1. While the United States spends billions of dollars a year on the rarest of pets like capuchin monkeys, even tigers, macaws, and aquarium fish, in addition to the usual cats and dogs, backward countries may not be able to afford all that expense. Some are auspicious like the vastu fish in India.
2. However, pigeons graced mosques and even houses from the Middle Ages partly due to pigeon racing competitions. Dogs and cats live almost everywhere. Did you know that wealthy Americans bestow untold wealth on cats and dogs in their wills as a reward for their companionship in their last days?
3. Should we consider pets a luxury even if they incur an expense? Hardly. Pets sometimes bring profit such as through the sale of puppies.
4. Pets have lived with humans since the beginning of time, after the domestication of animals began and people settled in agriculture. Guards were needed for the fields and the cattle and dogs excelled at it.
5. Pets live in our blood. Trapped in concrete jungles, domestic animals exhibit the other side of life, the raw nature that we seem to have forgotten to our detriment. However, take lessons from zoos, snake parks, and aquariums. Nature channels on television are valuable as educational lessons, but they hardly provide real life experience. Walk into an aquarium or bird market and feel the difference instantly. Better yet, head to a nature conservancy park and witness the tingling experience live.
6. While we don’t want to imprison wildlife, but rather let them roam free, Americans have proven the educational value of pets for children. Most of the pets are cared for by children who learn to manage small lives through feeding and cleaning, and even arrange medical support when needed. The same caring qualities would help them into adulthood as they fight the battles of life.
7. Amid the listless life of cities where fraud and cruelty are the norm, children experience a loving little world in their safe cocoons before entering the big, bad world. The memories of that little squirrel or parrot would last a lifetime.
8. A keen interest in pets could encourage hobbies or, better yet, professions that may be the best option for adolescents lost in the world of violence, drugs and alcohol. Veterinary courses, wildlife rangers, and game rangers are jobs that may not be in high demand, but they are worthwhile options with all the unemployment and loss of direction visible everywhere. Fish farming is a large lucrative business that could become a job option. The global pet business is too big to imagine and many find work there.
9. An interest in the exotic world beyond the limits of urban culture is the bonus that comes with having pets. The windows of the mind are opened to accommodate a spiritual focus and the Buddhist philosophy of preserving all life forms would apply. Instead of violence on the streets, children are learning live lessons in compassion at home.
10. Therefore, start, even if you did not think about it, for the sake of youth and family values u200bu200bthat should last through generations. The dachshund or bulldog may serve the purpose of prestige among family and friends, but the more important underlying values must be more widely appreciated.