Jessica Robertson wrote:
>I can't help wondering exactly why this bothers people, especially those
>who seem to think it is only bad because it is a pet.  ...I think its a
>lot better to stuff a pet, who died naturally, that go wandering around
>shooting and trapping animals in the prime of their life.
 
Hi Jessica, thanks for posting a different opinion on this.  I don't want
to prolong this topic because it does really bother me, but one question
that comes up for me is: if this guy is making any money off of his dead
pet's body, doesn't that create an incentive of having a dead pet as
opposed to a live one?  I don't know this guy at all of course, and I'm not
implying that his ferret died of anything but natural causes.  But it is
almost as offensive to me to see a dead pet for sale to "mount" as it would
be to see a human cadaver for sale, and we all know that would be offensive
to everyone.  I don't like it that people hunt, either.
 
I just think it's one of those things that is disturbing because I can
imagine people wanting to buy this poor animal's body for a few really bad
reasons- I don't want to write anything here that sparks a week-long debate
or flames at me (it's very sad that I even have to consider that, but
seeing the emails over the past few weeks has totally suppressed my desire
to state any strong opinions on the FML), but people who "do things" with
dead animals, whether that's mounting them on a wall, or doing something
else with their bodies, I think are more likely to consider dead beings of
any kind to be not such a big deal.  I don't know that I'm making myself
clear here, but there have been many studies done that show, for instance,
that if you look back on the past histories of many serial killers, it is
often found that they have tortured and killed animals when they were a
child- not always, but in many instances.  I just think that all dead
bodies should be treated with respect, so in my opinion, this is just
really objectionable.  So for me it's partly about respecting a dead pet
and partly about the possibility that making the sale of dead pets
acceptable is opening up possibilities for other objectionable activities.
 
Again, I'm sorry I have to even say this, but I respect everyone's right
to disagree with me on this and even post about that if they want, but
please do it in a respectful way.  I think we can debate about these things
without flaming and arguing.
 
thanks,
Jaime
 
[Moderator's note: Beautifully diplomatic.  BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 3194]