![]() Attitudes and sentiments towards the domesticated animals vary, with many societies attaching spiritual meaning to their birds, cats, or dogs that “illustrate the ways in which pets may be woven into the broader belief system of a society” (ibid. The authors suggest various reasons that peoples around the world keep pets, including rearing the animals for food, training them for assistance with hunting or labor needs, or keeping them as playful companions for children. ![]() Their study revealed that “dogs, birds, and cats were the most common pets, followed by horses, other hoofed mammals such as water buffalo, rodents, nonhuman primates, and pigs” (ibid. Gray and Young (2011) conducted a broad cross-cultural study of human–pet dynamics around the world utilizing the Probability Sample Files, a stratified random sample of 60 culturally, linguistically, and geographically diverse societies represented in eHRAF World Cultures. Indeed, research shows that it is a growing global trend for pet owners to consider their animals to be full members of their families to dote upon them as they would children or romantic partners, both emotionally and financially and to thereby develop strong bonds of dependency, love, and support. ![]() For many pet owners, their furry (or scaly) domestic companions transcend any simple categorization of non-human animal. If the number of cute animal memes on the internet is a fair benchmark, then the human love of pets is a powerful and global phenomenon. ![]()
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