Amazing animals - instinctive empathy...

This post is inspired by my two beautiful little rescue dogs.

David and I have been lucky enough to be blessed with rehoming two wonderful little chihuahuas. Yes - the 'handbag' dog beloved of so many celebs and wags and, frankly, silly girly wannabes. The dogs came to us through chance more than anything though - as their owner had died and her son was about to consider placing them to a shelter when we met him and thankfully he felt that we could offer the loving home they so badly needed.

These wonderful little dogs have such a strange reputation - mostly because of how people treat them as accessories more than actual real living animals. But let me tell you they may be small but they are ALL dog! They are highly intelligent animals and the two that we have - a long hair called Petra and a short hair call Ollie (Olwen) also have unique personalities way beyond their size.

Petra our beauty...

Olwen our cutie...

Every day these precious little girls make me laugh and smile and give me the unconditional love that is so lacking from many humans.

As my journey into veganism deepens it seems so clear to me now that what has been accurately termed 'speciesism' abounds in all human societies. You will hear people who live with companion animals repeatedly speak about their animals personalities and intelligence. People treat 'pets' often with more love than they do other humans. I myself, should probably be included among them. And yet still those people who recognise essentially the sentience of their animals have chosen to single out certain species for their affection whilst continuing to eat other species and use products that rely on the unimaginable abuse and killing of other animals species.

But, I digress...

The reason for this post is to highlight the depth of sentience I have recently witnessed in the animals I share my life with - incidents that continue to reaffirm the decisions and life changes that I've made.

It's such a simple thing - but I see my two chichis caring for each other all the time. Chihuahuas, as you will probably know, have large eyes and being so close to the floor and to dust etc they produce larger amounts of tears and can very often have tear stained eyes as a result. They cannot tend to these easily themselves and my two girls often lick each others eyes to clean them. This simple act of care and cooperation is lovely to observe.

Caring for each other...

But what I have recently observed is beyond this functional caring.

One day Petra and Ollie were leaping in opposite directions on the backs of our sofas and 'crashed' into each other. Now P is 3kg but Ollie is only 2kg and Ollie yelped a little and crashed onto the seat of the sofa. P turned around instantly and went back to Ollie - who was a little shaken - quite obviously to see if she was OK. She sniffed her and paused while Ollie regained her composure and then gave her an affectionate little lick on the face as if to say 'aw sorry - glad you're OK'. Ollie started bouncing around again and knowing that she was indeed OK, Petra went back to her original route.

This was an obvious and conscious act of empathy, care and compassion from one friend to another. This will not be unique in the animal kingdom. It's sadly lacking in the human one sometimes...

Passing it on...

We are also lucky enough to have some rescued ex-battery hens with us still - two little old ladies who potter around and brighten our lives in different ways.

We introduced the dogs to the chickens very gradually over a series of about 4 months before finally being confident to have them run around the garden at the same time without fear of the dogs attacking them (we must never be complacent of instinct, regardless of how well we think we know our animal friends). Petra is a totally non-plussed by them. She likes them but would rather sniff out mice. But Ollie on the other hand (who is the more playful puppy-esk of the two) LOVED being around the chickens instantly! In particular she loves our oldest smallest hen - Baby Girl Jane (a long story).

Ollie runs around her, leaping with sheer happiness and goading Baby GJ into chasing her etc.

Baby GJ isn't quite sure what to make of Ollie - looking at her quizzically most times and then pecking grass, oblivious to Ollie going demented around her...

But when Baby Girl became poorly a week ago it took me a couple of days to realise that Ollie's mood was a little down and to also realise that it was because she was worried about her new friend. I had said to Dave that Ollie's face actually looked concerned. She stopped leaping near baby and was very much calmer and looking at her to see if she was OK. It has been quite fascinating to observe that Ollie understands Baby is poorly, change her behaviour accordingly, show concern and be sad.

Although the circumstances are quite sad (Baby GJ is a very elderly hen now and we think she may not make it through this rough patch), this cross-species connection and empathy is wonderful to see.

If only all humans could spend quality time with animals to observe the wonderful things that I have seen, and for them to not only see, but to understand what this means.

What it means is that all animals are equal and deserve to be treated with love, care and respect REGARDLESS of their species. And as I'm typing this I can see two calves playing in a field across the river I look out over. They are literally frolicking and leaping around - something has amused them. It brings a smile to my face but sadness to my heart - because I know, sadly, what their future holds.

Lets change it.

Chantal xxx

Best friends asleep paw to paw...