Owning a Pet
Owning a bear or a leopard (or to a lesser extent, a dog) as a domestic pet, is a way of bringing the wild into our “civilized” lives. Even though people like to believe that our civilization is free of predators and violent animals, that is not the case.
Photo by Sanderson, Eddie/Mirrorpix/Getty Images
Human civilization is still ridden with predators that possess malice and ill intent. So, in a way, owning a pet is accepting the truth: our most domesticated, homey, “civilized” places are filled with predators.