Imagine you enter a building and see a large number of birds confined to cages encrusted with filth. There are birds everywhere, obviously miserable, obviously poorly kept, and most human beings would immediately denounce the person responsible for this deplorable situation and suggest that he or she be arrested.

Which, once again, in the case of Victor Caniglia on Foordmore Road, is exactly what has happened.

But, what if it was just a chicken farm? You would very probably see the same situation, only more so: birds jammed into a space so tight they can barely turn around, and the air so full of ammonia it stings the eyes and sears the throat to breathe it for more than a few seconds.

These two examples demonstrate our weird, human, schizophrenic attitude towards the animal life with which we share the planet.

We love animals. We admire their strength and speed. Whether it's a pet cat jumping five body-lengths vertically to get in an open window or a Doberman pinscher named Max that we keep in the yard to deter prowlers, we like to have animals around. There are entire channels on cable television devoted to animals, and nearly every major city has a zoo or aquarium.

But if you talk to animal rescue people, like Equine Rescue and Resource in Pine Bush, you will hear stories to that will send a chill up your spine, and make you long for the cuddly critters you might find on Animal Planet.

People who hoard animals are the ones who make the headlines. How dare some lady keep 90 semi-starved cats in a basement, knee deep in excrement? Pictures of rescued horses, with their ribs showing due to malnourishment, bring out genuine anger in all of us.

But we also love to eat animals. We started out as hunters and gatherers, back in the good old Paleolithic. Today, though, aside from the dwindling band of deer and turkey hunters, our meat comes shrink-wrapped and — sad to say — floating on a sea of cruelty. We all know what's going on there. For a few cents on the pound of flesh, we require those animals to suffer the torments of industry during their lives. Of course, if we had to kill it ourselves, well, there'd be a lot more vegetarians, guaranteed.

Another interesting aspect of our relationship with animals is that we refuse to fund animal rescue work from the public purse. The shelters and SPCAs survive on donations. In fact, the only animals that we regulate beyond local zoning ordinances are dogs, and we do that because stray dogs are dangerous and can even be rabid.

So when we read about someone keeping a hundred birds in a ten foot by ten foot shed, we should remember all the other birds — and pigs and cows — that are confined in close quarters. Maybe we should even ask ourselves why we're so dishonest about our relationship with our animals, whether they're friends or they're foods.