h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

again MP, I agree with you

and I also respect your opinions, because I learn from others opinions not just to dismiss them

News of Bristle, to cheer us all up? 630gm this morning. He's eating as much as a teenage cat. Hope he doesn't burst!
If we're not careful, I can see this thread developing into an anti-racist theme, with which, of course, I've no quarrel, but it might not be appreciated. If we regard ourselves as the ultimate development of our species, it's but a small step to regarding Others in the same light as chimps, for example. A path down which I refuse to go.

Life seemed hard when I was 16, How little I knew!!
Dig

LadyDig, I am not going to get in to that discussion So pleased to hear your Bristle is doing well. It must be very gratifying. Has he tried to escape at all? Perhaps he has more sense and knows when he is well off!!

Websailor

Hmmm....maybe some humanoids have evolved to a higher level; where they can actually empathise with both other humanoids & other species?

But other humanoids can't, yet?

I used to have a ferret, which is a supposedly wild animal, a true carnivore, used by humanoids traditionally for hunting, but he was the only companion animal i could have due to my accomodation circumstances at that time. He loved cucumber, didn't want meat, went for long walks on his harness in the park, travelled to France from U.K on the dashboard of the car & was basically 'free range' unless he was in a dangerous place.

A friend suffering from terminal cancer begged me to let him have him; he'd always loved ferrets & i let Felix go to him. Sadly; he escaped one night & had an argument with a truck....but i bet it would be the way he'd want to go!

The whole 'pet' issue is debatable, in my view. I've known folk in Africa rescuing orphan lion cubs & crocodiles, keeping them as 'pets' until they are strong enough to live wild; i've had tiny baby red-eared slider terrapins, which grew to dinner plate size & bred, here we have sheep, a goat, donkey, dog, cats & feed wild birds in Winter, have toad and frogs in the pond....no hedgehogs; i don't think they do well in Eye land, not a natural species; if we had one on the farm we'd probably feed it during Winter & if it wished, let it into the house, i doubt cats could attack it due to the spines.

We have resident & place them back outside. We also hae rats in the walls; which can be a pain, they are noisy & i am reluctant to put cats in attic to sort it; the cats could get bitten & infection set in.

But buying a designer hedgehog seems rather silly if it's some sort of fashion statement!

zdt *listening to rattties in clogs above, even as we squeak*

Hiya Terri! The issue to me is, respect ... understanding and knowing the kind of creature you're having with you ... and also freedom. A small selection of animals have the ability to be 'pets', staying with humans and liking the arrangement. Others just don't work that way. Like you mention, over here, there's the opportunity to live with a vast variety of animals, for a short while at least, if one helps to rehabilitate them! A friend of ours rehabilitates birds, and thanks to her, I've had close encounters with a marvelous variety of feathered friends! She releases them *if* possible, but some have stayed around a bit longer. But it's not about 'fashion statements' or about cuteness, or about 'owning something'. One respects the other creature and one tries to help it for its own sake.

Webbie, Bristle has not the remotest rism of sense! He would escape if his "hutch" wasn't one of those high-sided plastic stowaway boxes from a well-known DIY store. We took him on holiday in a shallower one, and he was out of it and exploring within minutes. Now he travels with a loose lid, which he's too stupid to lift. We observe his own daily programe, which is breakfast at 17.30(ish) and lunch when we go to bed. During the night he tries to rearrange his "furniture" and when I muck him out, I put him in a coir-lined hanging basket (not hanging, I hasten to add)and drop a towel on his head. He glares at me if I look him in the eye, so I think he'll probably still be wild when we release him.
As for r*c*sm, I was attempting to warn against such discussion, pointing out how near we might be straying.
Happy Christmas, if I miss you all.
Dig