Should we stop keeping pets? Why more and more ethicists say yes

>> After he had become a vegan... he considered his pet cockatiel. “I remember; he looked up wistfully. He said he got the bird, took it outside, let it loose and it flew up,” Herzog recalls. “He said: ‘I knew she wouldn’t survive, that she probably starved. I guess I was doing it more for myself than for her.’”

Feels like a sticking point, what should people do with their current pets? It is deeper than an individual choice to refuse taking ownership of a pet, since they are a societal domestic cluster, these animals have lost their inner personality and relegated that prowess to their owners.

> “You see these rises and falls in our relationships with pets,” says Herzog. “In the long haul, I think petkeeping might fall out of fashion; I think it is possible that robots will take their place.”

What is it with these guys named Herzog?

https://herzoginspirationals.tumblr.com/

There are no professional ethicists quoted and there is no coherent complete argument made. (Had to look up what an ethicist actually was.)

Agreed - there's no professional ethicist quoted here and the argument seems to be against abusive pet breeding and keeping practices. Absolutely, people should stop giving money to puppy mills. That doesn't mean people should stop having pets altogether.

Ok - let's say we all "release" our pets into the wild - Right Now.

Without guaranteed spaces for the to roam (and flourish) - how is this possibly going to work?

I dislike pets because I'm incredibly allergic to both cats and dogs. My current roommate got a "therapy dog" for her narcolepsy against my will (after I explicitly told her I'm incredibly allergic) and to be frank I now have no clue why you'd want a pet. It's hair is everywhere, the apartment smells like a dirty sock now and well this morning hair even ended up in my breakfast.

The front of the luxury building in NYC I live in is also basically always covered in urine from the pets of lazy dog owners.

Low key, I prefer to be the only class of animal in my home. Pets are unsanitary (I'm not a clean freak, but a dirty animal living in the same space as me is disgusting).

Obviously this information isn't directly relevant to the article, however I think it's interesting to see how much ecological damage domesticated pets have. Cats in terms of decimating bird and rodent populations and dogs, well they kill whatever they want and in the worst cases will attack toddlers etc. Pit Bulls should be banned, they aren't "loving" or "just friendly". Candidly, if I were back in a state with legal carry and saw a large dog running at me I wouldn't hesitate to shoot it on the spot.