A World Without Animals

Imagine for a moment a world without animals. Yes, I know, the world couldn’t survive without animals, but imagine also that it could survive with just plant and human life. For some reason, I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I have lots to keep me busy, but my mind wanders, even while I am busy. So, I just try to think about what one day would be like without animals and what our history and present-day world would be like if suddenly all animals disappeared.

I have a cat. She is 19 years old, and she is my best little buddy. As soon as she notices my sound box go off or the television come on in the mornings, she comes to my room to wish me a good morning. She follows me to the bathroom as I start to get ready for work. She returns to the living room to her perch on the ottoman while I run the hair dryer and resumes her conversation with me when I get to the kitchen to feed her and the feral cat outside. Before I leave, I give her some love and scratch between her ears and tell her goodbye. When I come home, she meets me at the door and as soon as I sit in my chair and put my feet up, she is in my lap loving on me. Over the past 19 years this has been our routine, and she is the light at the end of my day.  I know there are many, many people out there who have cats or dogs or other animals they love that return that love. If you are one of those people, you know how it feels to have that affection from one of God’s perfect creatures. Most of these creatures can harm us if they choose to do so, but they treat us with love and gentleness as a proof of their trust and affection.

Usually on my way to work, I can count on seeing horses, cows, a couple donkeys, cats, dogs, squirrels, goats, and many species of birds. Sometimes I see deer, coyotes, foxes, armadillos, groundhogs, rabbits, rats, raccoons, possums, turtles, snakes or maybe another critter. It doesn’t matter how often I see them, every sighting gets my attention, because I love animals, mostly the furry or feathered ones, but I would never wish to harm the others. I have a 35-mile trip to work, each way, every day. I am constantly scanning the horizon for animals as I drive. If I made it all the way to work without seeing one, I would definitely take notice. If there suddenly were no animals, it would be a very boring ride to work.

I think we take for granted all that animals do for our ecosystem. I read a story recently how releasing wolves back into the wild into Yellowstone, altered the course of the rivers. It goes something like this: The wolves had been gone for nearly 70 years when they were reintroduced in 1995. The elk, without their primary predators, flourished on the plains, and consumed much of the vegetation to almost nothing. When the wolves moved in, the elk and deer changed their behavior. They avoided valleys and gorges where they could be trapped more easily. In those areas, the trees began to grow. Within a few years, the songbirds and migratory birds started moving in. The wood from the trees brought in beavers who built dams and created habitats for otters, ducks, turtles, fish, reptiles and amphibians. The wolves killed coyotes which meant the rabbit and rodent population began to increase which brought in the birds of prey. Foxes, badgers and weasel numbers started to grow due to the increase in prey. Eagles and ravens came in to eat what the wolves left behind, as did bears. The bear numbers increased which was partly because of the abundance of berries available. The most amazing thing that happened was the rivers changed. The abundant foliage reduced erosion and the riverbanks stabilized. By driving the deer out of the valleys, and allowing foliage to grow, there was also less erosion on the valley sides because the plants stabilized that as well. All of these led to less earth collapse into the river and allowed for the river flow to be more fixed, thus changing the landscape and ecosystem.

Looking at this one example, removing one species from an area caused many problems for the ecosystem, but bringing the species back, even just a small number, began to stabilize the system and correct it as it was created to be. We can see the same thing happening all over the world. It is estimated that there are less than 5000 tigers in the wild due to poaching and destruction of habitat for palm oil. To give you an idea of how low a number that is, there are more than 10,000 tigers privately owned in the United States. Tigers are apex predators, one of the few remaining on earth. Several subspecies of tigers are already extinct and those remaining are very close to extinction. Close to 100% of the backyard tigers in the United States are what is known as ‘generic’ tigers. This means that they are not pure blood of any subspecies and therefore offer no value to saving the species. Only reputable zoos have true species saving programs as they have pure blood subspecies animals.

We are currently facing a crisis that few are taking seriously because most do not realize the importance of pollination, but there is a great honeybee shortage in the United States. There are several causes for this decline, but the three biggies are parasites, pesticides, and habitat loss. Many see honeybees as the manufacturers of honey, and the loss of honey would be a terrible thing to most, but probably not catastrophic. Many people don’t realize that honeybees are the number one pollinators of the plants that make up our food supply and that of our livestock. It is estimated that if the bees disappeared, life on earth would follow in a couple or three years from lack of food and oxygen.

There are so many reasons we need animals on this earth, and not just for companionship, but that is very important as well. This world was civilized on the backs of oxen, horses, mules, elephants, and other animals of brute strength. Much of the food we get at the supermarket comes from domesticated animals raised as livestock for meat, milk or eggs that are available whenever we want. Most of the other food such as vegetables, nuts and grains, and all items made of wood, cotton, linen, resin, ethanol, leather, fur and rubber, would not be available without pollinators.  Many animals are work animals that are built for certain environments and can get around easier in those areas, like camels being ridden in the desert, because the large flat pads on their large feet won’t sink in desert sand. Elephants work well in the plains and jungles or Africa and India because of the way they regulate the heat and can use nature to cool themselves, the large, padded feet that get them around native terrain, and their massive bodies and strong dexterous trunks that work like hands. Horses are good for running long distances and working long hours and are easily ridden on various terrains by cattlemen, rangers, police officers, and border patrol agents. Cats are great at killing mice, rats, snakes, and other small disease carrying pests. Of course, we all know dogs perform many tasks for mankind, including hunting, personal service animals, police and military operations, herding livestock, security, search and rescue operations, etc. Primates have been used in many tests that have proven to be helpful to providing medical and other scientific solutions for humans, though many such tests have been found to be very abusive and have been stopped. More recently animal parts have been used as experimental transplants for humans. Some animals have even been cloned, which have also brought up ethical issues.

I believe everyone would agree that human civilization has depended greatly on the dependence of animals. Many of us still depend on them today. I do. It is me and my little old lady cat. She knows my secrets. We do many things together. She sits on me while I watch television, work on my computer, or read. She sits on the side of the tub when I bathe. She goes outside with me and lies in the yard close to me as I work in the gardens, she sleeps on me at night, sometimes we even share the same plate at dinner. Don’t be grossed out, I put the meat that I don’t want on the other side, and she takes it. I hold her like a baby, and we dance or bounce. She lies on her back and lets me cut the mats off her belly and from under her legs, she growls sometimes, but still lets me do it. She helps me make the bed or keeps me from it. We play hide and seek. She even saved me one time from burning down the house. She came to my office on one end of the house and was throwing a fit and wouldn’t calm down. She wanted me to follow her. I reluctantly stopped what I was doing and went down to the kitchen where smoke was rolling out of the oven. I had put a pan in the oven and the potholder was stuck to it and it was smoldering and about to start flaming. Abbey was probably a year or two old when this happened. Over 19 years I have come to depend on my little furry friend to be my entertainment, my comfort, my joy and my closest companion. I miss her greatly when I am away, and I know she misses me too. When I start to pack a suitcase, she starts to get mopey. She always looks at me with the saddest eyes when I tell her goodbye and leave with luggage in hand.

We have come to love animals so much and have become curious about animals from all over the world, that we will travel to see them in zoos and sanctuaries and sometimes unethical performance venues like roadside zoos and circuses, or magic shows. We naturally want to see these majestic and mysterious exotic creatures. A large portion of television shows and movies are about animals. Children’s toys and cartoon and book characters are about animals. We name our vehicles and sports teams after animals. Who doesn’t get excited when they see the Budweiser Clydesdales marching down the street or see an eagle soaring above them. Whose heart doesn’t skip a beat when they hear a lion roar from a few feet away or if they are lucky enough to hold a flower that a hummingbird decides to partake of?

Most wild animals are afraid of humans, but we have all seen the videos of the animals who have a baby or a loved one in need and they go find a human to help. It always makes me wonder if God sent them to a human or do they watch us and do they know we are capable of doing things they cannot? I saw an amazing video a few days ago where a man was working in his garage and a baby deer came up to him, very frightened. The man followed the fawn into the woods to where its father had gotten his antlers stuck in the fork of a tree. The man took a chainsaw and cut the tree to get the buck’s head loose. The buck and fawn were so excited as they left. The next day they were back at his house, to see the man. They brought all their friends. He panned the camera around to view at least a dozen deer standing around his yard looking at him. Many times, when a human helps an animal, they return again for something. Maybe to say, “thank you”, or to say “thought, I would stop and say, hi.” Maybe, they are just as curious about us as we are them.

I hope this little writing has you to thinking about the animals and experiences in your own life. Remember all the pets who were there for you in your darkest moments or when you just needed a warm body to tell all your secrets. Remember the places you have gone where you were introduced to new animals in their own natural habitats, like the first time you saw a black bear just walking into a forest followed by a couple cubs, or when you sat outside at night and heard the coyotes howling in the distance. I can’t imagine walking outside in the middle of the night on the farm and it being silent. There are always sounds of birds, frogs, and coyotes, and cicadas, and other night critters doing their thing. By the way, you don’t get these beautiful night sounds in the city.

The next time you are driving down the road and you see an animal that you aren’t used to seeing every day, like a fox or an indigo bunting, or a bald eagle, take a moment to thank Him for his wonderful creation and for letting you be surrounded by it. Thank Him for its beauty and its diversity and its perfection. Think about the beauty, wonder and life that animals bring to the world around us.