Hello everyone! I’m back with another Social Issue Saturday post. This time, I want to talk about animal rights!

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So every BirthMay and Blogmas I always try to do some sort of weekly theme on either Saturday or Sunday. I have done things like self care ideas in the past, but this time I wanted something a little bigger than just me. I figured that sharing social issues that I really care about would be a great idea!

Oh! If you’re new here (newer than May 2020) you might be wondering, what’s BirthMay? Well, every year I blog every day in May because it is my birth month. I just figured it was something fun to do, and it has proven to be really enjoyable for me. This will be the fifth BirthMay on my blog! No matter how many BirthMays you’ve been through with me, thank you for being here this BirthMay and thank you for your support!

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Why I care about animal rights:

I’ve always loved animals, despite not having pets growing up. I always begged for a dog, but my dad pretended he was allergic so that my sister and I would stop asking for one. (So when people claim they’re allergic to something now I never really believe them – so never lie about allergies! On a different note, he adores his grandpuppy now.) I also always wanted horse riding lessons growing up but never got them (too expensive) and at one point I wanted a guinea pig because a third grade teacher kept one as a class pet (so happy I never got one though). Eventually I paid for my own horse riding lessons at 25 for about a year, now I have a puppy niece, and hope to be a dog mom someday!

In college for an entire semester I would write essays about animal rights, and I really wish I still had them. Through writing those essays I learned a ton about cruelty towards animals ranging from misconceptions about different breeds, discrimination against older or dark colored dogs, animal testing, and so much more. Even though the essays were for an general education English writing credit, I did some research and really learned a lot through.

What this issue means to me:

I do think I’ve been quite lax in trying to ensure my lifestyle is as cruelty free as possible. Now, that doesn’t mean I’m a crazy vegan or anything, but I do have a healthy respect for animals and wanted to share that on my blog and try to focus on that going forward. What I have done in recent years is avoid buying new leather items to not add to the demand (although pleather isn’t great for the environment, so there’s no real win here I think), tried to find beauty products that are cruelty free, and in general try to learn about how to lessen the disturbances to local wildlife as much as possible.

What do I want to do about it?

Well, I want to get better about products I consume! I mentioned I started looking for cruelty free brands and so I will absolutely keep doing that. Not only in beauty, but I want to try to use more natural household cleaning supplies too as I believe that can also impact animals. And, of course, continue to avoid buying leather products and such.

Additionally, I intend to get a dog at some point so I absolutely want to adopt. Especially considering my sister works in an animal shelter! I hear that rescues and more specific breed organizations can be way too extra about their adoption processes (requiring crazy things like home visits and even then denying someone), but from what I understand the larger shelters or local animal controls might be easier to work with. I know many people who have had good experiences adopting too, so that’s really good to hear.

Also, I would love to make the switch to buying meat that was raised ethically and/or locally. I also hope to someday have a good amount of land for some organic gardening and would love to also raise chickens and maybe some other animals too, so that would be nice to ensure they’re treated well as they grow. Although, to be honest, I’m sure that plan would backfire on me because I would 100% name the animals and consider them as pets… So maybe I’ll just stick to pets!

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So those are some of my thoughts on the social issues regarding animals. My intent is to keep these posts pretty light so I can still share my opinions on them. If anything I said made you think about something, maybe head to Google to search and learn more! I’m not an expert by any means but there are always tons of resources available online so go for it!

Thanks for reading!

Pamela

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