Animals are important characters in many film and television works. From the Akita dog in "Hachiko the Loyal Dog" to the big orange Bob in "Bob the Stray Cat", the bond between animals and humans can always pull the heartstrings of the audience at a certain moment, and even make people have the urge to feed a pet.
Adults may think about it, but no one can stop children from being impulsive. After watching "Hamtaro", the little hamster bought by his parents has not been raised, and in a few days, "Finding Nemo" will be released and he will clamor to raise small fish. When it comes to interest, it is the parents who are not remorseful at the beginning who were soft-hearted at the beginning.
Toys can be thrown in the storage room to eat ashes, but pets that have become part of the family must be taken care of to the end. Every time the pet boom brought about by cartoons and movies passes, the headache is not only the adults who have bought new pets for their children (or themselves) for a while, but also pet shelters and animal environmentalists everywhere.
The fire of the "Loyal Dog Hachiko" remade in 2009 led to the breeding of pet Akita dogs
In 2003, "Finding Nemo" set a record for the highest box office in the history of the premiere weekend of an animated film at that time, and also set off a wave of pet clownfish purchases around the world. But clownfish are saltwater fish that live in the sea, which is actually very unsuitable for family feeding.
Professional pet fish lovers will invest thousands of dollars in huge saltwater fish tanks at home, in order to provide clownfish hiding caves, seagrass environment, these fish tanks usually need nearly 2 meters in length, and have a volume that can hold a ton of water. In addition, it also needs more professional maintenance, always pay attention to the temperature of the fish tank, feed correctly, and change the water in time.
Professionally reared clownfish need to at least provide them with fish tanks that mimic their wild habitat
Obviously, most clownfish buyers do not meet such professional breeding standards. Ordinary people will only provide them with a small fish tank like goldfish, so these wild marine fish that are caught are basically rare to die. More parents, when they saw that the clownfish they bought back were a bit sick, used the line "All drains lead back to the ocean" in "Finding Nemo" to fool their children and directly dump them into the sewer to "release".
What awaits these clownfish is not a series of adventure stories and the end of their return to their homeland, but the tragic experience of being crushed into pieces in a sewage treatment machine or stopped by a filter and suffocating in garbage and feces.
Despite trying to provide a saltwater environment, there are still many novices who post online asking about the inexplicable cause of death of their clownfish
In Vanuatu, in the southwest pacific, local clownfish and coral reefs on the ocean floor have disappeared 50 percent of the time in three years due to overfishing. This is happening throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans where clownfish are present, and other non-clownfish are also chosen to fish for other tropical fish as alternatives.
In the pet breeding boom caused by film and television works, fish have become the biggest victims because of their cheapest and "easy to handle". Ironically, the original intention of "Finding Nemo" was to call on everyone not to overfish marine life, but the final result was counterproductive.
Another victim that is hard to imagine is the owl in Harry Potter.
The Harry Potter series does not feature hedwig the owl, and the author does not particularly focus on portraying this animal. However, the influence of Harry Potter's novels and movies is too great, and the owl is the only important animal supporting role in it, so it has been targeted by a small number of fanatical fans.
Since 2012, Harry Potter author JK Rowling has repeatedly urged fans on social media and various occasions not to try to keep owls as pets, but the brain circuits of those who are determined to turn wild animals into pets are really different.
The handsome owl that looks handsome in the movie is indeed very handsome in reality, and this handsomeness is based on its fierceness and aggression, so it is not suitable for families with small children. Owls, on the other hand, need a lot of room to move, and like clownfish, whim keepers certainly don't have large professional aviarys.
So what if you let it go for an event? Its instincts often drive it back with a dead mouse or some other critter—if it does. Breeders will then find that the predators are ferocious, noisy, smelly and dirty, and they simply cannot accept it.
Looking at the Internet again, the life span of an owl is about ten years. Utterly dumbfounded: Well, let it go. Another common problem of these irresponsible breeders is that they always feel that captive animals can be released into nature and instantly become wild animals and live happily.
Since 2012, the number of pet owls in UK owl shelters has been increasing. Pam Toothill of the North Wales Owl Conservation Centre said in a 2012 interview that the end of the Harry Potter film series had deprived many people of interest in keeping owls, which had turned the number of sheltered owls she needed to care for from 6 to 100 in half a year.
Sheltering animal shelters is the best destination for these abandoned pets, and more abandoned owls will soon be exposed to the wilderness due to their lack of wilderness survival.
Is it really powerful to have an owl?
Not only rare wild animals will become abandoned pets, in fact, common cats, cats, dogs and dogs are the largest group of abandoned pets. As early as 1997, dogs were the first victims to be favored and out of favor because of film and television works.
In 1996, Disney remade its classic animated feature film One Hundred and One Dalmatians into the live-action film 101 Dalmatians. Featuring two brilliant spotted dogs (Dalmatian, also known as Barley), this comedic adventure film tells the story of their respective owners and the rescue of 99 puppies from the main villain.
I have to say that the well-trained spotted dogs in the movie are really likable, they will help open the door, take milk, pull the quilt to wake up the owner, watch TV, even put the bath water and pour good coffee for the owner before he gets up, and most importantly, he can help the owner find true love while finding a partner by the way...
Movie "101 Real Dogs"
So at the end of the last century, spotted dogs quickly became the most popular pet members of Anglo-American families. In many other countries and regions, spotted dogs have also become the standard for high society and rich families. On Christmas Day 1996, a large number of small spotted dogs were given as gifts to children in various families.
However, the real-life spotted dog is very different from the perfect image in the movie, and soon the problem comes. The excellent breed and well-trained spotted dogs are indeed very powerful, and they can take on the responsibility of hunting dogs, guard dogs and even fire dogs. But this also means that dogs in this breed are very active and require a large amount of daily activity, and many people report that their spotted dogs are overactive, aggressive and very dislike of children.
On the other hand, spotted dogs themselves have a high probability of genetic defects, the prevalence of bilateral deafness in American spotted dogs is 8%, and the probability of hip dysplasia reaches 5% (easy to lead to falls and fractures). This means that the professional breeding process of spotted dogs is very important, but with the sudden increase in market demand, amateur breeders and so-called puppy mills do not understand breeding at all, and a large number of "problem dogs" have been created.
Together, irresponsible breeders and inexperienced breeders contributed to the abandonment of spotted dogs between 1997 and 2000. A large number of spotted dogs have been abandoned by their original owners, and although rescue organizations specifically targeting spotted dogs have sprung up, they simply cannot accommodate a staggering number of abandoned dogs.
Eventually, a large number of spotted dogs can only be euthanized. As a result, it also sparked protests by animal rights groups against the film's release.
It must be admitted that compared with the people in 1997 when the spotted dog abandoned the storm, we now have a more scientific and comprehensive understanding of the matter of pet ownership. Pet owners after the 80s and 90s will often do a good job of vaccination, sterilization, breeding, companionship, etc. before starting to raise their favorite pets.
However, despite this, the annual graduation season and before the Spring Festival are still a high incidence of pet abandonment. Under the impact of the epidemic this year, many pet rescue stations are even more surging with cats and dogs. Now many people are not stupid enough to think that their cats and dogs will live well when they are taken to "release", but even if they are taken in by the rescue station? Do you think they will have a better tomorrow?
Abandoned pets that can be found by rescuers before being run over by traffic, poisoned or choked to death by indiscriminate eating, or even caught and slaughtered by unscrupulous traders will first be sent to the hospital for examination as stray animals. Healthy sterilization, injury surgery, already serious injuries will be recommended by a doctor for direct euthanasia.
Even if you have successfully arrived at the shelter, there are many pets with mental illness. Pets that have been wandering for a long time may become very afraid of humans, and some pets that have a deep relationship with their former owners will have symptoms of hunger strike and depression.
Cat in shelter (note the right 1 emoticon --)
We can fully understand abandoned pets as children who have just started kindergarten, who have only "mom and dad" breeders in their eyes for a long life, and then one day they are suddenly abandoned. Children who cry in kindergarten for a day wait for their parents to appear again, and then slowly learn to grow independently. But abandoned pets only become desperate in the long wait and search, and they can never understand why they are suddenly abandoned.
Leaving aside the social impact of infectious diseases, injurious dangers, and disruptions to the ecological balance caused by pet abandonment, emotional considerations alone constantly remind us that out of respect for human nature, we should have a sufficiently cautious and comprehensive consideration of the decision to own a pet.
It is necessary for every parent to clearly inform himself of his or her obligations the first time his or her child excitedly requests to own a pet, and to lead by example with the new members. It is necessary for every adult to be fully prepared before raising his own pet, which is both a responsibility for society, respect for animals, and a moral requirement for himself.
After more than twenty years of lessons, if humans are still making animals pay for their impulsive and irresponsible behavior, then why should we talk about ourselves as the "spirit of all things"?
Mark Corcoran Vanuatu-Saving Nemo. 2004.11.09
Meghan DeMaria, JK Rowling is urging Harry Potter fans to stop keeping owls as pets， Aug 29, 2017
Mireya Navrro，After Movies, Unwanted Dalmatians，Sept. 14, 1997