You hear it all the time on those PETsMART commercials: People love their pets. They would do anything for them – including cram themselves in photo booths with them, style their fur and even dress them up in amusing ways.

But does loving pets include letting them out into the streets at night to fend for themselves?

It’s a complete fallacy that pets should be able to take care of themselves when released into the wild. Even though instinct still exists – that is to say, they most likely would figure out how to get their next meals on their own eventually – it doesn’t exist in the same way. The continual breeding and weeding out of those traits to domesticate them has led pets to become dependent on us for their most basic needs.

The benefits of letting pets roam free are few. You may think you are doing them a favor by letting them out into their natural setting, but that setting is far from natural for them anymore. It’s unlikely their more primitive ancestors had to deal with the merciless power of motorized vehicles or had to root through the remains of our waste for food. There is nothing out there you can’t already provide – in much more inviting ways.

When you purchase a pet, you make a commitment, not only in terms of having to budget your money for things such as food, toys and other amenities, but also to a life. It doesn’t matter that your pet isn’t going to live forever; lifespan is irrelevant. If you make a commitment to a life, it’s forever, no matter how long it lasts.

It may sound farfetched to talk of a relationship with one’s pet as being equal to that of a husband, wife or significant other, but if you think about it, it’s really not. Pets have become big business, but in the process, they also have become something of an insignificance.

Puppy mills, which the Humane Society defines as “breeding facilities that produce purebred puppies in large numbers,” are sprouting up all over this great country of ours. The conditions of these facilities are very often deplorable and the animals that come out of them are sometimes sick as a result. In continuation of this vicious cycle, the mills act as links to pet stores, providing them with a continuous supply of new “inventory.”

When did it happen that pets – those lovable, dependable companions that are there for us unconditionally in life and in loneliness – became nothing more than inventory?

It isn’t just the issue of letting pets out at night that’s upsetting. One momentary lapse in common sense can take many forms. People may become sick of their pets, but instead of doing the considerate thing and putting them up for adoption, they simply “forget” about them. Sometimes they get rid of them for the most inane reasons. One woman purchased a young parrot, but when the bird came into full feather, she discovered to her horror that its colors did not match those of her furniture.

C’mon, people. What is this society coming to when one of the simplest pleasures in life – that is, owning a pet – becomes nothing more than an inconvenience? Our pets deserve much more than we’ve given them and we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Columns reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the Northern Star staff.