Precious Beasts...

The unique attachment that binds us to our pets is often qualified as a sad, soppy anthropomorphic mess of misplaced affection by those who have never felt such a bond. How to explain the ties of love for a supposedly lesser being – a ‘mere’ animal - when all should revolve around the superior species ; mankind ? Such feelings almost need apologetic justification, having somehow deprived our human relationships of their due quota of respect and concern. Anything that detracts from human occupations and preoccupations is an affront to our status, and that which draws attention away from our position on centre stage should be frowned upon. How to describe the sentiments involved in this curious proximity with creature companions, feelings so simple yet oddly complex? These are frequently brushed aside as inferior emotions ; inappropriate and distasteful. No animal could surely be worthy of such consideration and care and to believe so is wrong… Affection for or from an animal is duly dismissed as irrelevant and irreverent when compared to the superior relations man entertains with his fellow beings. And yet here is a loving tie unlike any other, all the purer for the fact that it indeed concerns a simple being, affectionate but never affected, sociable but not seeking social validation, hedonistic but not excessive or self-destructive. Animal simplicity somehow makes us more human and whole and when that cruel moment of separation comes, as surely it must, we feel bereft, overwhelmed by a loss that cannot be expressed. We must bear the pain and sadness within, instinctively knowing that any voiced emotion risks belittlement or reasoning into silence. « It was just an animal… » . Animal? Yes. 'Just'? Never...