June 18, 2012

PetScoop: Pet "Parent" or Pet "Owner" -- These Terms Have Real Legal Ramifications

People who live with pets often refer to themselves as pet "parents", rather than "owners". The state of "owning" another being objectifies him or her and seems to turn the pet into a "thing", or even a "slave". This makes us uncomfortable since we love our pets to pieces, and many of us don't think of them as possessions, but as members of our families.

However, these terms have real-life legal ramifications that may come as a surprise. This mind-blowing Pet Parents or Pet Owners: What's in a Name | Dogs Naturally Magazine points out that changing the word from "owner" to "guardian," "custodian," "keeper" (as has happened in the entire state of RI and 40 cities) may just strip us of our constitutional rights towards our pets.

It boils down to our founding document, the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution gives citizens the right to "own" property, and not be deprived of that property without Due Process of Law. "Guardians" have no such rights. If you think that no one cares enough to want to deprive you of your rights of "guardianship," look no further than the Animal Rights organizations, with PETA at the helm."

Attorney Genny Wall adds, "If we are 'Guardians' rather than owners, then ultimately it will be the State, and not the individual, who has the power to say who will care for the animal, how it will be cared for, where it will reside, what medical treatments it will or will not undergo, and who will make all the other decisions regarding the health, welfare, life and death, or destruction, of that animal.

Read Pet Parents or Pet Owners: What's in a Name | Dogs Naturally Magazine.