Article Contributed on: 2/2/2009 4:57:03 PM
At first glance the debate over letting the Parker family keep the pot-bellied pig seems simple and one might question whether our elected officials and homeowner associations should be burdened with such matters. But, let me try to elevate the discuss to a plane of greater importance.
Throughout history man has been plagued with ravaging diseases that have killed millions in epidemics that altered the course of history. Ask the American Indian who populated the Americas by the tens of millions and were reduced to less than 3 million by 1890 by smallpox and other diseases. Modern science has traced the causes of these diseases back to two sources: 1)sanitary conditions in our food and water and 2) diseases which sprout from raising domesticated animals in captivity.
It is now suspected that the 1918 flu pandemic which killed tens of millions started from pigs reared on the front lines during WWI by British troops for food supplies. Prairie dogs carry the bubonic plaque which was the Black Death that ravaged Europe during the middle ages. And, West Nile virus, is carried by horses. I no longer eat venison because of chronic wasting disease and I have become a catch and release fisherman because of whirling disease. Now, I bring all of this up, not because I am suggesting that we erradicate all of the domestic animals amongst us. I love my cats, but I am also careful not to pick up the mice they catch because of the risk of hanta-virus.
It's just that this matter of the animals amongst us is serious business. Avian flu comes from chickens and when grown in high densities in countries like China humans are vulnerable. The rise of organics and the backlash against pesticides, herbicides and antibiotics use in our food supply makes us all more reliant upon the integrity of the grower. Witness the recent salmonella outbreak in peanuts and last years insane tracing of disease in everything from lettuce to tomatoes.
As we increasingly become an urban population we are dependent on health officials, FDA inspectors and farmers and herdsmen for their integrity and due diligence. But, we are also affected by the person next-door who lets his pets become infected, fails to go to the vet and get vaccinations for them and keep them contained. It ranges all over the place from those who let their animals defecate in parks and the failure to keep animals in cages and on leashes. Rarely are the laws strictly enforced and social sanctions do not work.
I do not know where we draw the line. Certainly making an example out of one family with their pot-bellied pig is hypocritical in the extreme. But, there needs to be well-thought out policies and an enforcement of the laws. As much as I would like to allow people their freedom and discretion, I do not believe that the health and safety of the population should be put at risk because you think prairie dogs are cute or you happened to think that pit-bull puppy was lovable. The issues are very complex and serious and it concerns me that anecdotal situations such as the pot-bellied pig are discussed at the emotional level.