Compassion for Animals

Sunday evening I sat in front of a tree to enjoy the sunset.

A fat red-bellied bird sat down on a close branch and sang to me. After a couple of minutes, he was interrupted by a distant sound. I couldn't see bird #2, but I could tell it was pretty far away.

My serenader then responded with a series of high pitched tones.

Just like an answer. 

The flow of their communications made me giggle--the exchange sounded just like a human conversation.

Something like:

Bird 1: Skwaaa Skeee Skiii Skaaa....

Bird 2: Skwaaa.

Bird 1: Skiii Skaaa?

Bird 2: Skweeee!

And so on and so forth.

Maybe I was projecting, maybe I have a strong imagination, but it sounded like they were interrupting each other and cutting each other off. At times, I could see the little bird in front of me cock his head to an angle as he listened intently.

It made me think:

Animals are so similar to humans. They have families, cultures, and feelings just like we do. They are mentally and physically a lot like us, except they lack higher brain functioning.

We should really be nicer to them.

And not put them in zoos.