Spending on pet supplies and over-the-counter medicines for pets is projected to reach about euro 8 billion in the US this year alone. Records also show people will continue to be spending above and beyond on their pets, in particular as the population ages and pets start taking the place of children at home. Consequently pets have drawn more and more the attention of large retailers and institutional investors, who have been expanding quite aggressively into this lucrative "pet space".
Pet products and services are now also catching up with the growing popularity of review sites such as www.petinsurancereview.com, product reviews on Amazon.com, and instantaneous feedback on Twitter. Blogs such as Pet Connection, Pet Sit USA and Dolittler continue to provide high quality commentary on all aspects of pet news and issues, and are expanding their reach and depth across the "pet web". The number of pet bloggers also continues to grow and the best are even more accessible on the blog list website Alltop pets. There is even a proposal in the US Congress to allow taxpayers to deduct up to euro 3,000-a-year in pet care expenses, including vet care.
Is this really fair? No it isn't, especially if we know that : 1) The World Health Organization estimates that one-third of the world is well-fed, one-third is under-fed one-third is starving- 2)That Since you've read this at least 200 people have died of starvation. Over 4 million will die this year alone. 3) One in twelve people worldwide is malnourished, including 160 million children under the age of 5. 4)The Indian subcontinent has nearly half the world's hungry people. Africa and the rest of Asia together have approximately 40%, and the remaining hungry people are found in Latin America and other parts of the world. 5) The Indian subcontinent has nearly half the world's hungry people. Africa and the rest of Asia together have approximately 40%, and the remaining hungry people are found in Latin America and other parts of the world. 6) Nearly one in four people, 1.3 billion - a majority of humanity - live on less than $1 per day, far less than what people in the Western world spend on their pets per day.
No one is suggesting not to have pets, or not to spoil them. What would be fair, however, is for governments of affluent countries like the US, EU, and Asia to impose a small tax on all pet products, foods and services, and earmark these collected funds for UN programs which deal with human suffering in the world.
In this way "the Jones family" who took their poodle to a "poodle boutique" for it to get groomed, followed up by a delicious " vitamin filled gourmet can of dog food" can be happy to know they also did a good deed. For by law, a small percentage of the bill they paid, to take care of their dearly loved poodle, would also be feeding a hungry child somewhere in the world they probably never knew even existed.
It is known as compassion for your fellow human beings.
EU-Digest
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