Animals in the City

I do not exactly live in a city.  My neighborhood has an adjoining cornfield.  Consequently, my three golden retrievers (the aforementioned Hunter, Myles, and Fergus) have an acre of fenced area to stretch their furry limbs.  New scents, small critters, and some deer make our backyard a dog haven.

This past weekend, I have been visiting Chicago, which is quite a large city, at least in my opinion.  I am not used to people everywhere and all the activity.  But something that was extremely powerful was the image of a Great Dane being walked down the streets of downtown Chicago, with no grass or trees to sniff and absolutely no room to be a dog.  Yes, the sight of city people and their beloved pet is a quaint sight, as Gene claims, but how treasured can this be if animals are being forced to live a life so different from what they should be?

In the holiday season, people in the city seem to think it is romantic to take a carriage ride around the city for an exorbitant amount of money.  All I can see in theis venture is the horse pulling the carriage, clopping down asphalt instead of eating green grass.  I am in no way suggesting that these animals are being abused, but I can't help but notice that their ears never perk up with interest as the horses I always rode did when I approached.  There is no more curiousity, no more joy.  These horses shouldn't be instruments of profit, trodding the streets amidst insane traffic and horn-blaring.  Even if the animals can't be used as more than a children's horse, that in itself is more of a life than pulling a carriage.  I was reminded instantly of Black Beauty, not for any reasons relating to abuse, but for the lack of animal happiness that I could see when I compared the carriage horses to the most lazy, slow pony I had ever tromped through a pasture to retrieve.  He, at least, would respond to noises, not being made deaf to stimuli through car horns.  Insensitivity in a animal of prey such as a horse is completely unnatural.  People in the cities, who are traditionally the most liberal, need to see that their advocation of animal rights must extend to animals in their own cities.  These are animals, and however domesticated, are not made to live in a concrete jungle.