Daily Inspirational Message for August 22, 2013

doeandbaby

Some people talk to animals. Not many listen though. That’s the problem.
– A.A. Milne
 

My father was a sportsman, and while he was a good and kindhearted man, we often got into heavy debates because I found his hobby of hunting for sport profoundly disturbing. Toward the end of his life when he was riddled with health problems, he would spend hours just staring out the window at his acres in the country. One day, he told me something that really moved me: he had finally realized that I had been right all along about animals having rich emotional lives. He had been watching a doe and her fawn visit the deer feeder in his yard, and was fascinated to see the mother lovingly caring for and teaching her young how to survive. It seemed to him that the doe was showing her fawn as much love and care as any human mother does her baby. If you’re sensitive like me, the truth that animals have feelings will seem obvious to you, and you will find it very encouraging to know that science is starting to wake up to the truth that animals are conscious, develop relationships, and care about their families much as we do.