WARNING: Some readers may find this article distressing.

I wrote a poem with the same name, a few years ago, after seeing a cat stalk and kill a bird in my communal backyard. A normally placid animal, an animal that he had petted and met, had actually gone and killed a bird, then taken it to a quiet area and done what animals do. I know that’s the way it is with animals. Recently, however, I have seen another domestic pet do something similar. I want to share the story and ask some questions.

We have been domesticating wild animals for thousands of years. Today there are hundreds, if not thousands, of cat and dog breeds around the world. All with their own features, but have any of them really lost their wild streak?

Cats kill birds and mice all the time, my cat recently bought a vole at … somewhere !!! The worst is when they are still alive and when they are released they run for their lives. We found dead rookies in the garden, attacked by cats. Our dog has killed a pigeon; I don’t know how he got it, but he did it and it killed him. Does this mean that it will do it again? Give it half a chance and I’m sure it will.

My wife has recently introduced guinea pigs to our home. Beautiful creatures, who are quite vocal, very hairy and very cute. The dog, if you have read my other articles and poems, you will know that my wife also introduced him to the house. The guinea pigs came later. Just yesterday, my wife came into the house totally distraught, throwing the dog by the collar and then ran out of the room crying. The dog had managed to open the hutch and remove one of the creatures from its cage, I do not know if it had died of fear or had been mutilated, but unfortunately it was dead.

My wife and children were beside themselves with the pain, and it was understandable. We had grown fond and very much in love with our new furry friends. Understandable then that my wife was so furious with the dog that I couldn’t even look at her. I get her point: we had made sure the hutch was safe for the animal, we have shown the dog that it is wrong to stand in front of the cage and make fun of the guinea pigs, she is a BIG dog. We felt that we had done everything possible to prevent this from happening. If so, why do we blame ourselves for this incident?

We had had an incident earlier in the day where the door to the hutch was open and the dog had its head in. My wife was away and I thought that my wife had not fixed it well after feeding, and that the little things had escaped. We found them albeit safe and well under a piece of newspaper, cowed by the dog. Relieved that all was well, we sighed and went about our day. Now it seems that the door did not close properly and therefore it was easy for the dog to open it, although not so easy. The dog had realized that there was a way to get into the cage and persevered until she entered.

Therefore, it was our fault that this horrible and sad incident had occurred. We had not made sure enough that the cage was safe for our animals. So can we blame our dog for using his natural instinct to “hunt” and kill other animals? I don’t think we can, I think that despite our domestication of animals (all animals), they all retain their natural wild instincts to hunt and kill.

If we only look at cats and dogs. When cats play, they use their claws, as they would in nature. This can result in tears from children who have been scratched or frightened by a playing cat. This happens when dogs also play, but when dogs play they use their mouths; therefore, a child who is injured by a dog is seriously injured and the dog is destroyed. Again, it is not the dog’s fault, more it is the parents’ fault for not making sure the child is aware of their dog’s natural wild mind. Dogs chase cats, naturally, cats are fascinated by smaller creatures, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, etc. and, given the opportunity, they will use their instinct to “hunt” and kill to “play” with the smaller animals.

So what do we do with our dog? Now he has killed a bird and a family pet. Have we destroyed it? Is it likely to do it again? If so, should we relocate it? Immediately after the incident, my wife and children wanted to rehome our dog, but personally I think it was a knee-jerk reaction. Is Bella likely to kill again, given the chance? I’d say he would, not because he’s a killer dog or because he’s sneaky (you’ve never met a kinder and friendlier animal) but because he’s a dog, a natural hunter, a former wild beast that retains its wild features. I think relocation is an option, just to save stress for our smaller animals and all of us in case this happens again, but relocation would mean that we had failed our dog. We take her as a family pet, to take care of her no matter what for the rest of her life; by relocating it, we failed to do this and thus failed our dog, so can we then call ourselves true animal lovers? Bella looks to us for leadership, guidance, trusts us to be kind to her and take care of her; relocating her would give her feelings of resentment and abandonment, and I wouldn’t want to do that to anything or anyone, I would. it’s a pity that he cries.

I guess we just need to learn the lessons from this incident. We have a dead family pet, due to our own poor judgment, our underestimation of animal instincts and the natural primitive urges of our dogs. In the future we will be more cautious when buying animal cages, making sure they are completely dog-proof. We will be more vigilant when the dog is left alone in our garden, making sure to check him regularly to make sure he is not reverting to his primitive behaviors. We will make sure to incorporate your interaction with smaller pets into your training, so that you get used to living with other animals. Although you can never take away the primitive urges, perhaps we can keep them in the back of his mind so that he does not use them so easily.

If you are going to keep small animals in a house with cats and dogs, make sure they are kept in a way that keeps them safe from natural predators in your home. That way you can enjoy them all without the anguish of losing one for the other, because given the opportunity, predators will always happily show the cruelty of the animal kingdom.