People That Love Animals

People that really, really, really, love animals have always freaked me out a bit.  People that have more love in their heart for animals than human beings are creepy and weird.  I’m talking about the type of people that talk about their pets constantly but you know them for months before you find out they have a spouse and children.  I’ve read Facebook memes about people that prefer animal company to human company.  If this is you than you have a problem.  If you are unable to maintain satisfying relationships with human beings on any level then you my friend are lacking something.  If you value the lives of animals more than you value humans you need a nice, tight hug from another human being.

This has been on my mind because of the recent events in Cincinnati, OH.  I’m talking about the boy that got in the gorilla cage and lived to tell the tale because the gorilla was shot to death.  I’ll admit that when I heard the story about the incident the first thing I thought to myself was that it was a shame that the animal was killed.  Then I wondered what the boy was doing in the gorilla enclosure.

Shamefully, my afterthought was about the boy and his well being.  I’m not even that into animals but I was briefly caught up in the frenzy too.  The zookeepers had no other choice but to kill the animal.  Regardless if the boy was ill behaved or if his mom is a space cadet they couldn’t have just let the boy be manhandled by a gorilla.

I am bothered at the way the media reported the story.  The story was about the animal not the child.  The headlines read something like “Gorilla Shot at Zoo” not “Child Falls into Gorilla Exhibit and Lives” or “Zoo Officials Save Child’s Life”.  Supposedly there is controversy over the decision that zoo keepers made to shoot the gorilla in order to spare the child any harm.  But we live in a country where children, even toddlers and infants are shot to death regularly.  Why isn’t there an outpouring of grief for them?  We seem to be complacent with the amount of violence in this country that is perpetuated against humans even the very young ones.

I really do feel bad for the likes of Harambe the Gorilla and Cecil the Lion but animals are not more important of valuable than people.  Infants that are killed in inner city drive by shootings don’t receive the same type of recognition.  Mankind was made in God’s image and God gave us dominion over animals.  There is something so disconcerting about people that love animals like they are human and view humans like they are disposable.  I think it’s great to have a soft spot in your heart for animals.  But there should be a bigger, softer spot for human beings.