Odd Couples - Charlie the horse and his seeing-eye goat

"Nonhuman animal beings are not mere ghosts, and society can't continue to build on the backs of these individuals. They are real beings and they are sentient and they care deeply about what happens to them and to their family, their friends and their homes. To claim we still don't know if other animals are conscious beings is to ignore an incredible amount of detailed scientific data and is thoroughly irresponsible." - Marc Bekoff, Excerpt from For Modern Society, Are Animals 'The Ghosts in Our Machine'? (Op-Ed)

*Essay adapted from one that appeared in Bekoff's column Animal Emotions in Psychology Today. He contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed and Insights.


Animal Odd Couples is a classic from the PBS library.

While it is suggested that the animals showcased are anomalies and rare in their ability to form friendships and bonds with other species, it may simply be that giving animals credit for having emotions and the ability to form bonds and complex relationships makes us uncomfortable.

It calls Humans to task for our treatment of our animal kin and for our support of a general consensus that animals, lacking the ability to communicate as we do or demonstrate intelligence deemed equal to Humans, proves they are lesser beings. That way of thinking is long overdue for an upgrade, as advocated by Marc Bekoff in the above Op-Ed piece for Live Science.

This segment from Animal Odd Couples is about Charlie the horse. Charlie went blind. As his human caretakers contemplated euthanasia, Charlie's goat friend, Jack, spontaneously started guiding him. The arrangement continued until the end of their long lives.  

 

Exploring why animals form these special bonds and what their relationships suggest about the nature of animal emotions, Animal Odd Couples premiered Wednesday, November 7, 2012.

Meet the rest of the Odd Couples in the show.

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• Scans Reveal Striking Similarity Between Human and Canine Minds (Op-Ed)
• For Modern Society, Are Animals 'The Ghosts in Our Machine'? (Op-Ed)