Blog 5

It is hard for me to pinpoint how the past semester volunteering at the PSPCA influenced the work we did in class, because volunteering and fostering at animal rescues has been a significant part of my lifestyle since childhood.  I do not think it altered my perceptions of non-human animals (at least not in any remarkable ways), however I do think that the course material we covered influenced this specific round of volunteering for me.

            While I have always thought about the moral status of animals, the ways they are viewed in society, and so on, I have more or less volunteered at animal shelters and rescues with one central focus: to brighten that day for another animal.  After studying various takes and philosophies on companion animals, I began to see a greater picture with my volunteering.  I’ve thought about the ethical standpoint of pets from time to time throughout my life, but I don’t think I’ve ever evaluated the morality behind the breeding and keeping of pets to the degree I have been this past semester. The in-depth pieces we read on companion animals like Bernard E. Rollin and Michael D. H. Rollin’s “Dogmatcisms and Catechisms: Ethics and Companion Animals” really influenced the way I tried to understand companion animals at the PSPCA.  It’s always disturbed me how little people know about other animals to begin with, and hearing the Rollins’ comparison about how people need licenses and classes to buy a car or gun but nothing to adopt an animal really made me view the animals at the PSPCA in a different light.  I began to feel empathy for these animals in a completely different way than before… Would they get adopted by someone who doesn’t know or even care about them? Would they be abused? Or maybe there’s a chance they’ll find an amazing home.

            Our studies this semester have expanded my mindset on companion animals on so many levels. Never before have I pondered over how to give an non-human animal voice.  And now I find myself trying to speak and connect with animals on a much deeper level… to let them speak freely without putting words into their mouths… to look at them as individuals and learn to understand their personal wants, needs and desires.  I’ve always thought that the greatest form of expression was verbally, but perhaps that is not the case.  Mr. Bones couldn’t talk, but we could understand his feelings, but could there be a way to understand an animal on a deeper level without speaking for them? These thoughts are evidently influencing my daily life and with it the animals I encounter at home, at the PSPCA, while dog-walking, and so much more… even humans, who cannot extensively communicate, like my sister.

            This class has ultimately influenced the way I think about all of our relations, within and without communities and interspecies, and hence my actions are slowly changing as well. The PSPCA gave me a chance to explore some of these new thoughts by turning my experiences there into more than just visits with animals to brighten their days.  They influenced me to just be there with them and to listen and connect to them.