Why British People Love Pets - English Practice Ep 807
13:37 Share

Hi there, and welcome to this podcast from Adept English. I have continued my search for benign news stories, and a news story that I read online this week hooked my interest and made me think. So I'll share it with you. First of all, do you have one of these? Hello. That's Ivan. That's our younger cat. Not very happy at the moment and wants to go outsider.

Or maybe you have a dog. So today, why do we have pets? What's happening around the world with pets? Let's use this subject to practice your understanding of statistics while looking at something which is close to the heart of British culture and a subject that you may be interested in.

Listen right to the end for an appeal of a different type. Hello, I'm Hilary and you're listening to Adept English. We will help you to speak English fluently. All you have to do is listen. So start listening now and find out how it works.

So the news item that caught my eye, apparently people in India are buying more pets and spending much more money on their pets. And not just a little bit more. It seems like quite a big change. There were 26 million pets in Indian households in 2019. But by 2024,

32 million pets in Indian households. That's quite an increase. And in the same report by the company Red Seer, Indians spent $1.6 billion, or its equivalent, in 2019 on their pets. By 2024, this had risen to $3.6 billion a year. Again, quite a lot.

and this was on pet products and pet services. Pet products means pet food, pet toys, pet treats, and pet services will be things like grooming. That's to groom, G-R-O-O-M, and means to take care of an animal's fur.

You might pay someone to do that for you. Or pet boarding. So basically, that's like a pet hotel to put your dog or cat in when you go on holiday. Now, of course, the Paris Hilton style dog in a handbag is

type pet ownership is what tends to grab the news headlines. And it's a little bit like that in the BBC news item that I read. Or at least it's that type of pet ownership where the pet is central to the owner's life and pets get a similar level of attention to that which a child might receive. But this type of pet ownership where the pet is so important is something that you might perhaps associate

with affluent middle-class Americans, American celebrities perhaps, or the odd British person. Maybe I'm an odd British person. In English, our pets, particularly cats and dogs, are often referred to as our fur babies. We treat them like children, in other words.

And this trend has started to be reflected in countries like India, hence why India's pet care industry has doubled in value in recent years. In the UK, we have always been very sentimental, that means full of emotion, about our pets.

particularly cats and dogs. And this has always been reflected in the fact that our animal charities receive such large donations. The RSPCA was the first animal charity in the world, and it was founded in 1824. RSPCA stands for the Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and they still do very important work. So the UK

has a very long history with pet ownership and the idea of pets being considered part of the family. If you look at art, portrait paintings in the 17 and 1800s, people are often pictured with their animals. But it's interesting to see this rise in pet ownership in India as a

you might think that it signifies something about where a society is at. Pets are often child substitutes. They stand in place of a child, in other words. And people often dote on their pets. That's the verb to dote, D-O-T-E, which means to give lots of love and care and attention to someone or something. So people

dote on their pets, particularly where they're either not ready to have children, they can't have children, or their children have already grown up and left home. If people buy pets when their children are small, it's usually because they want their children to have the experience of owning a pet and taking care of it. But pets can be child substitutes.

fur babies. And of course, people in prosperous countries have fewer children and perhaps therefore more pets. As the BBC News article says, as late marriages, smaller family sizes and evolving social norms reshape family structures in India, these pets are increasingly being given the

care and attention typically reserved for children. In India, like in the UK, people felt the need for companionship during the COVID pandemic and the lockdowns. Of course, very easily supplied by pets. So in many countries, there was a massive rise in pet ownership during those years of the pandemic. Pet ownership per household in the UK increased

rose from 41% in 2020 to 59% in 2021. Here's your chance to work on understanding statistics in English. And even in 2023, it was estimated still that 57% of households in the UK owned at least one pet. So pets are pretty common here. It's estimated that there are 38 million pets

And I note that that excludes horses. We're talking here about pets that you keep in the house. So there are half as many pets as there are human beings in the UK. 28.

This episode is brought to you by Temptations Cat Treats. Your cat will come running for the perfectly irresistible Temptations Creamy Paray and Temptations Lickable Spoon Cat Treats. The best time to feed lickable cat treats to your cat is anytime. Feed by hand for a playful moment, in a bowl for a creamy treat, or as a topper to make mealtime fun. Visit TemptationsTreats.com to learn more.

8% of adults in the UK own a pet dog and 24% of adults own a pet cat. So it's fairly even in the cat and dog wars with dogs just slightly ahead. An estimated 13.5 million dogs registered in the UK

and 12 and a half million cats. And you're right, that doesn't add up to 38 million. So other types of pets included in this estimate, 1.5 million birds, 1.3 domestic fowl, that means chickens and ducks and similar, 700,000 tortoises and turtles, 1 million rabbits,

700,000 guinea pigs, 600,000 hamsters, that's a hamster, H-A-M-S-T-E-R, and 600,000 snakes and other reptiles. I think if you bear in mind how long each animal lives for, 600,000 hamsters is quite a lot, as they generally only live for about two years. Cats and dogs, of course, live into their teens.

Personally, I'm a cat and dog person. For me, they have characters and they are capable of rewarding relationships with human beings. And are cats affectionate? Absolutely, in my opinion. Of course, other pet owners would argue the same for their pets, but I know what I prefer. It's cats and dogs for me. Another article, this time in The Conversation, asked...

Should I get a pet nup? That's P-E-T-N-U-P. Vocabulary help here. Well, this phrase pet nup comes from the more well-known expression pre-nup and that's short for pre-nuptial agreement. This is a type of legal contract which sometimes couples draw up before they get married. It protects each person's assets, their belongings in other words.

and specifies what happens if the couple separate. That's a prenup, very common in the US. So I'd never heard the term petnup before, but I immediately knew what it meant. I like the way English plays around with language like this. So a petnup is a legal contract that you draw up that specifies what happens to your pets

if you separate as a couple. So dog and cat ownership is now being looked upon as an important milestone in a couple's relationship. Milestones like this are important, especially where people don't necessarily get married. So the article in The Conversation describes how a case

was brought before the law court in Brighton in the UK, and it was a couple contesting the ownership of a dog after they'd separated. The court gave consideration to who paid the bills for the dog and whose name was on the paperwork for the dog. But the court also noted that the woman in the couple had looked after the dog much more and that the dog had

bonded with another dog which was hers. So rather like when arrangements are settled in court for children of divorcing parents, the welfare of the animal was considered. This is something quite new. The article in The Conversation has the headline, How the law deals with your fur baby if you break up with your partner. And this apparently is not just in the UK.

There is a move from legally classifying animals as possessions towards them being seen as sentient beings. They have feelings. Their welfare needs to be considered. And actually in Spain in 2022, a law was passed

which recognise pets as sentient beings. This means that courts can direct the custody arrangements for pets, for animals, of divorcing partners. Courts have to consider the welfare of the animal just as they would with a child.

The word custody, C-U-S-T-O-D-Y, means the legal right and legal responsibility to look after someone or something. Similar law changes to that in Spain are being considered in Portugal, France and Switzerland. So what countries of the world have the most dogs per human population? The answer, Hungary, Portugal, Brazil.

Brazil, Australia, the US and Romania have the most dogs. In Hungary, there are 29 dogs per 100 people. That's a lot. Also interesting, the countries with the fewest dogs, the lowest pet ownership.

Perhaps. Perhaps.

Turkey, Cyprus, Namibia, Switzerland, Greece and Japan. In Turkey, there are only 1.61 pet dogs per 100 people. If you visited Istanbul in Turkey, you may be surprised by that figure as there are large numbers of stray dogs roaming there. Apparently, though pet ownership in Turkey is very low, there is a huge problem with stray dogs.

roaming the streets in packs as dogs tend to when they're left to look after themselves. And in Turkey, a battle is going on between people who think these dogs should be culled, that's C-U-L-L-E-D or killed in other words, and people who think this is inhumane and another solution should be found. I hate stories like that.

So I couldn't leave you without giving the names of two animal charities who rescue stray dogs from the streets of Turkey and rehome them in other countries. So if you want to adopt a stray dog from Turkey, the first organisation is Animal Friends of Turkey and the second organisation that rehomes dogs from Turkey in other countries, Forgotten Dogs of Turkey.

Links are in the transcript in case you're interested. Hopefully that's thought provoking, makes you think about your pets perhaps, and is some great practice at country names and statistics. Enough for now. Have a lovely day. Speak to you again soon. Goodbye.