我们真的有权利拥有我们的同类吗?有没有一些动物是绝对不应该被当作宠物饲养的?给猫去爪，给鸟剪翅膀，或者给狗剪尾巴，这样可以吗?这是我们在本周节目中要问的一些问题。

Ideally, keeping a companion animal is a good thing that enriches both of your lives. I can’t find fault with someone who adopts an animal from a shelter, and provides care throughout the animal’s life. But many people who keep pets fall short of this ideal.

In worst-case scenarios, peopleneglect or abusenonhuman animals in a variety of ways: hoarding, dogfighting and cockfighting rings, domestic violence that targets animals as well as humans. This cruelty toward animals is obviously wrong. But there are a range of less extreme cases that also raise ethical problems.

For example: is it really ethical to keep wild animals as pets? Cats and dogs have co-evolved with humans, but hermit crabs, hedgehogs, snakes, and sugar gliders are adapted to life in the wild, not life in captivity. Someone who adopts a wild animal might have difficulty caring for its psychological needs, not just its physical ones. And the exotic pet trade both removes wild animals from their natural environment, and introduces them to new ecosystems, where they may be highly disruptive (although not all the changes are bad; I believe that San Francisco’s feral parrotsmake the city a beautiful and interesting place).

从饲养员那里领养小狗的道德问题呢?这似乎是一个令人担忧的选择，因为有这么多收容所的狗需要家人。重要的是要避免饲养员虐待他们的动物。Even if a breeder treats individual dogs well, there are collective problems withoverbreeding: Pugs and Bulldogs inherit pushed-in faces that interfere with their ability to breathe; German Shepherds may suffer from hip problems due to the characteristic shape of their hind legs; and Cavalier King Charles Spaniels are prone to a condition called canine syringomyelia, which causes severe neck and shoulder pain, as well as nerve damage.

Even if you adopt a domestic animal from a shelter, there are ethical issues to consider. Providing survival, even with a baseline level of predictability and physical health, doesn’t seem like enough. Someone who gives their cat adequate food, water, shelter, and medical care isn’t being abusive, but if the cat is left alone most of time without human or animal companionship, is that really a good enough life?

When is it okay to modify your pet’s body, given that they can’t consent? Hair clipping seems justified (it’s not particularly painful or harmful), and so does spaying/neutering (we wouldn’t tolerate such treatment of a non-consenting human, but failure to spay/neuter pets results in significant animal suffering). On the other hand, I don’t think it’s right to put a cat through a painful and risky declawing operation, even if that would simplify the life of their human companion. (The American Association of Feline Practitionersagrees with me.) Docking a dog’s ears or tail for aesthetic reasons is even less justified; the human interest is trivial compared to the pain suffered by the animal.

除了这些个人责任的问题，我对我们在社会上对待宠物的方式还有更大的道德问题。当我谈论我的狗时，我有时会忍不住把自己说成是它的主人(尤其是当别人这么说我的时候，而我在听从他们的引导)。宠物，尤其是那些性别不明的宠物，也常被称为“It”。但这种框架让人感觉不尊重;我们不应该把自己看作是宠物的照顾者或管家，而不是它们的主人吗?把伴侣称为“他们”，而不是“它”，不是更好吗?我不想陷入这样的想法:我的狗是为了满足我的需求而存在的，而它是一个有自己需求的生物。

It’s also strange to me that we lavish a relatively large amount of attention and care on domestic pets, while also tolerating factory farming. What makes a pig or a cow less morally valuable than a dog or a cat?

I believe that responsible pet stewardship is possible and valuable, but the bar for responsibility should be set high. I’m excited that Josh and I will get to talk more about these questions with Gary Varner on this week’s episode. I hope you’ll tune in!