Human and animal interactions are being explored in such concerns as animal rights, welfare, and experimentation, as well as environmental and conservation issues. Discussion and awareness of these issues will help define the human-animal bond. If we look at it from a more emotional issue, it encompasses all the amazing relationship we have with animals. There are endless sagas of animal heroes rescuing young and old from fires, snow, explosions, and the seas. Horses patiently teach the handicapped confidence, allowing them the mobility their atrophied and crippled limbs will never provide.
Dogs lead the blind and warn epileptics of seizures.
With their incredible sense of smell, some canine heroes search out drugs and bombs while others rescue victims buried beneath building and snow. Story upon story telling us just how wonderful that human-animal bond can be and how important it is to our civilized existence. But in this exploration of the human-animal bond, I would like to portray a simpler meaning, perhaps a more intimate definition. As a practicing veterinarian, I see, feel, hear, touch, and experience this bond in endless ways. The two had traveled over a million miles sharing plenty of truck stop meals and country western songs.