2 guinea pigs dumped in the woods

[Catherine]

I did not realize that we had domesticated guinea pigs for so long. We do have a duty of care towards them. I am sure they are incapable of living wild. They seem to have no interest in "escaping". My guinea pig enclosures are open and the front edge is only 3-4 in high. They could get out anytime, but they don't. They stand there watching me prepare food and they call to me, but they never think of jumping out and coming to me for the food.

We have created a dependent species. We have created a great many dependent species and we have a responsibility towards all of them.

Oddly, I think dwarf hamsters would be able to live wild. I had some who moved out of their cages and lived under book cases and other weird places. I let them do it because I wanted to see what they would do. They set up stores of food before they moved out and would come back once a week for more food. You could take the hamster out of the wild, but you couldn't take the wild out of the hamster.