Warning: Rant Ahead

I have loved animals my entire life. Really and truly loved.  Many of my favorite and least favorite memories as a child have to do with our friends in the animal kingdom. My all time favorite was a gift from my aunt, a gray whale sponsored in my name. She was called Crystal and I got monthly newsletter letting me know her whereabouts and what she was up to. I hesitate to think of what her life is like now…..
Some of the worst were seeing animals in tiny cages in roadside zoos, stories of abuse from stupid high school boys, and the one that everyone usually teases me about: In elementary school we went on a field trip to the circus. I was horrified to see that when the elephants were brought out to perform that they had smiley faces painted on their rear ends. Even as sweet- little elementary school-winnie the pooh loving-Bonnie, I was indignant. I just thought it was so demeaning to the elephants (and after reading about them in the aforementioned article, I think they would be insulted). I hate the circus. Well, I guess I really just hate the way the animals are treated. Bears are not meant to ride bicycles. Laugh if you will, but I vowed that day that I wouldn’t ever go to the circus again. I haven’t. And I won’t.

Speaking of the treatment of animals, I have a friend who recently decided to go vegan, and the wheels were turning when I looked at some websites she mentioned. Many people, knowing how I feel about animals, have asked me why I am not a vegetarian. The truth is, if I thought about it very much I would be. I think that it is fairly well known that the treatment of “ food” animals is quite atrocious. I will admit to crying a little when seeing chickens stuffed every which way into cages on a semi or being eye to eye with a cow in a trailer off to slaughter. 
Blake and I are almost vegetarian most of the time anyway. We eat meat maybe two or three times a week and we only buy turkey products. After some discussion we’ve decided to gradually go veggie, starting with cutting out meat at home. Our first goal is to eat more healthily. Ideally, we would like to eat mainly organic or locally grown foods, including things like eggs from free range chickens (of course on our budget we will probably be eating only top ramen), so we haven’t gone vegan. Am I totally vegetarian? Not yet. Will I shun those meat eaters around me? Of course not! I do love a pepperoni pizza or turkey meatloaf!

My my my…. give me a blog and I will write on it!

I’m sure some of you will be thinking this and I’d just like to sum the whole thing up: People have insinuated that I care more about animals than I do about humans, which is certainly not the case.  This is what I believe - Our humanity lies in the way we treat those around us. To be truly human is to act humanely.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 at 10:19 pm and is filed under dog days. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.