I’m a cat person.

I had never owned a dog growing up - in fact I have usually been scared of them. My experience with Lotus was different. This dog had lost its owner and survived a house fire. It was traumatized, and I felt a strong bond with her. My interactions with all dogs have changed - I now see something special in them I hadn’t before.

Perhaps Kant was right, and that the dog merely acted as a “means” to making me a more compassionate person to other humans. However, perhaps there’s something to be said for the argument of giving non-humans some of the rights of personhood. Perhaps even Singer is right with his arguments on speciesism. I saw personhood and personality in the dog.

When I went birding, I watched birds more closely than I ever had before. I noticed how they moved and talked. They reminded me of my chickens at home, with whom I have bonded. While I watched, I no longer felt dualistically separate from the birds. I watched their lives unfold above me. I began to wonder again - do the birds and their ecological surroundings deserve rights?