For the first time ever, I doubted my choice of profession. This happened after I saw people in Spain protesting against the killing of the dog belonging to an ebola-infected woman.
I never doubted that Spain’s culture deserved to be preserved and cherished. I also never doubted this great culture would not be consigned to oblivion by history. Today, these certainties took a hit.
Clarissa's Blog 
Isn’t it just as important to remember the bad as it is to remember the good?
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When the bad is meaningful, like the Spanish Civil War or the economic crisis, then of course. But this???
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I tend to be a ‘glass is half full’ kind of guy so I’ll point out,
– empathy for animals has never been a defining Spanish trait (extreme understatement) and so in terms of that, this represents civilizational development (even if a few extremists are carrying it too far),
– there’s no evidence the dog was infected, or if human-canine transmission (either direction) is even possible, quarantine and monitoring could add another piece to the transmission puzzle and that opportunity is now lost (and if the poor critter had shown symptoms then of course it should have been put down immediately and humanely),
– the much bigger story here is the lax observance of safety protocols (which will surprise no one who knows Spain), the infected nursing aide was apparently not monitored while undressing
http://www.abc.es/sociedad/20141008/abci-ebola-fallo-contagio-201410071649.html
– the much bigger cause for dismay (for me) was bringing the priest back to Spain in the first place, unless an infected person is going to be used as a guinea pig for possible treatments (and surrounded by the highest level of safety protocols going) then there’s no justificatio for importing an infected person and neither of those seemed to be the case here.
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“empathy for animals has never been a defining Spanish trait (extreme understatement)”
– I know! And at this point in time, when the country is literally falling apart, the unemployment is still sky-high, youth unemployment is just tragic, people are fleeing the country, education is (still) in the toilet and getting deeper into the sewage system by the second, and peperos are still happily ruining the country – at this point in time, these freaks have nothing better to do with their stupid lives than PROTEST ABOUT A DOG??? There are people eating out of dumpsters in Spain. And these freaks care ABOUT A DOG???
If this isn’t complete degeneracy, I don’t know what is. I have no idea how such a culture is going to survive. The first rule of survival is: assess priorities and allocate resources and energy towards the priorities in a strict order.
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I’m not sure there’s any country with empathy for animals…. It’s too broad a trait for a country. I would only speak of individuals ( and counted with the fingers of the hand) and maybe indigenous tribes as someone who actually qualifies as empathic to animals…
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// For the first time ever, I doubted my choice of profession.
I hope you are exaggerating here. Sometimes, you say “X happened, thus nothing good can come out of Y”. Taking all or nothing approach in demanding perfection.
I know that f.e. my country is far from perfect, but it doesn’t mean that “it’s time to turn off the lights.” Every culture and country has ugly sides too.
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Yes, I’m very all or nothing. It’s a good way to be. 🙂
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This isn’t related, but could we talk on skype again? Sorry, I still kind of need your help
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Spanish culture is sick in many ways. There have always been elements there that I’ve found repulsive, so I never based on my professional choice on an idealization of the culture.
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I don’t expect Spain to be ideal. I could even deal with people protesting against killing a cat. But a dog??? That is really the limit.
OK, this is starting to sound like I need to discuss this with my analyst. 🙂
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\\ I could even deal with people protesting against killing a cat. But a dog???
May be, you could write about what dogs vs cats represent to you.
I have always been afraid of dogs, without any rational reason I can find. True, they can bite, but others aren’t afraid of that somehow. And then, I know a dog sees when I am afraid of it and can react agressively to fear (it’s true, not something I made up). It makes me more afraid. 🙂
Cats are less likely to force any interaction on unknown people, and I have always liked them.
May be, hearing your reason could help me to find mine.
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Unlike cats, dogs make noise. Plus they bite. Plus they salivate all over people. Cats, at least, seem to have some sort of purpose which they pursue quietly. Dogs, however, are uniformly stupid. There is a dog in our neighborhood who is tied by the neck to a pole. All day and well into the evening. The stupid creature barks at every car and pedestrian that passes by, wriggling on the rope like a dervish and choking itself. Even a cockroach or a toad or a bird would have already developed some self-preservation instinct and stopped hurting themselves. Yet this dog keeps barking and choking, barking and choking.
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Cats can make noise too, and I have even been scratched by a cat once in my childhood. Still like them. 🙂
Dogs are extremely social animals and being left alone all the time is a psychological torture for them. You said “All day and well into the evening”, and then at night the owners are asleep. We don’t know whether they interact with the animal at all.
The poor dog is going insane since it can’t do anything, neither go for a walk nor interact with somebody.
“Even a cockroach or a toad or a bird would have already developed some self-preservation instinct and stopped hurting themselves”
I think it may work in the opposite direction too. The higher developed the animal (including people), the higher potential for self-mutilation because of psychological suffering and / or boredom. Remember those people in the experiment, who chose pain to stop (in a way) being alone? I don’t think any animal would do so because of 5 minutes of isolation.
Barking and running are the only things this dog can do.
Btw, I read about cockatoo parrots mutilating and even killing themselves in captivity because of psychological suffering (high stress levels and / or not getting enough interaction). Those parrots are very highly developed animals, not less smart than dogs. Now found:
A breed of parrot has been shown to be as clever as a child of four when it comes to making long term decisions proving their species don’t, as is often assumed, just learn parrot-fashion.
Scientists found the captive bred Goffin’s cockatoo is able to resist the temptation of eating an immediate food item in order to trade it for a better reward down the line.
This mirrored a famous experiment in the U.S. 40 years ago when nursery school children were put in a room and given a marshmallow, biscuit or pretzel stick. They could either eat it right away or wait 15 minutes and get an extra treat.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2292445/Whos-clever-boy-Parrot-shown-intelligence-level-year-old-child.html
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“Dogs are extremely social animals and being left alone all the time is a psychological torture for them.”
– Dogs can’t have “psychology.” 🙂 🙂
“The poor dog is going insane since it can’t do anything, neither go for a walk nor interact with somebody.”
– They can’t go “insane” because they don’t have a mind.
“Btw, I read about cockatoo parrots mutilating and even killing themselves in captivity because of psychological suffering”
– If I said that my table is experiencing psychological suffering because I left it alone all day long, what would you think of me? 🙂 🙂 🙂
Look, any attempt to find causes of this dog’s behavior will be nothing but projections. They don’t have psychology or suffering nor do they form societies. I haven’t even seen any real proof that they have instincts. Every day I see an animal that dashes into the highway, more often than not dying in the process.
“They could either eat it right away or wait 15 minutes and get an extra treat.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2292445/Whos-clever-boy-Parrot-shown-intelligence-level-year-old-child.html”
– Daily Mail is a tabloid.
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El is right, a dog that is chained outside all day and into the evening is being neglected and is probably going insane. Dogs have a strong need to be part of a group and they suffer if they spend most of their time alone. Dogs bite when they experience threats and psychological stress. And dogs that bite frequently have often been abused, neglected, or badly treated in their training. Good dog training is all about making a dog feel safe, secure, and wanted.
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Dogs bite for no reason that we can understand and verbalize. They don’t think and reason. The only difference between them and tables is the one we assign because we need to do that for whatever reason.
Investing animals with human traits is entertaining and I totally get the attraction of this pastime. The problem is that this might lead people too far and cause actual trouble. I had a huge dog jump at me and topple me to the ground in the summer while its ownet announced with a beatific face, “She just wants to play!” The tragedy of the situation is that the owner honestly thinks that “want” and “play” are words that can be attributed to an animal. The creature who really “wants to play” is the owner. But she can’t share it directly for whatever reason. So she projects the need onto the dog and facilitates dog’s attacks on people.
It would really change people’s lives if they could undertsand that any statement about what an animal “wants” or “feels” or even “thinks” is a statement about their own feelings and needs.
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It’s pretty clear when my dog wants food and I don’t feel there’s any projection going on with that. If I have cheese, the cheese is all she pays attention to and she will bark if she doesn’t get a little bite of it. What is that if it’s not wanting cheese? Though admittedly she only wants cheese when she can see/smell it, so it’s a very immediate type of wanting.
But I agree that “wanting play” is a human projection. Most dogs engage in behavior that resembles human play and they must be getting something out of that behavior because they do it without being trained to do it. But yes, saying that the dog “wants to play” is human projection.
But I think there’s more wrong with your friend. Most dog trainers consider jumping up on people to be bad behavior and you are supposed to train dogs not to do it. Your friend should be apologizing to you and commanding the dog to sit if it jumps up on you. The real problem is with your friend’s approach (or lack of approach) to training the dog.
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A case from USA (I bolded some parts):
Dallas, Texas nurse Nina Pham was diagnosed with Ebola on Saturday, and her dog Bentley was ordered into the care of the city’s animal services
A city spokesman said Tuesday that there are no plans to euthanize the dog, as Spanish officials did last week to an infected nurse’s dog in Madrid
[..]
Bentley is being treated just like a potential human patient under observation for the disease. He is being kept in isolation for 21 days, which is the maximum incubation period for the virus in human bodies.
Animal services carers and a veterinarian in full-hazmat suiting visit Bentley twice daily to feed him and make sure he remains healthy.
[..]
Outside his holding area, hazmat barrels are stationed to collect the dog’s waste.
‘Everyone who will be coming to contact with him will be in protective gear,’ city spokesman Sana Syed told U.S. News and World Report. ‘We’re being told to treat him like human case. We’re learning as we go.’
There’s still not enough research to determine whether dogs can spread the disease, as humans do person-to-person. However, there are no documented cases of dogs spreading Ebola. The World Health Organization says Ebola outbreaks occur when humans exchange bodily fluids with animals that act as reservoirs for the disease. It’s believed that fruit bats, apes, monkeys, antelopes and porcupines can hold the disease, but not dogs.
That uncertainly has Pham’s neighbors worried however, wondering if the waste the dog left behind may lead to their own pets getting infected, and spreading the disease into the community.
‘I know she’s a responsible dog owner and always picks up after her dog should something be left behind; I don’t know if that’s how my dog could contract Ebola,’ one neighbor told KHOU.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2793251/pictured-ebola-patient-nina-pham-s-beloved-dog-named-bentley-removed-contaminated-house-quarantine.html
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“Bentley is being treated just like a potential human patient under observation for the disease. ”
– Freaks. Let’s remember how the black man who died of ebola in Texas was treated and compare it to the loving care dispensed to the stupid dog.
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\\ Let’s remember how the black man who died of ebola in Texas was treated
I missed that. Guess he wasn’t an American citizen, and if one isn’t – he will be treated worse than an American dog.
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He was a black American citizen. And he was basically kicked out of the hospital when he arrived with symptoms after traveling to Liberia.
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“He was a black American citizen. And he was basically kicked out of the hospital when he arrived with symptoms after traveling to Liberia.”
You are wrong!!! He was a Liberian citizen visiting the US (for the first time I think thought I cannot find confirmation of that).
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“compare it to the loving care dispensed to the stupid dog”
You have a dog phobia but there are good reasons to not destroy this one (at least not yet). Nothing is really known about human/canine transmission of Ebola (either direction) so it’s worth keeping the dog under (safe quarantined) isolation for a time.
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It’s just a dog. A gazillion more can be found instead of this one. Investing even a dime into “treating” this one when there a so many more available for free is insane.
They are given out for free at the dog pounds. O b with could get 5 or ten if one wanted. There’s no shortage of them.
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\\ He was a black American citizen.
No. I guessed correctly. From wiki:
“Thomas Eric Duncan was a Liberian who became the first Ebola patient diagnosed in the United States … Duncan was traveling on a visa when he made his first trip to the U.S. to reunite with his estranged son and the teen’s mother, Louise Troh, who had been his girlfriend in Liberia.”
\\ And he was basically kicked out of the hospital
That’s simply insane. How people who made this decision are still working?
A two fools (“the travel history was visible to both the doctor and the nurse”) could begin the epidemic in USA.
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\\ Investing even a dime into “treating” this one when there a so many more available for free is insane.
Actually, investing to (probably) learn whether and how ebola may affect / infect dogs is a great idea, which may protect human lives.
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I’m sure this is already done in actual labs. Here the story is that it’s bring treated.
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\ For the first time ever, I doubted my choice of profession. This happened after I saw people in Spain protesting against the killing of the dog belonging to an ebola-infected woman.
Nurse who survived Ebola suing health officials for euthanizing her dog
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You do want me to go for a career change, don’t you? 🙂
That would really liven up the blog.
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