Animals, Part 1

Meet Piper.

I have always had little pets weighing less than 5 pounds. My first pets were fish. Then, I got a mouse, Rizzo the Mouse. And then a lot of other rodents.

When Noël and I got to China in spring of 2007, my crazy friend Craig convinced me that it would be cool to get a pair of chinchillas. Rochester was a soft rascal (coat-worthy) that jumped all over our apartment and was a poop factory. He came home from the market with a friend, a lion headed rabbit named Bīng Qí Lín (冰淇淋, Ice Cream). We loved going to the pet district to buy food and supplies for the buggers. Since China, we have been pretty happy to care for three rabbits, one hampster, and two guinea pigs. "The Farm" now consists of Black Rabbit and Greta, and our two guinea pigs Piper and Sophia.

Out of duty, I began to take care of two holland lop rabbits in our first apartment. Of course they were cute and I loved feeding them carrots, treats, and other green kitchen scraps. But, I hadn't yet understood the gravitas of owning pets. When we moved to our garage apartment on Quincy, I truly started to appreciate the little guys. The rabbits were allowed free-ranging rights in our private yard. One rabbit at a time would be allowed to hop, lest any accidents happen. I would frequently accuse Noël of favoring White Rabbit as I would come home from work and often see her rabbit hopping. Of course, I blame both rabbits for the destruction of my snap pea sprouts and the overall nibbling of my vegetables. My solution was to build a taller fence that rabbit-proofed my garden.

Over the years, I began to note their behaviors, habits, and routine excitement every night around 9:00 pm--the nightly treat time. I was satisfied to watch them hopand get chased and pet by children. I did enjoy the responsibility of caring for animals.

It became apparent how much I cared for the animals a few weeks ago. White Rabbit had traveled with us every where we have gone in the past five years. Something was wrong with it. I took it to the vet and he found some issues with its back teeth. He fixed the problem, and for two weeks it was doing better. Then, I noticed that it had gotten an eye infection, and after returning from a weekend out of town, realized that it had other serious complications. After debating what to do, I decided that it was too far gone and gave it some pain medicine, and put it down humanely in the back yard. That night was very sad for us both. It was difficult for me to end the life of a creature that I had cared for five years and had brought both of us so much joy.

But, I was reminded of the creation story in Genesis. God made man to rule over all life on Earth, the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, and all the animals and livestock on land (Gen 1:24-26), and by design, he made Man in his own image. Therefore, by caring for and ruling over "The Farm", I am functioning according to the ordained design--one that bears the image of God (1:27).

This is why I think people care for animals and why all people should steward the intelligent and ethical use and care of the Earth and the animals.

"The Farm" and other pets.
冰淇淋, Bīng Qí Lín, (Ice Cream)

Rochester

White Rabbit

Black Rabbit

Greta

Piper

Sophia

and a clumber spaniel, someday . . .

Comments

  1. JuJuBee5/9/12

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  2. JuJuBee5/9/12

    Don't know what happened there. I like the blog entry!

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