The term that we are going to analyze now must be said to be made up of two words that, etymologically speaking, derive from the Latin:
• Animal emanates from “animal”, which can be translated as “being that has breathing”.
• Domestic derives from “domus”, which is synonymous with “house”.
Living things that belong to the Animalia kingdom are called animals. It is a very large group of which even the human being is part and whose members share characteristics such as having their own mobility (unlike plants), reproducing sexually and consuming oxygen.
According to DigoPaul, the adjective of domestic, on the other hand, is linked to that or what belongs to a home. When the term is applied to an animal, it refers to the individual whose upbringing is carried out in the company of people. This allows to differentiate between domestic animals and wild animals.
A domestic animal, therefore, is part of a species that has become accustomed to living alongside humans. Generally, these types of animals are adopted or bought by people to share life with them in the family home.
The pets, also known as domestic animals offer companionship to people. Anyway, there are people who look for the animals to fulfill specific functions within the home, such as guarding the house and preventing intruders from entering. The latter is an example of the level to which human cruelty can reach, since it uses individuals from other species as slaves to defend its own interests.
It is important to establish that in recent years there has been a remarkable series of changes regarding the species that men want to be part of their homes. And it is that more and more people make the decision to choose animals as pets that, in principle, are not advisable because they have a certain danger or because they require specific habitat or feeding conditions. With this we are referring, for example, to snakes or iguanas.
Specifically, experts agree on highlighting a series of problems that animals like the aforementioned want to be converted into domestic beings:
• Reptiles that undergo this “change” suffer from stress to severe adaptation problems that can result in their death or attitudes that endanger the safety of those around them.
• Big cats, such as tigers or lions, are, in some cases, also turned into pets. And that is a great danger for their owners and for those who are close to them since, although they may be suitably cared for and “trained”, it should not be forgotten that their nature is predatory. All without overlooking that they have a weight and size that can cause damage even if it is inadvertent.
Animals used as keepers often receive very tough upbringing, characterized by profound lack of affection and rigid training. There are those who have the theory that the less love they are shown, the more efficient they will be in their imposed task of taking care of the house. In other words, adopting a pet to make it a security guard is no different than slavery; however, since the victim is of a different species, the impact on people’s psychology seems to be less, as if the abuse was not worthy of being repudiated.
It should be noted that some animals are domestic because, in their historical development as a species, they have adapted to coexist with humans and have characteristics very different from those exhibited by wild animals. The sheep, the horses, the chickens and cows, among other species, belonging to the group of pets. However, the most representative species are those that usually coexist with people in the home, such as dogs and cats.
Talking about pets including cows and chickens is dangerous, especially if the basis of the concept is that they have become accustomed to living with humans. While there are many cats and dogs who lead horrible lives, there are also others who are treated like princes; on the other hand, unless they are in a sanctuary, cows, chickens, pigs and sheep, among others, live real nightmares, a life imprisonment that ends with a premature death without having done anything to deserve such torture.
With regard to dogs, the most prominent representatives of domestic animals, there are two opposite positions in relation to life that we should provide: on the one hand, there are those who assure that a dog is only happy if a certain number is imposed on it of rules; At the other extreme are people who advocate a parenting in which he himself chooses his obligations and feels as much freedom as possible.
The former often defend practices such as training, which serves to teach the animal to respond to a series of very specific orders, and which in many cases make it an extremely obedient being, to the point of questioning its condition of being alive; Those who advocate for equal rights, on the other hand, trust that each species learns to relate to its environment using its own tools and that it is necessary to respect differences rather than appease them.
