Love is not enough

It's time to reconsider what keeping furry friends as pets is doing to the animals - as well as the environment, write PETER SINGER and AGATA SAGAN in this third and final essay.

- PETER SINGER and AGATA SAGAN

There are about 184 million dogs and cats in the US; twothirds of all US households include an animal, popularly known as "pets". But animal advocates regard that term as demeaning, and prefer "companion animal". In fact, in many homes, dogs or cats are regarded as members of the family. They are provided with everything they might need or enjoy, and much else besides, including fancy treats and clothing.

Spending on companion animals in the US alone has been growing rapidly, rising from an already very substantial US$43 billion in 2008 to an estimated $137 billion in 2022. And similar trends are evident elsewhere. Ownership of dogs and cats in China, for example, was estimated at 100 million in 2015, and rising.

Large as these numbers may seem, they are insignificant compared with the estimated 77 billion birds and mammals raised for food in the world each year. In general, companion animals are treated far better than factory-farmed pigs, cows and chickens.

Nevertheless, despite the more positive attitudes people have toward dogs and cats, many of them lead miserable lives. Dogs, unlike cats, are social animals, and generally do not do well without company. As Karen Dawn points out in her book Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals, solitary confinement is considered cruel punishment for humans. But it is even crueller for a pack animal. Too often, our companion animals are, in her words, "slaves to love".