[NYC refugee]

It doesn't matter what love is, the question was if animals feel it and I say they do. The evidence is in front of your eyes if you look.

And just speaking of mammals and feeling love, has anyone seen even just the beginning of the movie Blackfish? ALL mammals feel love.

[2Loud]

Originally Posted by nobodysbusiness

This comes from the Christian bible that says that "man has dominion over the animals." That one idea has wrought so much pain and anguish in the world.

I am glad people are waking up.

Yes, we are mammals!!!!

You're being selective in an effort to confirm some preconception you have. It also says:

- Christians know God created the world and everything in it. We are only its stewards or trustees of his creation/gift.

- God didn’t tell man to exploit the world or treat it recklessly, but to watch over it and use it wisely.

- A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal.” (Proverbs 12:10)

- He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

- Like a good ruler, we should seek the welfare of everything God entrusts to us—including the creation.

- Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast..

- In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.

- He saved animals from the great flood. They were an essential part of starting over.

- You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it. You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell...

- Happy are you who sow beside all waters, who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.



Animals do not suffer because of a Christian Bible. They do because some people are just messed up.

[sombrueil]

Originally Posted by TwoByFour

OK, let's assume I am wrong. Tell me what you think "love" is? Does it exist independent of the brain? Where did it come from?

Where does anything come from?

[heart84]

Yes. Animals are way more emotionally sophisticated than most think. And these days, given the choice of being around a non-human animal or a human animal, I would pick the non-human animal in many cases lol.

[jbowman09]

Originally Posted by heart84

Yes. Animals are way more emotionally sophisticated than most think. And these days, given the choice of being around a non-human animal or a human animal, I would pick the non-human animal in many cases lol.

Well stated and I firmly agree with you.

[Scrat335]

I certainly do believe it. I had a cat that loved me as a kid, of all the people she had to hang around with I was the one she really was attached too. I was very sad when she died because I was half a world away.

Our female cat is very attached to my granddaughter, never far from her. You can see the affection and the communication between the 2 of them if you look and observe.

[pacific2]

I think that animals can experience love. Watch what happens when a dying chimp is visited by an old friend:

Mommy (59) has settled down to die - but all turns when an old friend pops up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFXTCGeAV9s

[Annino]

More so than a lot of humans.

[mlj1225]

Yes, yes, and YES.

[John Rose]

I'm more familiar with this in dogs than cats. Dog emotions are rather similar to 2 or 3 year old children. They're capable of love and other basic human emotions. They lack certain advanced human emotions like shame or guilt (despite the popularity of the guilty dog theme). Dogs love their owners and other people they bond with, such as the children of their owners. Dogs become like family members.