The Value of an Animal’s Life

Humans have lived with animals for thousands of years. Humans relate to animals differently in different parts of the world and that relationship has changed with time. But our relationship to animals is more than casual, more that the coincidence of sharing the same space. We are animals! Therefore, our sympathy and compassion for all animals should be natural. But we often qualify and question the resources that we use in caring for animals.

I became a veterinarian because of cows. I grew up on a mixed farm in the mountains of central Colombia. We raised cows for food and for the fertilizer they provided. My early life was dedicated to looking after the family herd; there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to become a veterinarian and take care of cows. I was right about the first, wrong about the second. I am a veterinarian but I mostly look after pets (dogs, cats and occasionally, horses).

Although I have worked with all species for many years, my attitude toward pets and why we should care for them has changed dramatically over time. For many years I believed that pets were a luxury. The world was – and still is – full of people who receive less care than the average housepet. Livestock produce food that we can use to alleviate hunger. They are useful. Pets are useless. Why do we spend time and energy caring for pets? So went my argument. I tried to hold on to that belief despite being increasingly emotionally touched by pets.

In the year 2000 I traveled to Cuba with a group of holistic veterinarians to teach acupuncture to Cuban vets. We were given a tour of the main referral small animal clinic in Havana. All veterinary services are provided and paid for by the Cuban government. Cubans have shortages of every imaginable manufactured good, including medical supplies, because of the economic blockade imposed by the US. I expected that a society that was going through such difficult times would declare pets a luxury that they could not afford feeding, let alone providing medical services for. Yet, the waiting room at the Central Havana Clinic was full with people and their pets; a man arrived with his cat sticking its head out of a box strapped to the back of his bicycle; a very old woman waited in a corner with her equally ancient dog; four plain wooden benches were shared by dogs, cats and peoples of all sizes, gender and colour. Inside, five attending veterinarians examined, took samples and prescribed medication. Upstairs, three surgeons operated. I asked the director of the clinic why they kept working in such difficult conditions. Why, when you are experiencing similar shortages in human hospitals, you keep treating animals. His answer was simple: They live with us, they are our friends and they need to be cared for as anybody else does.

The essence of the argument is that we must love and respect life regardless of its utilitarian value. Life comes from other life. We have not been able to recreate life in the laboratory despite putting together all of the known basic elements. This is because all life comes from one source: the first life that appeared on earth as an emerging phenomenon at one particular time in the evolution of the universe. Therefore, human life comes from the same source as the life of all other creatures. It follows then that the life of any animal, pet or livestock, is my own and deserves to be given the opportunity to thrive.

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