pet connection

Meant to post this earlier in the week, but it slipped my mind until Dr. Marty reminded me. In the New York Times, Jonathan Safran Foer writes in response to proposed changes in New York’s rules of off-leash park use, and considers the effect dogs have on city dwellers:

Living on a planet of fixed size requires compromise, and while we are the only party capable of negotiating, we are not the only party at the table. We’ve never claimed more, and we’ve never had less. There has never been less clean air or water, fewer fish or mature trees. If we are not simply ignoring the situation, we keep hoping for (and expecting) a technological solution that will erase our destruction, while allowing us to continue to live without compromise. Maybe zoos will be an adequate replacement for wild animals in natural habitats. Maybe we will be able to recreate the Amazon somewhere else. Maybe one day we will be able to genetically engineer dogs that do not wish to run free. Maybe. But will those futures make us feel, in the best sense of the word, human?

I have been taking George to Prospect Park twice a day for more than three years, but her running is still a revelation to me. Effortlessly, joyfully, she runs quite a bit faster than the fastest human on the planet. And faster, I’ve come to realize, than the other dogs in the park. George might well be the fastest land animal in Brooklyn. Once or twice every morning, for no obvious reason, she’ll tear into a full sprint. Other dog owners can’t help but watch her. Every now and then someone will cheer her on. It is something to behold. 

Honestly, I’ve done the piece an injustice by just taking the end of it. So go read it all. (Need a log-in?)

And speaking of off-leash areas, how about this one? In Southern California, the City of Brentwood is checking a dog park built on a former government dump for radiation. The concerns extend to the athletic fields of a nearby high school as well.

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