I think a lot about the relationship between humans, compassion, and animals.

If you spend time with pets, you’ll notice they have preferences. One of your dogs likes carrots, but the other likes tangerines. One likes frisbees, another tugs a big ‘ol stick out of the mud and lugs it around. You can chirp along in a conversation with your cat. These are observations you can make without leaving the house.

And you can say, “sure, but dogs and cats are intelligent,” as if the presence of personality doesn’t apply to other creatures. But that’s not the end of it. Birds have pecking orders and turtles prioritize foods. They fear, they react to pain. Not to mention, outside of domesticated animals there are many behaviors we don’t know about. It takes years of observation in natural (and sometimes, drastically shrinking) habitat and populations- there’s still a lot we don’t know about the natural world. SO much.

Whatever plane of existence humans exist on, there are other creatures that occupy that space as well. They may not posses our degree of articulation (nor may we have the capacity from a human perspective to understand them) but there is presence of being. That alone is enough give them value… especially if we, as a species, believe compassion to be a human trait. It shouldn’t even matter if we can glean intelligence or value.