Assigning human personalities to animals is the chief trait of the pet owner-the doting dog-lover with his baby talk, the smug stay-at-home with a fat lump of fur on her lap who says, 'Me, I'm a cat person,' and the granny who puts her nose against the tin cage and makes kissing noises at her parakeet. Their affection is often tinged with a sense of superiority. Deer and duck hunters never talk this way about their prey, though big game hunters-Hemingway is the classic example-often sentimentalize the creatures they blow to bits and then lovingly stuff to hang on the wall.

Animal lovers often tend to be misanthropes or loners, and so they transfer their affection to the creature in their control.

Fogeydom is the last bastion of the bore and reminiscence is its anthem. It is futile to want the old days back, but that doesn't mean one should ignore the le…

Death is an endless night so awful to contemplate that it can make us love life and value it with such passion that it may be the ultimate cause of all joy and…

When a man confines an animal in a cage, he assumes ownership of that animal. But an animal is an individual; it cannot be owned. When a man tries to own an in…

I love little pussy, her coat is so warm; And if I don't hurt her she'll do me no harm.

I think I became an animal rights activist for two reasons. One is that my best friend, the one that has lived with me and loved me the longest... is my dog Al…