Responsible and Empathetic Humans
As humans, it’s up to us to treat animals with kindness and respect. We share the earth with them, and they don’t owe us anything. We don’t need to use them at all. Domestic animals are the responsibility of humans, but there are ways to care for them without exploiting and using them. There are acceptable ways to learn about animals if you want to learn about them. We can be responsible and empathetic.
Documentaries
There are many different documentaries that are great for learning about animals. Planet Earth is a series that shows animals in their natural habitats all over the world from forests, oceans, mountains, deserts, to the arctic. There is also the feature film version of Planet Earth called Earth. Disney+ has their Disneynature documentaries about animals. Seven Worlds, One Planet is a documentary series consisting of seven different hour-long episodes featuring wildlife on each continent.
Books, Articles, and Publications
Reading about animals can always be a great way to learn about them. The books Beg: A Radical New Way of Regarding Animals by Rory Freedman, A Plea For the Animals: The Moral, Philosophical, and Evolutionary Imperative to Treat All Beings with Compassion by Matthieu Ricard, and My Gentle Barn: A Place of Hope by Ellie Laks are all informative about different animals. These three books are all about animal rights, but so much can be learned about animals from these books. There are also many other different books, articles, magazines, and other publications in print and online to read that you’ll learn about animals.
Getting Out in Nature
Going outside and observing the natural spaces, habitats, and environments around you can teach you a lot about animals. Whether you’re on a hike, a trail, in the woods, at a lake, beach, mountains, desert, or even your own yard, you can see the natural homes of all kinds of animals and see them in nature. Birds, reptiles, fish, squirrels, deer, rabbits, insects, etc. all can be seen while you’re hiking or camping, and other wild animals can be seen throughout.
Getting Your Yard Certified as a Wildlife Habitat
The National Wildlife Federation can give you the information you need to get your yard certified as a wildlife habitat. What this means is that wildlife can live and thrive in your yard. Doing this is committing to sustainably providing the essential elements of wildlife habitat. The basic requirements to have for wildlife are water (for them to drink and bathe), food (for them to eat), cover (shelter), places to raise their young, and sustainable and safe practices from you (keeping your yard safe, healthy, and clean). This is such a cool and perfect way to learn about animals.
Volunteering
Volunteers are always needed at animal shelters, animal rescues, and animal sanctuaries. Volunteer at these, and you can learn about animals, see them, and help them.
Adopting
If you’re ready for the responsibility and commitment of giving an animal a home, you can adopt one or more from a shelter or a rescue. There are rescues that you can adopt dogs, cats, rabbits, horses, and reptiles from. What better way to learn about animals than by seeing them every day and helping to take care of them?
Animal Sanctuaries
Animal sanctuaries are one of the absolute best ways to learn about animals. There are sanctuaries for domestic animals and sanctuaries for wild animals. You can go to them, but make sure that they are real and true sanctuaries. They should be accredited by the Global Federation on Animal Sanctuaries.
Streaming and Livecams
It’s so awesome what technology can do. Animal sanctuaries have livecams set up that you can see online. It’s a great way to learn about animals, and some sanctuaries even offer animal education programs to further your learning if you want to learn more. The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee has a distance learning program. The Gentle Barn has classes to learn about animals as well as virtual tours. You can find livecams from sanctuaries on explore.org.
Ending Thoughts
There are many ways to learn about animals without exploiting, using, or harming them. If you prefer to learn about them from a distance or up close, you can in respectable and safe ways without disturbing them. Living vegan means sharing the earth with animals. All of the ways to learn about animals listed in this blog post are also kid-friendly.