PETS, CHILDREN, DISEASE, AND CULTURE

PETS, CHILDREN, DISEASE, AND CULTURE
by Carole Wade, Contributor

June 27, 2003

Guest Contributor Carole Wade Writer's forward comment: In my essay, “Is Pet Ownership Destroying the Lives of Americans?,” I wrote my article after careful research. However, after reading the hundreds of letters to TAP’s Reader's Column and Letters to the Editor in newspapers across America where I have been interviewed concerning my comments about “rescued-mixed” dogs’ biting, mauling, and killing innocent children, I am dismayed by the cruel “ad hominem” words calling me “anti-animal.” The letters engage in personal attacks against me and do not address the real issues of dog ownership. I am not anti-dog: I am pro-children. (Note: The new Service Miniature Horse is fast replacing Service Dogs.)

I've heard and read over and over again that "dogs add years to a person's life." That's ridiculous. It is rubbish. If, in fact, dogs are beneficial to a person's life, then why are insurance firms this year notifying all their dog-owning clients that liability coverage will no longer be provided for their animals?

Not long ago, the fifty billion dollars a year Pet Industry and its advertising agency cronies dreamed up two new buzz words for dogs: "rescued dogs" and "mixed-breeds." Animal shelters today acknowledge that many so-called "rescued dogs" are imported from the Caribbean island country of Jamaica. Supplying these animals to American shelters is so lucrative that Jamaican suppliers, facing a "rescued dog" shortage in their homeland, turn to West African countries for more and more dogs.

"Mixed-breeds" -- many of which overlap with "rescued dogs" -- used to be scorned as so-called "mongrels" at a time when pedigreed pups were all the rage among animal lovers. Tragically, especially for small children, the "mixed" dog lacks the stabilizing genetic background of the pedigreed animal and tends toward violent aggressive behavior. A purebred Labrador, for example, typically exhibits friendliness among infants whereas a "Labrador-mix" is possibly part Pit Bull and potentially very dangerous to youngsters.

This month another "sub-culture" of dog ownership made headlines. Ask any exotic pet owners if a Prairie "Dog" is a dog and they will always say "yes." These dog owners are now spreading Monkeypox -- a virus closely related to Smallpox -- across the American Midwest. Pet owners who keep Prairie “dogs” in their homes -- perhaps sleeping in the same bed with their animals like many dog owners -- risk exposure to the virus.

Monkeypox originated in the same West African rain forests where canine dog traffickers collect "rescued dogs" and ship the animals to Jamaica -- for subsequent sale to animal shelters throughout the USA. Monkeypox in Africa is known to be spread by rodents to dogs and other animals. In 1996 thirteen villages in Zaire -- where dogs live closely with rodents -- experienced a Monkeypox outbreak with six human fatalities. Now, American dog worshippers have taken the disease one step further: they are spreading it in the United States through Prairie “dog” exchanges at "pet swaps" often underwritten by the Pet Food Industry.

Animal worship today includes owing the giant Gambian Pouched Rat for dog-like pet companionship. The Gambian Rat is relatively large rodent -- typically seventeen inches long -- that temporarily stores food and other objects in its protruding cheek pouches. Owners find them "cute" as they crawl around their homes collecting coins, buttons, and other small objects which they store in their cheek pouches. Living up to eight years, the Gambian Rat's diet in American homes consists of dog food and rodent blocks. Gambian Rat owners have been quoted, like dog owners, as saying, "My pet has an absolutely adorable face and is easy to snuggle with."

The worst pets for children are Ferrets, Rats, Guinea Pigs, Syrian Hamsters, Skunks, Pygmy Mice, Gambian Rats, Prairie “dogs,” Rottweilers, Pit Bulls, Chow Chows, Dobermans, Presa Canarios, Wolf Hybrids, and "mixed-breed" mongrels. These animals now number in the millions as they inhabit the homes of lonely men and women. Dog ownership in particular has "wild-fired" in America. Dogs sleep in their owner's beds. Dogs eat at the table with their owners and sometimes "poke" around in the refrigerator. Dogs bathe with their owners. Dog "worship" is out-of-control ... and many dog owners treat their pets as "family" while putting children at risk of being bitten, mauled, killed, and infected with deadly viruses. Dog owners are crazy over dogs. Dogs. Dogs. Dogs.

Imagine: going to your physician's office or being admitted into a hospital and finding mixed-mongrel dogs visiting there. Your child can come into contact with Campylobacteriosis, Salmonellosis, Toxocarisis (a roundworm common in almost all dogs), or worse when waiting on the doctor. Today's dog owners are spreading these dangerous viruses. Whereas the U.S. Centers for Disease Control has released guidelines recommending that health officials wash their hands with alcohol-based products, dog owners never follow the same procedure. In fact, dogs bring infections into hospitals.

Maybe all of this sounds shocking. It should. At Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore between June 2001 and February 2002, allegedly thirty-two patients contracted bacteriums from dogs visiting the hospital. Hospitals must post: "No Dogs Allowed." Instead, bring back humans dressed up as clowns to cheer up patients. After all, Monkeypox, SARS, and other infectious diseases have no known cures and no vaccines -- yet they are carried by small animals.

Dog camps are popping up everywhere across the United States. Scooping up poop and mopping urine off floors is now being touted as a way for children to spend their summers. Animal sanctuaries send out brochures encouraging innocent children to pack their bags, go to camp, and clean dog manure. Is this a paradise for children? No! It is just another deplorable way of increasing a child's risk of dog bites or infections or worse.

Worse yet, shopping malls, the new "dog parks" for "rescued dogs" and "mixed- breeds" are fast becoming dangerous places for children. Is the Pet Industry responsible for the spread of pet-borne diseases and ever-growing numbers of dog bites of children? Yes, absolutely. More big dogs equal more big stomachs to feed and much much more money for Pet Industry tycoons. In fact, the average Pet Industry CEO earns more money than the average dog owner would earn in ten to twenty lifetimes.

In the early 1500’s, Hieronymus Bosch painted his obsessive nightmarish vision of the medieval world. One of his most famous works was "The Garden of Earthly Delights." Through bizarre exaggeration, the Garden of Earthly Delights is bordered on one side by the Garden of Eden and on the other side by Hell. Bosch paints man's lust for the wild and uncaring -- much like dog owners today who have become obsessed with their pets. In the Sixteenth Century, Bosch depicts human and animal figures that eerily parallel today's pet culture. Exotic beasts then -- in his artwork -- and today -- in reality -- live closely together becoming a family of one: man and "pet" (beast).

Dogs or children? It is all too often today: "Dogs first, Children be damned!" Lonely dog owners need to immerse themselves in life with other people. ***

Photo of Carole Wade furnished by the author