Photo Essay & Commentary

Here on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village Manhattan is a pet store. As you can imagine, lots of people oogling and aahing. Though I am flattered at how cute humans think my kind are, I am sad that under the law we are nothing more than commodities to be bought and sold, like a door knob. The green sign above says "Uptown quality....downtown prices". The pink sign says on the bottom "All priced to go home". That is the true story of how human society feels about us. We're very cute but like live toys.

The other day I heard about a French Bull dog that was given up at a shelter after an accident in which the dog lost an eye. The human companions did not want a one-eyed dog.

This one made me particularly sad as this is my breed and we sometimes have a bit stronger connection to our "tribe". She was either sold or sent to a shelter because she wasn't there the next time we passed by. I wonder what happened to her.We're fluffy, cute, funny and loyal but we are sentient beings first. We've heard it all before but we have to remind ourselves of this fact as we get used to the way things are and think there is nothing worth changing. If you have a question about whether we non-human animals have a capacity to suffer, why not err on the side of compassion?