by Annie Yang
Animals have fear as humans do, but humans often overlook the fact that they share the same emotions with other animals. Since humans only consider themselves, they neglect important things around them. But humans, the most intelligent beings, should attempt to think from animals’ point of view. If we define fear as a reaction to external threats, then the feelings of terror that animals experience are much greater than ours. Fear is the most harmful thing to animals’ emotions because they become frightened much more easily than humans. The fundamental reason is that animals possess different cognitive systems which rely on images to think, and humans on the other hand often depend on language and words. Images bring much more fear than words do. Just compare the experience of watching a horror movie with simply listening to a ghost story. As a result, the trauma in animals’ minds never completely recovers from their memories of fear. Fear has a purpose for both man and animals. Fearless is basically a type of disability but moderate fear can also make creatures survive. The function of fear is to teach animals how to predict the future and to make the right decisions. In wild animals, fear is a proper behavior that helps them successfully to escape latent danger and to keep them alive in the wild. For instance, antelopes living on the prairie will be in terror of something yellow or something moving speedily because these things show the signs of potential risk such as lions or leopards. If an antelope did not feel afraid it might be killed, and its ability to feel fear enables it to survive. However, many animals nowadays do not live completely in the wild and hence have experiences of contact with humans or have even been raised by them. As a result, their emotions of fear are now related to human beings. Pigs raised as a source of meat are a remarkable example. Pigs constantly feel scared during the entire process from the farm to the slaughterhouse, carried in overcrowded trucks and confronting unfamiliar and uncomfortable conditions such as strange noises, iron railings, harsh colors, and the wailing of other pigs. Moreover, pigs tremble and try to retreat while waiting in line at the slaughterhouse. We cannot be certain that they actually realize what they will confront, but their fear is generally not comprehended by the farmers or by those who work in the meat packing industry. Besides animals being slaughtered, pets are another type of animal whose emotions are deeply affected and governed by man. Although pets are raised by humans their natural cognitive systems are more sensitive to variations in their surroundings. Therefore, every single detail in human society can cause disastrous pressure and horror in pets. As mentioned before, animal memory is retained in images. For instance, dogs which are mistreated, beaten, or abandoned by their owners need a very long time to recover from their miserable memories. Since images of fear live on in their minds, sometimes they will be afraid of specific movements such as hands being raised, or of things like ropes or the sounds of a vehicle. Humans invariably believe that they are far beyond other animals in the course of evolution; nevertheless, we still need to learn how to get along with them. We should not view animals as brutes because in fact we are very much alike. In the case of livestock and pets, since we have brought these animals into the world we should take care of them and allow them to live and die with dignity. Reducing excessive fear in their lives is the responsibility of us all. a
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May 2024
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