Elephant at the Dalian Forrest Zoo
Originally uploaded by clarkalastair

At the zoo there was a performance featuring Elephants. Interesting and funny as the show was, I still felt a pang of sadness to see animals used for entertainment. I understand usage of these large animals for transport and specific tasks in their native countries like India, and as such, training is needed and expected. But to use animals in this rather less practical seems a little off. I do of course acknowledge that the UK used to quite happily use animals for circus entertainment, for which I am thankful that that has now stopped.

I struggle a little to see the difference in keeping a pet purely for companionship and training animals for entertainment, which is a very commonly accepted practice. Dogs and cats, I can understand if they are being used for hunting, guarding, shepherding, giving humans exercise, and other practical tasks. This gives meaning and purpose. But unless I have something in mind, I’ll have to evaluate my desire if and when I want to get a pet, and that for me, companionship as a reason is probably not practical enough a reason.