Every year, millions of female dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, and females of other animals live their lives confined in small cages with the sole purpose of constantly having offspring, which are taken from them shortly after birth to be sold as petsor “reused” to continue the production chain. This is something that is never shown, making it difficult to imagine how these animals live: never going outside, barely receiving veterinary care, and with no emotional care whatsoever.

Many other animals such as birds, fish, reptiles, or primates are captured from the wild, separating families or leaving offspring orphaned to their fate. In both cases, these animals will be sold to anyone willing to pay for them.

It is important to emphasize that the suffering caused by this business does not occur only in illegal breeding facilities or within the framework of illegal trafficking, but is inherent to an industry that sees animals as mere commodities, as a source of income.

While it is true that sometimes animals are adopted or purchased with their own well-being in mind, in the vast majority of cases what is sought is to satisfy the well-being or interest of the human obtaining them, often to escape loneliness or to satisfy aesthetic preferences. The problem is that it is difficult to carry out fully reliable processes to differentiate who is responsible and who is not, starting from the fact that those who buy an animal are not carrying out a responsible act in any case. An example of this is seen at Christmas time. During these dates, many people go to stores or shelters looking for puppies, kittens, or other animals to give as gifts. It only takes a few months to see how they get rid of them in a shelter or abandon them on the street when they realize the responsibility that caring for an animal entails.

The fact of labeling an animal as a “companion,” as if that were its intrinsic nature, reveals the speciesism they suffer at the hands of humans, just like other animals labeled as “farm,” “hunting,” or “laboratory” animals. In all these cases, animals are considered resources to satisfy our interests and desires. Therefore, the way we name and categorize them is not irrelevant. The more we normalize this, the more we also normalize their consideration as tools or resources, ignoring that all animals have their own interests.

Those interested in maintaining this situation are those who benefit economically from it. According to AEDPAC, the Companion Animal Industry and Trade Sector billed 40.5 billion euros in Europe in 2020, and globally, an annual growth of 5% is expected, exceeding 200 billion dollars by 2025.