Why do we treat animals, like animals?

I do not understand the human race…

It has so little love for creatures with a different face.
Treating animals like people is no madness or disgrace.
I do not understand the human race

I wonder,
Why do we treat animals like animals?
Animals treat us so very well.
The devoted way they serve us
And protect us when we’re nervous
Oh, they really don’t deserve us
All we give them is hell.

Tell me how else man repays them?
Do we ever think to praise them?
No we don’t, and this dismays them
You can tell.

We’re riddled with ingratitude
We give no love or latitude
In every way our attitude is
Well… like animals!

No, no… That’s not what I mean.

I mean…
Why do we treat animals like animals?
How can people be so inhumane?
Cows and chickens work to feed us
Dogs and horses show they need us
And though cats don’t always heed us
Their affection is plain.

What do we do?
We neglect them.
We do nothing to protect them.
We reject them, don’t expect them to complain.

We ignore them or we beat them.
When we’re hungry then we eat them.
It’s appalling how we treat them.
It’s insane… like animals!

We humiliate and murder and confine them.
We create their retched status,
Then we use it to malign them
I mean…
Why should we say:
“Treat him like a dog?”
Why should we say:
“Working like a horse?”
Why should we say:
“Eating like a hog?”
When what we mean is:
“Eating like a MAN!” Don’t we?
Of course!

A man of ill repute is called a weasel or a rat.
A woman you dislike becomes a vixen or a cat.
A family that is blessed with healthy reproductive habits,
Occasions the remark: “Well you know them, they breed like rabbits!”
He’s as stubborn as a mule.
He’s a stupid as an ox.
He’s as slimy as a snake.
He’s as crafty as a fox.

(Remarks like that really get my goat.)

Why don’t we say:
“Noble as a frog?”
Or,
Why can’t we say:
“Wealthy as a hen?”
True, we say:
“Devoted as a dog.”
But what we should say is:
“Sheik as a giraffe.”
“Pretty as a pig” eh…
That’ll be the big day
Won’t it?
But when?
But WHEN?

When will we stop treating them like animals?
Is the human race entirely mad?
Women see a baby goat skin or a lamb skin or a stoat skin
And to them it’s just a coat skin.
Oh it’s terribly sad.

When you dress in suede or leather
Or some fancy fur or feather
Do you stop to wonder whether for a fad
You have killed some beast or other
That you’re wearing someone’s brother
Or perhaps it’s someone’s mother
In which you’re clad.
Like ANIMALS!
Like ANIMALS!
Well, it’s true
We do not live in a zoo
But man is an animal, too
So why can’t you
Like me
Like animals?

From the original movie Dr. Dolittle – Twentieth Century Fox Productions
(The version of Dr Dolittle starring Rex Harrison)