Pe(s)ts in the City

I have been trying to figure out the exact reasons why cities are so cruel to animals, and I have boiled it down to attitudes and materials. The human compulsion to dominate animals is primal and may have been necessary for our survival and evolution. Cities have turned that primal compulsion into a weird fetish that we humans love to play out with pets. We have 'domesticated' animals in order for them to live in cities by not just making them submissive to us, but having them give up their animal instincts to act more like we do. I don't have a big problem with this because people have had to become 'domesticated', and have given up a lot of our natural instincts for civilization, but that's a another blog entry. The problem I have is the rites and equality issues. Animals, for the most part, don't have a democratic say in our cities. They are either Pets or Pests in the city, and neither get any ecologically democratic respect.

The way some urbanites treat their pets can be some of the most bizarre behavior I have ever witnessed. They treat them like captive humans who live to please their masters every whim. Yes we love them more and take better care of them than we do each other,but only as long as they do exactly what we want them to do at any time we please. As soon as they exhibit behavior we don't like or, God forbid, become to headstrong and unruly, they can no longer survive in the urban environment. Pets have it great compared to Pests. Human's have a respect and even go to great links to protect wildlife all over the globe with a big exception in cities. Urban wildlife animals are some of the most feared and loathed creatures to humans. Rodents, cockroaches, and pigeons are some of the most abundant urban wildlife animals on earth and people spend massive amounts of time and resources but still cant get rid of them. The problem is they exist because of us. These animals thrive in cities because of our waist filled lifestyles and we are just as dependent on them as they are to us.

The materials we use to construct our cities also make it impossible for most animals to survive. Concrete, steel, asphalt, noise, and toxic pollution create living conditions too harsh for most wildlife. The animals that do survive adjust and adapt to urban conditions in the same ways we do. They communicate louder, move faster, and eat the same junk we do. They seek shelter from the elements in the same places we do, often silently next to their human counterparts. Most people can deal with pests as long as they are invisible. The moment we see a cockroach, hear pigeons, or smell a rat, we freak out and loose what little respect we have for synanthropic neighbors.
So how do animals get a real democratic seat at our urban table? When do we look at the raccoon rummaging through our garbage the same way we see a Black Bear by a stream eating a freshly caught salmon? Some might think that analogy is a little far fetched, but maybe if we had more respect for the non-human creatures in our cities, we wouldn't fear them or exercise the need to dominate in the freaky ways we do. Ecological democracy for animals in the city may seem radical to some, but I'm starting to realize its necessary to achieve the sustainability we want for our cities.