Thoughts on Animals

Stippy (on left, the family dog) and his neighbourhood friends

I was eating lunch with a Cameroonian yesterday when I casually mentioned my stint of vegetarianism in high school. I thought little of it, since many Americans (including quite a few people in my training group) have done the same thing, but my companion was very interested in my moral stance, and informed me that God created animals so that we could eat them.

This summarizes quite well the relation between many Cameroonians and animals: they all have a use or a role, and if the role isn't clear, it's probably food. For example, if someone has a dog here, the dog's role is to protect the house from intruders. If someone has a cat, the cat's role is to catch mice. If these animals perform to everyone's satisfaction, they get to scavenge for food in the trash. If someone finds a porcupine, which doesn't have any clear use, it becomes dinner. (I'm personally not a fan, but it's quite popular here in the South.) After all, why feed a dog or a cat when some children here have thinning hair and distended bellies from severe malnutrition?

This mentality of utility extends beyond pets to all sorts of animals, including ones we consider pests in the States. For example, I've never seen a Cameroonian kill a spider, because they have a use--that of killing mosquitoes and other insects. The same goes for the various species of geckos here in the south: they're able to roam classrooms and households freely without being in any imminent danger (excepting the very small ones, which are sometimes accidentally stepped on) because they eat potentially dangerous insects.

my gecko friend/room-mate

Two other remarkable differences between are probably related. First, what we would call animal cruelty is practiced far more openly here. I've seen a few instances of people going out of their way to harm dogs, like a moto driver slowing down in order to kick one, or a shopkeeper leaving his post to hit one with a stick. It's cruel, yes, but I suspect that it has to do with the second remarkable difference--fear.

It's true that fear of dogs is not unheard of in the US, but here it's almost universal. My host sisters are even afraid of their own dog: they count on him to protect the house at night, but if he gets too close when they're washing clothes or cooking outside, he's quickly shooed away.

Which makes sense. Rabies is a real danger here, since most people can't afford the vaccinations, or in the case of a bite, hospital treatment. In fact, a few weeks after we arrived in Ebolowa, a local teenager died of the disease. So, like in so many cases, fear drives people to hurtful actions.