[simonblack]

A pet is not a chattel to it's owner(s). It's part of the family.

One searing memory that I can't unsee is a video clip taken during the New Orleans evacuations after Katrina. A poodle is jumping up at the closed door of a bus and obviously bewildered that he can't get in and be with his owner.

I have thought many times about that video. If I couldn't smuggle that pet on board, I would hope I wouldn't be able to abandon him/her, and we'd take our chances together.

[ypcx]

I know I'd never be able (or wanting) to live with having left my dogs behind. I don't fear my own death _that_ much. I'm here for them until they cross, only after that I can do whatever I want with my life.

[ss108]

Legally though, it is chattel :/ I agree it shouldn't be.

[aaron695]

The American Humane Association is upset about a scene in the acclaimed documentary Roger & Me in which a rabbit is clubbed to death, gutted and skinned.

"I had a very hard time with that when we edited it," Moore admitted. "We put it in, we took it out . . . then we just had to say, 'Look, this is how it is.' . . . One more thing," Moore added.

"Two minutes later in the film, a black man was shot. I had no calls, I never see anyone get out of the theater and leave. It's an image we've learned to accept because we see it on TV.

"I received a lot more sympathy and compassion for that little bunny than that black man. I guess you could say that the bunny didn't have a gun. Anyway, that was my thought process as we were editing it."