Originally Posted by kfscala

When I write about stray or abandoned dogs, I am, of course, aware that I have this typical First World attitude (European or American) towards our pets--caring, loving and feeding them, and to think in another way would be foreign to me, to you and to us. How could anyone, anywhere treat their cat or dog not as animal-person? People in other countries far away from our occidental world, whose culture is foreign to us and who hold views contrary to ours, is for some of us in America and Europe quite perplexing and frustrating to understand. Actually, though it is not so difficult to understand when you begin with 'their' view of the world. We cannot ever understand how they could feel: the people in their communities have to struggle daily for basic survival and the last thing they think about is caring for and feeding dogs or cats. We need to recognize that here, now, in Italy as in the U.S.A., our ethic is a First World ethic and not universally shared. That happens because we have a "different" standpoint in the life. We take it for granted here in Italy--in Europe--that we should care for our pets, watch over our neighbor's treatment of their pet(s), report animal abuse, care for the stray ones, or rush a sick little cat or dog to the Veterinarian when there is an emergency. But in less affluent parts of the world these things don't even matter, they are trivial because even humans may not matter, let alone an animal. (Even in Italy as recent as 50 years ago, the culture of the Basilicata region in the south of Italy was considered inhumane, and only in recent years has it vastly improved) What matters in such societies is something we, in the prosperous occidental world, cannot even relate to because we and our pets have such a spoiled life here in Europe and America, and not only that, but we and the animals here have "rights", so that we lose sight of the reality that happens elsewhere and develope taken-for-granted assumptions about the life of domestic animals. Some Scandinavian countries, for example, make strong efforts to protect "rights" of animals, where in other countries or parts of the world such an extension of rights to non-human animals would be considered absurd--humans there may not even get treated with the barest of dignity--just consider the countries with caste systems! The capitalist society that we live in, whether in America or Europe, has changed our views and the way we 'culturally' practice the human life experience and the life of animals. We Europeans and Americans live a consumption-hungry society, who have nothing better to do at times than to worry about where to take our dog "Sputnik" for their bath and grooming, or which dog cookies to buy for "Sputnik" , or which pension to put "Sputnik" in when we go on summer holidays. And we cringe at the thought of animal abuses. Our First World ethics towards animals here in Europe, is, for the most part, just that, an ethics we have created for our Western society so that we don't feel guilty when we do something wrong or can justify our criticisms of others when someone abandons their dog, etc. As I said before, in other parts of the world such an ethic does not even enter into the minds of people, as some human beings are not even accorded some minimal dignity. The last thing they think about is a dog or cat starving on the street. But, of course, if we live in an affluent society here in Europe, as compared to other places, that means we should at least try to treat our animal friends with kindness and dignity, as there is no reason to mistreat them (just because that in other parts of the world non-human animals are treated inhumanely). It is sad, that here in Europe cats and dogs are treated as "animal-persons", whereas in other parts of the world many humans along with cats and dogs are looked upon and treated as non-persons, and even violated. But in the very end, and I assume most would agree, that it is always better to treat living creatures--whose eyes we look into--with dignity, especially if they only have one life to live, isn't it?

Karin Fester - Scala,
M.A., M.Phil/Ph.d (cand)

Originally Posted by incognito101081

does anyone know of any apartments that DO accept pets? I have 2 siberian huskies that will be moving with me to rome in January.