Keeping pets is wrong.
“A dog is a man’s best friend.” People all over the world keep dogs and other kinds of animals as pets. The more popular pets in Singapore are dogs, cats, birds and fishes. In some countries, people even choose to keep snakes, elephants and lions as pets.
From the point of view of most people, keeping pets is not an evil deed at all. In fact, keeping pets nurtures desirable qualities in the owner such as responsibility, care and love. Young children are taught how to take proper care of their pets. They save their pocket money to buy bird seed, worms or other necessities for their pets. Furthermore, keeping pets can be educational. It stimulates great interest in the particular pet. Pet owners also read and discuss much about the pets they own.
In my view, however, it is wrong to keep pets. Man assumes that animals do not have much intelligence and hence have no rights. He just assumes that animals like being kept as pets. This is especially true in the case of caged birds. By nature, birds are meant to fly. It is most pitiful to see a creature that can fly around the entire globe being imprisoned in a cage.
Keeping pets is even more wrong when people fail to take proper care of their pets. Many pet owners do not ensure that the cages, fish tanks or dog kennels are clean at all times. Sometimes, they even forget to feed their pets. I strongly feel that the very act of caging animals and depriving them of freedom is a form of evil.
