Animals don't owe you love
And why you shouldn't bring a raccoon to a Petco
….or to a PetSmart. Or any pet store!
In case you missed it and don’t have a Google Alert set for “raccoon” (which, if you don’t, you are missing out on life!), round about May 23, a woman walked into a Petco in Maine with a baby raccoon. Security pictures are fuzzy but it’s a tiny thing, she’s holding it in one hand.
She came to get the raccoon’s nails trimmed. The coverage is hilariously dry here, “She was seeking to get the animal’s nails trimmed, which is a service the store does not provide to raccoons, the department said.” (Please put “a service we do not provide to raccoons” on a tea towel.)
But here’s where it gets dark. Other people loved the baby raccoon. It’s a baby! Raccoon! So cute! They petted it, nuzzled it, and kissed its wee furry head.
And they signed that raccoon’s death warrant.
Raccoons are one of the most frequent carriers of rabies in Maine, and on the East Coast in general. Set up a Google Alert for “raccoon” and I promise, rabies comes up a lot. When wildlife officials find out that a person has been in touch, physically, with a raccoon, they must test that raccoon for rabies. Because if it’s carrying rabies, the human needs to get vaccinated. Stat. If someone waits til they are experiencing symptoms of rabies to get tested, the disease is lethal. The number of people who have survived a rabies infection after symptoms appear can be counted on one hand. Because only two people have.
So they have to test that raccoon for rabies. But the kicker is this: There’s no non-lethal test for rabies. To test that raccoon they needed its brain.
That raccoon died.
It did not have rabies.
I hope it was worth the snuggle.
If I sound angry here, well it’s because I am. This raccoon should not have had to die. And it wouldn’t have, if that person, and if all the other people in that Petco, had kept their distance. If that person had taken the raccoon in a box to a wildlife rehab center without touching it.
But we humans can never seem to resist a little furry thing. We want to take it home. We want to make it our pet.
Humans often just can’t resist what I call Disney Princess moments. Where the bird lands on your hand while you sing to it, and chipmunks follow you around with adorable grins on their chubby cheeks. We want to be adored, and it feels so very special when a wild animal gives us a facsimile of adoration. We are special! We are one with the animals!
I know it’s hard to resist. I do it too. We humans care, so very much. It can be a beautiful thing.
But it can also kill the things we most want to love.
Wild animals (or any animal for that matter) do not owe you love. They don’t owe you affection or snuggles or touch. They aren’t out there to be used for social media fodder as they scuttle adorably toward a Dunkin’ Drive-thru to get a doughnut (donut?). Please do not feed the raccoon a donut.
When we do this, when we decide we want a truly unique pet or to feed the raccoon, we harm it. Sometimes, it’s because that raccoon needs to be tested for rabies. And sometimes, it’s because that raccoon will run right out in front of a moving car, confident in the humans around it. Eventually, that raccoon will touch one too many humans. Or make a bad bet on a car.
You might think it’s fine, it’s just one raccoon, one little guy. But we don’t stop at raccoons and we never have. There’s a reason, for example, that most coyote attacks are people getting bit on the hand. It’s because those coyotes have been fed, they’ve lost their fear of people, and they know where the food comes from: the hand! There’s a reason black bears keep coming back and coming closer, first to your garbage and then into your kitchen.
That reason is us, and our inability to understand our own effects on the wildlife we live close to. It’s our inability to learn about the animals around us, and our desperation to believe that WE are different. WE are special. WE are Disney Princesses.
We aren’t. And if we really want to be one with nature, to treat nature with respect and love, most often? That means staying the heck out of its business.
Where have you been?
Is it reading this long piece about a guy who may, or may not, have made up a close friendship with a famous playwright? It is a journey, my friends. In the words of my friend Kelly, “I swear. White men.”
Maybe it’s reading this piece in the NYT about the massive feral cat population in NYC now, and what people are trying to do about it? (Thanks to all of you who send me these links by the way! First dibs on this one goes to Alan. Thank you Alan! I love getting articles that people see and know are up my alley, so please all of you keep sending! I can never get it too many times. That means you mom. :)) I’ve got thoughts….maybe for next newsletter?
Where have I been?
A guest on the Big Biology Podcast! Such fun to speak with two such knowledgable scientists! I was hands down the least expert in the room.
Finally, a question:
Why do you think we want to do this? Why do we want to befriend wild animals, have them in our houses, be the person with a tiger as a pet? What is it that drives us? I welcome your ideas!
I wonder how much of the Disney Princess thing has to do with being told as kids that mama animals leave their babies if humans touch them. A forbidden fruit! Forbidden snuggle!
It's just so hard to avoid that Disney Princess thing with...well I as going to list all the animals I want to squish but the list got so long I just went with generic "all the animals.." I am trying to avoid this now but...it's MUCH easier to "love" something that won't argue with me about politics or religion. And has lovely fur to touch.