How many of you have come across someone who has said to you, “it’s just an animal!”? Well, I don’t know about you, but I can’t even express how frustrating this is to me.
A young blogger contacted me about a debate she is having with someone over the use of animals in entertainment. It sounds like their discussion has gotten heated and the last thing I know is that he said the following comment about elephants, “Their tusks are useful and men want to use them. They are just animals.” This was very upsetting for the blogger.
God created everything, including animals. In fact, animals were here first. Check out the following video.
Because human beings have the “power” in this world does not mean they are to use it any way they want.
The main points I am always trying to make on my blog are:
- that animals are God’s creation and we do not have the right to harm them, nor was this God’s intention for his creatures
- that animals are feeling beings (although to me this is common sense)
- to stop and look at things from an animal’s perspective (it isn’t just about us)
- to encourage others to stand up for them, to be their voice
Animals are the forgotten ones, the weaker ones, and this can be a cruel world.
The blogger who contacted me also said “OH I AM SO OUTRAGED AND HOW WRONG THIS IS!!! I just wanted to get someone else as angry at this/tell someone about it. AHRG.” Well, she got it. I am angry!
I wrote this post on a whim when she shared this with me because I too am sick & tired of hearing “it’s just an animal!” I am hoping you can share with this young blogger (and with me) any thoughts, any ideas you have about what to say to a person who makes this comment. The blogger is a teenager with a passion for animals and I want to help and encourage her. Not only will your thoughts help myself and the young blogger but it will help all of us so we are more ready the next time someone says “it’s just an animal!”
So, what would you say? Please keep your comments about this clean though. I know this topic can be infuriating to some of us. Thank you!
Animals Are Feeling Beings Too 
Thank you for this post! This is all just common sense to me, but for many people…not so much. A lot of it, for me, is to just “what if I was the animal? Would I want that done to me?” The answer: No of course. So why should we do it to them if we wouldn’t want it done to us?
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Exactly what I think! As I mentioned, it is looking at the perspective of the animal. Sorry nobody has given any tips or comments yet.
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I would respond to the “just an animal” slur with a few facts: Life is a positive good. Every life is sustained by other lives. The fact that animals are legally protected from unnecessary harm by humans is the expression of a God-ordained moral mandate. I would ask the person who said this why he thinks himself to be a superior being when he has no sense of moral duty to protect a helpless creature subjected to unnecessary cruelty. I would also invoke the law if there was one in place relevant to the situation to which the “just an animal” response replied.
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Thank you so much for your comment. Great response. I agree and it is our moral duty to protect and help animals. And even if one isn’t being harmed, but it is a situation where someone’s pet passes away and another person says to them, “its just an animal.” How completely insensitive is that! To them it was a family member, to some it is their “baby.” God created them, they are not “just an animal.”
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I can only agree with you, LeeAnn. I would say, for you this is maybe “only” an animal, for me it is my kid and I treat my kids with love and dignity. How do you treat your kids or family? We need to learn to respect other living beings, no one is superior here.
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Great response Irene and right on point. Who has the right to tell someone it is just an animal?! It is still a living, feeling being, just different than us. Both created by God.
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I really get upset when someone says that. Animals have the same feelings as humans. They should take the time to watch some at play. They feel joy, excitement, just like children. To think of them as just animals with no emotions or worth is horrible.
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Exactly! They feel joy, fear, pain, sadness, worry, excitement, etc. They are living, feeling beings. I don’t understand how anyone can just dismiss them as “just an animal.” I may be getting the full debate this young girl was having with the guy, so stay tuned for more on this. 🙂
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This just breaks my heart. I have had to deal with those words more often than I would like to remember. My mother, whom I loved very much, would tell me after the death of one my many schnauzers that at least they did not have a soul. Oh, please. I know she meant well and in her own way was trying to comfort me, but I do not believe it and we had to quit discussing her beliefs vs. mine.
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I know it is so insensitive of people. I don’t know if you saw my previous post called “Grieving” (I’ll leave you a link to it in this comment), but it shows studies on how we grieve over animals the same as we grieve over humans. It is a devastating thing to lose an animal and to have someone minimize the worth, value, and relationship you have with a pet by saying they are “just an animal” is so hurtful. I believe animals will be in heaven with us regardless of whether they have a soul or not. They are completely innocent beings that were created by God, and it says one day “the lion will lie down with the lamb.”
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LeeAnn if you would like a copy of the debate, I would be willing to email it to you. Just go to my blog and send me a message in the contact form.
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Yes, I would! 🙂
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I also wanted to share with you one of the comments someone made on my “Animals Are Feeling Beings Too” Facebook Page about this: They said reply with “You are just a human being.” 🙂 I thought that was a good one.
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Yeah it is good! A perfect comeback.
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