ANIMALS HAVE FEELINGS TOO

Back to newsletter page ANIMALS HAVE FEELINGS TOO: FACT OR FICTION - Loretta Jones
Unlike a child that can respond verbally to let you know how they feel , animals cannot talk. Through our work with animals we have learned to look for other means of communication to help us figure out their emotional state and to better understand their illness or injury. As we studied our patients over the past eleven years, we learned more than just how they communicate, but how they feel and think. By far, the most common questions that the public asks us, are about the emotions and the intelligence of animals. This particular field of study is more than just an interest but is a passion for us. The scientific community rejects the idea that animals have higher emotions, those emotions that humans feel. Throughout history, these feelings are what distinguished man from lower animals. Today, there are still many trainers who work with animals that will avoid acknowledgment of animal’s feelings and intelligence, fearing persecution. On the other hand, the pendulum swings to the other side where people believe that animals have the same feelings as humans, such as in some Disney movies. This is called anthropomorphism. After working with so many animals of different species we have drawn our own opinions to the subject. Some animals are definitely more intelligent than formally believed and each animal has a unique personality. As rehabilitators and surrogate parents, we have to teach many lessons to our patients to prepare them for release. Many of their lessons were believed to be instinctive, experience has proven many of these beliefs to be incorrect. We have also seen animals behave altruistic toward other animals, defying many of Darwin’s theories. Many of the creatures of Hawk Creek are permanent resident due to injury or imprinting, giving us great opportunities to observe them. Here are only a few examples of our observations. We hope that you will enjoy them and drawn up your own conclusion:
	*"Desperado", Hawk Creek's resident Harris Hawk, and comedian!*
HARRIS HAWK - a sense of humor? a complex plan? When Desperado arrived from Arizona, he spent the first couple of days placing all of the larger stones from the bottom of his enclosure and carefully balanced them on the top of the door. So every time we walked into his enclosure, we caused all of the stones to fall on our heads. While this was taking place, Desperado would fly to a closer vantage point and seemed to take great delight in his success. It only took about four days before we removed all of the large stones and replaced them with hacky sacks and racquetballs. Everyone was grateful since only the hacky sack could fit above the ledge above the door. It is much softer on the old head! Desperado did not get the previous loud reaction from us and took to a new game. He walked or actually stumbled around in his pool with his hacky sacks or racket balls in both feet.
*"Red" checks out the camera.*
RED FOX - joy, trust, and jealousy? Our fox has complex relationships with humans that mirror our own. Red has definite opinions about certain people. Even at eight years of age he still chooses who are his family, friends and foes. With patience and respect, you can change your status from foe to family. A familiar sounding car will get his tail wagging with the intensity increasing when a friend is in view. As soon as we talk to him, his tail goes from a wag to a full propeller motion. Upon entering his enclosure for a morning scratch, he falls into a submissive position on his back, closes his eyes and actually smiles! If we stop at another enclosure first or even if we stop to talk to someone else while scratching his tummy, we are immediately reprimanded by a verbal bark or gentle tug.
	*Misu ("Rippling Water") is a female river otter from Iowa*
RIVER OTTER - enthusiasm, attention getting schemes, forgiveness? We recently received a one year old river otter from Iowa that is extremely intelligent and playful. We used operant conditioning (a positive form of training) to teach her husbandry behaviors. To our surprise she immediately comprehended the trainers request and within a fifteen minute period, learned 3-4 behaviors. She learned to target to the target stick, hold a position, followed a trainer and come when called! She not only learned all of these tasks, she did it with great enthusiasm and didn’t want to stop. She creates her own games and she even does her own laundry. Everyday, she takes her towel from inside and drags it across her enclosure and into the bottom of the pool. As a matter of fact, her bowl and all of her toys are also on the bottom, everyday. We believe that she does this to get our attention since she seems very pleased when we clean up her mess. If we catch her in the act, we tell her "wrong" and she lies her head down while pouting and pretends that she was innocent. She is a very special resident because she has somehow managed to be a very loving animal which is very unusual since she is a member of the weasel family and because of her harsh encounter with man. She lost her front leg and half of her teeth due to leg-hold trap. She has had numerous surgeries, shots, sutures, and was tested and examined for over six months. After several frightening plane rides and unexpected layovers, she arrived a frightened, growling otter. In this case most animals will either fear man for the rest of their life or require years of patient training with little gain. Within two weeks she trusted us and welcomed a scratch, roll or tug on any part of her body. We are greeted enthusiastically every time we enter the enclosure and she follows and participates in all cleaning activities. We don’t know why she is this way, but we do know she is very special because it just doesn’t happen.
From a horse that likes to tease people to a wild crow that feeds any songbird patient, our stories could go on forever but limited space allows for only a few. We feel that man has underestimate animal's abilities to think, feel and learn. Acknowledging these higher emotions would force us to rethink our relationship with animals, our utilitarian views. There, we said it. It's out there now . We can anticipate all kinds of mail from this article but we feel that it’s about time someone said it. The sky didn’t fall, life goes on, so what was the big threat? Anyway, we hope that you can see animals in a different light, we certainly do. Suggested reading: When Elephants Weep by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson Love, Miracles, and Animal Healing by Allen M. Scoen, D.V.M