Zenbob!, was do animals have compassion?

[Guest guest]

Zenbob!

So glad to hear from you again - I've missed you. Wanted to

write to you, but lost my hard drive and all old files and addresses.

Wlecome, welcome back!!

Love,

Dharma

Dear

Folks:

OK, you drew me out of my deep cave of inner reflection with this

topic.

There is an excellent book, recently published that details real

examples of many animal species behaving both generously and

bravely...showing both caring and compassion.

One example was of a mare that entered a raging flood to rescue her

foal (but wait, there's more!), discovered that a local rancher had

fallen into the river and was drowning, and stopped to push him safely

to shore BEFORE rescuing her own foal. Thankfully, all

survived.

I have raised cats who have become orphaned, and found that even MALE

cats will protect other kittens, hunt for them, groom them and care

for them. Furthermore, they will do so, even when the kittens

are MALE and likely to grow up to be competition.

We have chickens in our back yard (we are on a 10 acre ranch) and when

a cat threatened younger chickens that had slipped out of their fenced

area, one of the jays flew down and distracted the cat long enough for

me to get the chickens back into the coop.

That was both unselfish and brave. I can think of nothing else

that would seem to prove "compassion" than simply

observation of behavior. We get confused when dealing with

humans because they are so verbal. They can claim to be

compassionate all the time, but I think we always must observe

behavior. That being the case, we need to cease asking the

question about animals ("Is is really compassionate behavior?

We don't know their real motives...we cannot interrogate them.

Maybe it is just a confusion on their part. Maybe it is

some instinct. Maybe it was fear reflex.")

Balloney. Judge each by the observed behavior. Generosity

and compassion are not unique to humans. In fact, common sense

would indicate that humans could NOT have compassion or regard for

others if our animal relatives had not developed it to some degree

first.

Namaste & Love,

Zenbob/join

 

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