Petnet - Urban Animal Management Conference. As our culture becomes more surreal and impersonal humans are turning to their animal companions to re-establish contact with the true rhythm and meaning of life. What Thomas Jefferson called 'nature and nature's God'. Or, as Joni Mitchell said, 'We've got to get back to the Garden'.
Animals are our guides on that journey.
This paper seeks to explore the pathways. Our attitudes have gone through cyclical changes ever since. The ancient Egyptians revered cats so much that when one died all the human members of its household shaved their eyebrows and went into deep mourning for a year. Instead they prefer to think of themselves as parents and their animals as surrogate children. Of course, sentimentalising companion animals is nothing new.