Why I Love Animals
Carsen LaPierre April 27, 2018
I get asked the question, “why do you love animals so much?” Quite a bit. Throughout my life, it has come up numerous times and has been worded in numerous ways; such as “ why do you care about animals more than people?” And “ how do you love every animal, even the ones you haven’t met?” They are all really simple-to-answer questions and even though my response wording has changed throughout time, it has still always been the same answer.
I think this all started when I was really little. I have always been infatuated with the animal kingdom for as long as I remember. At first it was what drew me to certain animals such as how they looked different from me and how they sounded different from me. I remember hearing stories about myself when I was not even pushing 5 years old yet. One of my earliest memories from that age that I can remember on my own but with a little bit of help involved ice fishing. I remember seeing the minnow bait that is normally used and I thought they were cute and I wanted a fishy to myself so I took one and put it in my pocket and would pet it throughout the day. At that age though, I did not understand that most fish needed water to live and… well, the fish did not live too long.
Another story that I remember was when I was in preschool, so I was even younger than in the fish story. We learned some simple responsibilities, one of them included taking care of an animal. The classroom had a pet rabbit who I loved dearly. I was always really excited when it was my turn to feed it and pet it and sometimes at nap time we could cuddle with her and she
I was always so warm and soft. She was one of the small reasons I behaved as much as my attention span could allow, because when you did not behave you could not interact with her.
So ultimately those were the start to my long line of love for all the furry, scaly, slimy, and the small, medium, or large. I have also not really feared any animal unless given a reason to fear that specific animal but it never really grew into fearing all of that breed or species. I remember a lot of bad stories too such as getting spit on by an alpaca, or getting bit by cats or geese but I still loved a lot of animals that were of those species. Not all alpacas are rude and not all cats or geese are going to bite; I understood this even as a child.
"But it is not just the mutual respect that I have for each animal, it is the level at which I wish I could understand them that makes me love them so much."
But as we grow, so do our understandings of the things around us. My understanding of why animals do certain things is one of those things that grew with time. I would learn what and what not to do to animals such as rescues; such as not being too loud with them and being patient with them and showing that you care every chance you get. And I learned how to initially interact with all animals which is as simple as letting them smell you, do not force it though, let them come to you. I also learned about where and why certain animals prefer to be scratched. Dogs relatively enjoy be scratched and patted everywhere because they enjoy that affection. Animals such as cats, not so much.