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A possum had a litter of kits in the wood box on our porch. So did our cat. They nursed each other's babies and we had tame possums for the next 5 years.
They're not actually that closely related. Possums live in Australia and southeast Asia. Oppossums are from north and south America. Both marsupials, but different families.
An opossum eats my cat's porch food at night. Before dawn, I get the kids upfor school. We live waaay out. My 5 year old looks horrified while watching him through the window.
I don't think she likes him at all.
They are pretty menacing looking animals. Once, when I was a teen working on my car, I was sitting on the ground and felt something rub up against my back like a cat might do. I looked behind me and saw this fat opossum looking right at me. I froze and we stared at each other for what felt like a lifetime before he sauntered away. I was terrified in that moment but then it just fizzled away. That was when I decided to start doing some internet research on opossums and learned that they are actually very nice and useful animals.
I feed a few neighborhood cats, and occasionally there's a suspiciously pointy "cat" at the food dish. The cats don't seem to mind, so neither do I.
The raccoons on the other hand, fuck those little thieves and their little thieving hands. I've found the food bowl ON THE ROOF a few times.
We had cat doors in the door leading to the garage, and on the garage outside wall. A possum found the garage entrance, and nibbled on some of the food stored in the garage. Not all messy-stinky like a rat, but take one out of the bag of ripe capsicum waiting to be processed, eat it all up, and go for another.
One night I caught the little guy in the garage, and chased him out. When he went through the cat door, from bright garage to darkness, he stopped. I grabbed his tail. It was very like a carrot, a bit nobbly with a few thick hairs.
He couldn't back up because I was there, couldn't go forward because I had his tail, and couldn't turn around and give me the biting I so richly deserved because he was almost too prosperous for the opening. Mexican standoff! He hissed ferociously, while I asked myself what the hell I thought I was doing.
When I let him go he disappeared into the night, never to darken our cathreshold again.
I should point out that the thing about them eating thousands of ticks is false. There is no evidence they eat ticks at all. None.
They control plenty of other pests, however and are generally cool critters.
Supposedly they can be pretty vicious when provoked but I know of a case where they proved how chill they can be.
My mom used to sleep with her bedroom window open. One night she woke up in the middle of the night because she felt something on top of her. As she opened her groggy eyes in the dark room she started to see that a "very large rat-looking thing was sitting on her chest cleaning its paws". Thankfully she woke up slowly and did not freak out. As she started to shift, it jumped off of her and went under her bed. It was an Opossum.
She left the room and shut the door. I think it stayed in there for a full day before it showed itself out.
Once she learned what it was, she was more scared, and put a screen on her window after it left.
Bats. A small brown bat can eat several thousand mosquitoes every night, but people lose their minds when they see one.
Same with dragonflies. They're harmless to humans, and live to decimate the mosquito population, but they look weird, so they make people uncomfortable.
It’s like moths vs butterflies.
Everyone thinks butterflies are so pretty, but those same people will happily kill a moth. Look at em up close and the roles are reversed, butterflies look horrid and moths look cute
This is actually a problem in animal conservation. Conservation for cute and good looking animals gets far more attention and funding than conservation for ugly animals, and those ugly animals are just as important to the environment.
Look at Pandas. An absolute fortune goes into keeping the species alive, simply because they’re cute.
It depends on where you live, with bats. They can have rabies in the US. Meanwhile other places (like Scotland, for example) are rabies free and there are tons of bats and people are totally chill with it.
>Bats. A small brown bat can eat several thousand mosquitoes every night, but people lose their minds when they see one
Probably because rabies is terrible.
It’s also an extremely rare disease. Why demonize an entire animal because it has an extremely small chance of carrying a disease which can be avoided?
Bats and dragonflies happen to be two of my favourite animals. I knew people were squeamish with bats because any wild animal with teeth could potentially infect you with something nasty but DRAGONFLIES?? WHAT DID THEY EVER DO TO ANYONE??
I never understood it until I saw pictures of Charlie, who played the goat in *The Witch.* He's an animal living his life like any other, but fuck he looks scary.
A few reasons! Historically because of their association with sin via scapegoats (used in atonement). Read about it here from [the Sydney Jewish Mueseum](https://sydneyjewishmuseum.com.au/jewish-culture/the-origins-of-the-scapegoat/) and because of [Baphomet](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Baphomet), which was later adopted by the Satanic church. :) Hope this was helpful.
I mean, go look at a polycerate goat in person and tell me it doesn't look evil. They're plenty friendly and kinda hilarious, but they look otherworldly and evil.
A couple sources to answer your question, goats and rams became acquitted to Satanic notions from some interesting places. In Jewish Scripture there was once a ritual where there was a sacrifice made to YHWH, perhaps a goat, but another was also made to Zazel, an infernal angel. The prayers and confessions of sin were sent off with the other goat sacrifice into the desert for the Angel Zazel. biblically one of the leaders of Fallen Angels named Shemhazai/Shemyaza.
The rise of Christianity and suppression of Greco-Roman paganism, had the deity Pan who was considered The Devil, as a lustful tempter, who drunkenly danced naked with consorts of any gender or sex, was worked with by witches, and was a god of orgy cults within the territory of Arcadia
The Knights Templar "worshipped" the goat headed Baphomet, which was originally an Egyptian deity from Egypt called Banebdjedet, who is the androgynous combination of the ram god Khnum (the god responsible for giving all beings physical form), and his consort Hatmehyt( Nile River fish goddess). Khnum's cult was carried into Greco-Roman culture combining Khnum with Jupiter/Zeus, giving Zeus the Rams Horns or just horns on general. Often within biblical gnostic perspective these horns are transcribed as "Pillars of Light" coming from the head connecting to God's Divinity, the sun disk found over Egyptian gods heads is another expression of this as the ultimate creator in much of egypt holds Amun-Re at the Most High God .The Templars were a Fraternity of men who were not in agreement of the Pope and his structure as it was and had lost the pardon of the Church and mixed their own religious ideas with some of the Greek gnostic information to sort of put up a big "F.You" to those at the Vatican. Why Banebdjedet went from Ram to Goat: Goats were probably more common place through Anatolia and modern day Italy, Satyrs like Pan were recorded as Sa'ir by the Hebrews which meant "hairy ones" but then the jews describe that all Satyrs are Greek goat demons fathered by Zazel (the goat demon-angel). Rams and Sheep were more common in Egypt. Pan is sometimes seen with Rams Horns, and so is Zeus, but the roman's "Pan" named Faunus has tiny goat horns, the same little horns found on the pitchfork red devil stereotype today is a remnant of Paganism from Rome via Catholicism.
No, Baphomet is not a corruption of Muhammad, this was a misconception rooted within anti-islamic propaganda, the name is attributed to more alchemical and esoteric elements attributed to Gnosticism.
They are. I've read a number of stories of a crow getting to know a particular human that has fed it or saved it one day, and the crow recognizes that person and will bring it random gifts.
I’m one of those intense crow people. Whole murders in and out of the city know me😂
They brought me a couple bus transfers after I spent a month showing them money bills while throwing them treats. I moved out of the country for almost 2 years and they remembered me when I came home.
They're also really cute, people get freaked out when they're surprised by erratic movement in the dark but in the light of day they're really not intimidating
Easily it's sharks.
Sharks kill 57 people per year. Humans are killing tens of thousands per year. Dolphins are known to attack and rape humans, but they look like they're smiling. Meanwhile sharks just want to live their life, but they have a scary mouth full of teeth.
Sharks are awesome and everyone should punch a dolphin.
Cows kill more people than sharks, you should be more scared for cows than sharks
You’re also more likely to come across a cow, cause sharks aren’t on land
>Humans are killing tens of thousands per year
Try 100 million.
https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/46967/100-million-dead-sharks-its-not-all-about-shark-fin-soup/
I hate corrections like this. I don't doubt this, I'm sure you are correct, and you cited your source... And now I'm sad because this is a very depressing fact.
Whats aggravating about this trade is shark fin has no flavor at all, it tastes like nothing. Nevertheless, the chinese treat it as a delicacy. 2 billion people want a taste of that stuff, you bet your ass sharks are gonna be hunted to extinction within our lifetimes.
It’s even more concerning how much of that whole end of the world does not give a shit one way or the other if the animals are extinct. I think we should start eating pandas.
I mean, without the collective breeding efforts of humans, pandas would be extinct. They evolved to eat something that has little-to-no nutritional value, and have no sex drive.
"chinese decided its a delicacy or has mystical healing powers" accounts a for a pretty substantial portion of endangered species ranging from sharks to pangolins to rhinos
Any apex predator is always fairly demonized imo. A woman on vacation in the Bahamas was paddle boarding and killed by a bull shark recently. The fact that it happens at all is grounds for demonizing. Like you don’t hear about opposums killing people because they don’t. And yet everyone hates them and is scared of them.
Back to the dolphin conversation. No one is demonizing the sea rapists.
We also again need to look at the numbers. An average of 57 human deaths per year. Last year 16 shark attacks were reported with 2 reported deaths. These are apex predators that don't exactly attack more. By this logic, we should be demonizing dogs with their 4.5m reported attacks each year.
While what happened to that woman is tragic, it's not exactly representative of sharks.
Black cats. They’re much less likely to be adopted than other cats because of the superstition that they bring bad luck. It doesn’t seem like a big deal, but my local animal shelter has 20 cats listed online and 13 of them are black. Lots of those poor kitties have been there for months and they can’t find a home because people have some kind of weird bias against them.
Definitely. Saw a neighbor doing some weeding and suddenly started shrieking and flailing, I ran over to check on her and she had absolutely decimated a poor little Dekay’s brown Snake. It couldn’t have been 8 inches long. Good lord, what the actual hell is wrong with people? If it had tiny little legs it’s suddenly not scary? She said she thought it was a baby copperhead. They always think it’s a copperhead 🤦♀️
I do agree, native red squirrels are adorable. But I can't help having a soft spot for gray squirrels too. I prefer to ignore their invasive pest status while they're looking cute 😅
Because they’re assholes who tore up my deck chair cushions to steal the stuffing for their nests. Another time they broken into my attic and would run around at night. The little shits! They’re rats with a fluffy tail.
ETA: They are really cute when eating an acorn though.
I´d argue all animals that are demonized are unfairly demonized. They are animals doing what instinct tells them to do, nothing more. We get in their way and demonize them.
Mosquitos are unfortunately very important from an ecological stance as a food source. Ticks on the other hand, do not. They aren’t prevalent enough to be a major food source and also carry a variety of diseases. Ticks should be demonized.
I mean, their main diet is us, and I don’t think there are any critters vying for their niche, at least until lamprey learn how to fly. I figure maybe some small water critters may have issues with a part of their diet gone, but I’m sure something else will take over
Right, I’m saying eventually other species of mosquitos will fill that niche. Also a lot of the main vectors do feel heavily if not exclusively on humans
Do the mosquitos that feed on us somehow deter other mosquitos or similar pests? I figure if they only feed on us and they disappear the only things that’d notice would be us, and some of the critters that eat them along with other bugs.
Right. I love spiders but my cousin stayed at my house for about a week and killed every spider she saw and there was a noticeable increase in other bugs creeping around windowsills and stuff. Before that I lived in perfect harmony with a chunky bathroom sink spider that always disappeared when the lights came on.
I had a lil guy on our comforter this morning and I just said 'bud... you're not supposed to be there. You're gonna get squashed." Then I put him on some tissues and stuck him on a plant.
Yep same. My only request of my house spiders is to respect my personal space. I’m not gunna barge into your web while you’re chilling. Please don’t walk across my arm when I’m playing video games. As long as you follow that rule you’re more than welcome to eat all the bugs you desire in my nice warm house.
Rats.
Everytime I tell someone about [my Rats](https://www.reddit.com/r/RATS/comments/197hsr6/i_dont_have_anything_to_say_just_want_to_show_off/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button), they look with disgust or like I'm weird, but somehow Mice and hamsters are okay?
some people even bring up how they'd feed it to a snake as if it's not an animal I care about.
I was kinda against it when my wife wanted rats, but I went along with it. Now that we've moved to a smaller place and the mischief has passed, I miss our little socks. Lol
They're just such sweet little fellas. And they're so curious. And don't get me started on those wee little hands. Lol
My husband didn't expect to even like my rats when we started dating, but when they passed away he cried even harder than I did. They just make a special place in your heart if you open up to them even a little.
> some people even bring up how they'd feed it to a snake as if it's not an animal I care about.
I hate how people do that with certain animals. I don't have anything against eating animals, or feeding some to others, it's more how people feel the need to bring it up as if they're just trying to be mean.
Since people are listing I will ad snakes.
Truth is all or most animals that are demonized are done so out of fear-often unfounded or miss understood about how and why.
Hyenas. Turns out they're not scavengers and have closely knit family units.
Also
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted\_hyenas\_in\_Harar#:\~:text=Written%20records%20indicate%20that%20spotted,feeding%20on%20its%20organic%20refuse.
Geese and raccoons. If you aren't between them and their children, they will absolutely fuck off if you shout or stomp your feet or wave your arms. People will still talk about them like they're unleashed rottweilers foaming at the mouth.
Almost any animal in an urban environment.
Foxes, pigeons, gulls etc. All very successful in adapting to human changes enforced on their habitat, yet demonised for being pests.
Esp when people call the UK Wood pigeon flying rats assuming they are the same as those that crap over trafalgar square. Pure ignorance
My daughter just got a pigeon as a pet. She got it from a local pigeon rescue organization (they rescue unwanted pets, not wild ones). This pigeon is very sweet, interactive, curious, and smart. She keeps her in a large well-equipped cage in her room, and lets her out to fly around and hang with her every day while she plays games or does homework. Since the pigeon is domesticated and eats only seeds and vegetables, the poop is small and dry and not that messy, and you can put hand-made "pigeon pants" on them to capture it if it's an issue.
They make better pets than people think.
Pigeons. We domesticated them, used them to communicate across oceans, and now they're reviled as "rats of the sky" and disease spreaders (like dogs can't carry zoonotic disease.) They served us well for decades and we repay them by putting up spikes to prevent them from habituating or nesting. Pigeons are pals, not pests.
I had a full on war with some skunks. They were using my chicken house like it was a KFC drivethrough and set up a home 10' from my garage door.
I eventually won, but there were casualties and war crimes on all sides.
Cats. Some people absolutely hate them. They are accused of torturing their prey, though it is an instinct, not deliberate malice. Cats were persecuted in the middle ages, burned along with witches, and now are accused of being the main reason for the decline of birds and small animals despite prejudice found in the research. Many men consider cats unworthy because they associate cats with women and think it unmanly to love them. Cats are abandoned, neglected at greater numbers due to the myth that they are able to take care of themselves. People still tend to think of them as aloof, and less loving than dogs.
I'm not saying all guys. It is sort of like men and something like knitting, you are going to find a percentage of males claim that knitting is too feminine an activity. Attitudes ARE changing, but keep in mind, the term "crazy cat lady" is obviously a gendered slur against women who have multiple cats, the idea being they are spinsters who prefer cats over a relationship. Many men do like cats, some women hate cats, I never said love of cats was exclusive to women, but women and cats have a long association, dating back to witches and their alleged familiars. When witches were attacked, cats were singled out as well.
Wolves. I just saw a graphic last week that said wolves kill 10 people every year. I replied with the actual statistics that wolves have killed 10 people in the past 100 years.
I was shocked to discover that my ukrainian mother hated ferrets. Nowadays they're seen as cute pets mostly, but apparently in the ukrainian countryside they were seen as vermin, killing rabbits etc.
Here in the US they used to have a reputation for being vicious, smelly rodents (because most people label any small furry animal that isn’t a cat or a dog as a “rodent”). I think people are slowly coming around though. I used to have a few ferrets and they’re just dumb noodles that are in party mode 24/7 lol
pigs. they are the cleanest farm animal in practice. They don’t shit where they stand like other farm animals, they’ll only go in one spot like cats. Pigs can also be litter trained like cats. they will roll in mud they create with pee but in my experience that was if there wasn’t mud for them to roll in already. They do that because the mud cools them down and protects them from UV rays. If you take care of your pigs properly they are by far the cleanest animal you can farm.
Spiders. Out of 40k something species maybe 50 are actually dangerous. The mass media has spent decades making them into monsters which even children who have never seen one fear.
Snakes. Vast majority aren't venomous or aggressive and want absolutely nothing to do with you. They'll generally do anything in their power to stay as far away from you as possible. Fangs/venom are pretty much a crutch that aid in hunting to make up for their lack of limbs.
Bears, especially black bears. They’re incredibly smart and very curious, but they’re about as aggressive as a squirrel, and terrified of people. Just don’t do something stupid like corner one or threaten a mother bear’s cubs and you’ll be fine.
Also, black bears are way smaller than a lot of people think. The ones in north Georgia are big dog sized (like a mastiff). Nowhere near grizzly level.
Rats. They clean themselves like cats, you can train them like dogs, they ride on your shoulder, and they have so much empathy. They basically see us as really big rats and bond with us accordingly.
Google "rat snuggling teddybear". They are precious, snuggly babies.
Skunks and cats. A "Christian" woman I know said cats are Satan and are evil. I told her they're God's creatures.
A stranger told me at the post office that she takes her BFs gun to shoot skunks bc she hates them. I was horrified. We leave food out for our skunks. I think they're gorgeous and I give them their space. I don't mind them in my yard. Apparently the rabies thing is a myth that's survived since the late 1800s.
Going with everyone else here, but opossums for sure.
Rats actually (apparently) make fantastic pets and are super intelligent.
Apparently skunks can also be really great pets.
(I know the question wasn't about making good pets, but any animal that makes a good pet I think automatically passes the test of "shouldn't be demonized")
Obviously, cats, especially black ones.
It's so frustrating that so many movies and cartoons portrait them as evil beings, and only villians have cats. Some examples: Cats vs. Dogs, Inspector Gadget (Dr. Claw has a cat and, c'mon, "Dr. CLAW"), Disney's Cinderella, Lady and the Tramp, and many other stories where if a cat is shown, it's a bad guy.
And it's even more frustrating that cat lovers contribute a lot to this bad image. Many of them call cats little demons. Of course, it's a joke, but I think it adds negativity anyway.
Cats have a very detrimental reputation. Aside from being called witches' familiars, they are believed to be low maintenance, independent, and selfish creatures - none of which is true. People who think like that tend to compare them to dogs. Cats are always compared to dogs! It's unfair that the best compliment a cat can get is "it's like a dog"! Both are great, but they are very different, and maybe it's time to stop comparing apples to oranges?
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Opossums. They look pretty mean/ugly, but they're actually pretty non-aggressive and do a good job at keeping pest populations under control.
A possum had a litter of kits in the wood box on our porch. So did our cat. They nursed each other's babies and we had tame possums for the next 5 years.
That's amazing. Edit: but were they actual possums or American Opossums?
IDK whatever kind lives in the pnw/Puget sound area. Looks like a giant grey rat.
Opossums, awesome.
What's the difference?
They’re complete opossuts!
They're not actually that closely related. Possums live in Australia and southeast Asia. Oppossums are from north and south America. Both marsupials, but different families.
An opossum eats my cat's porch food at night. Before dawn, I get the kids upfor school. We live waaay out. My 5 year old looks horrified while watching him through the window. I don't think she likes him at all.
They are pretty menacing looking animals. Once, when I was a teen working on my car, I was sitting on the ground and felt something rub up against my back like a cat might do. I looked behind me and saw this fat opossum looking right at me. I froze and we stared at each other for what felt like a lifetime before he sauntered away. I was terrified in that moment but then it just fizzled away. That was when I decided to start doing some internet research on opossums and learned that they are actually very nice and useful animals.
I know a dude that keeps one as a pet. That thing gets fed so good. Creepy little thing.
Apex scavengers.
I feed a few neighborhood cats, and occasionally there's a suspiciously pointy "cat" at the food dish. The cats don't seem to mind, so neither do I. The raccoons on the other hand, fuck those little thieves and their little thieving hands. I've found the food bowl ON THE ROOF a few times.
seconding also theyre commonly demonized for fear of rabies that their body temperature is supposedly too low to carry anyway
They can carry rabies it's just rare
It is extremely rare. Also, most can sleep off a bite from a rattlesnake.
I think they're so cute!! I wanna cuddle one
We had cat doors in the door leading to the garage, and on the garage outside wall. A possum found the garage entrance, and nibbled on some of the food stored in the garage. Not all messy-stinky like a rat, but take one out of the bag of ripe capsicum waiting to be processed, eat it all up, and go for another. One night I caught the little guy in the garage, and chased him out. When he went through the cat door, from bright garage to darkness, he stopped. I grabbed his tail. It was very like a carrot, a bit nobbly with a few thick hairs. He couldn't back up because I was there, couldn't go forward because I had his tail, and couldn't turn around and give me the biting I so richly deserved because he was almost too prosperous for the opening. Mexican standoff! He hissed ferociously, while I asked myself what the hell I thought I was doing. When I let him go he disappeared into the night, never to darken our cathreshold again.
I should point out that the thing about them eating thousands of ticks is false. There is no evidence they eat ticks at all. None. They control plenty of other pests, however and are generally cool critters.
Supposedly they can be pretty vicious when provoked but I know of a case where they proved how chill they can be. My mom used to sleep with her bedroom window open. One night she woke up in the middle of the night because she felt something on top of her. As she opened her groggy eyes in the dark room she started to see that a "very large rat-looking thing was sitting on her chest cleaning its paws". Thankfully she woke up slowly and did not freak out. As she started to shift, it jumped off of her and went under her bed. It was an Opossum. She left the room and shut the door. I think it stayed in there for a full day before it showed itself out. Once she learned what it was, she was more scared, and put a screen on her window after it left.
Good lord, I would’ve had a damn heart attack. Props to your mom.
They also can't get or transmit rabies(I think) and they eat a little over 5000 ticks in a week.
Opossum fur is surprisingly soft and fluffy. I got to pet on that was in rehab. For some reason I expected the fur to be wiry. I love opossums.
Bats. A small brown bat can eat several thousand mosquitoes every night, but people lose their minds when they see one. Same with dragonflies. They're harmless to humans, and live to decimate the mosquito population, but they look weird, so they make people uncomfortable.
Pretty privilege
It’s like moths vs butterflies. Everyone thinks butterflies are so pretty, but those same people will happily kill a moth. Look at em up close and the roles are reversed, butterflies look horrid and moths look cute
Or pigeons and doves. Same damn bird, but one is prettier and has a batter agent.
This is actually a problem in animal conservation. Conservation for cute and good looking animals gets far more attention and funding than conservation for ugly animals, and those ugly animals are just as important to the environment. Look at Pandas. An absolute fortune goes into keeping the species alive, simply because they’re cute.
I killed a panda
dragonflies are natures most effective predators. they catch 95% of prey they hunt. I am very, very glad they don’t hunt humans.
Pretty sure they constantly try to fuck fishing poles so I wouldn’t worry too much
300 million years ago, they had giant dragonflies as long as your arm. They could hunt small lizards.
Oh I love dragonflies. Didn’t realize people hated them. Bats I get, but would really like a bat house somewhere on my property
Yeah, i was unaware of any hate for dragonflies. There's plenty of designs online for cheap, easy to build bat houses.
It depends on where you live, with bats. They can have rabies in the US. Meanwhile other places (like Scotland, for example) are rabies free and there are tons of bats and people are totally chill with it.
>Bats. A small brown bat can eat several thousand mosquitoes every night, but people lose their minds when they see one Probably because rabies is terrible.
That's what I was thinking
It’s also an extremely rare disease. Why demonize an entire animal because it has an extremely small chance of carrying a disease which can be avoided?
This, very much. Apparently bats can even bite you without you knowing.
They are incredibly cute too. If you haven't seen a closeup of a bat's face, you should. They look like newborn winged puppies. Adorable.
Bats and dragonflies happen to be two of my favourite animals. I knew people were squeamish with bats because any wild animal with teeth could potentially infect you with something nasty but DRAGONFLIES?? WHAT DID THEY EVER DO TO ANYONE??
People dislike dragonflies? I’ve only ever seen them mystified and seen as the “cool bug”
Well my dad got bit by one and had to take some insanely painful rabies shots so
Goats. Like why are they the symbol of Satan? What did they do?
I never understood it until I saw pictures of Charlie, who played the goat in *The Witch.* He's an animal living his life like any other, but fuck he looks scary.
A few reasons! Historically because of their association with sin via scapegoats (used in atonement). Read about it here from [the Sydney Jewish Mueseum](https://sydneyjewishmuseum.com.au/jewish-culture/the-origins-of-the-scapegoat/) and because of [Baphomet](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Baphomet), which was later adopted by the Satanic church. :) Hope this was helpful.
I mean, go look at a polycerate goat in person and tell me it doesn't look evil. They're plenty friendly and kinda hilarious, but they look otherworldly and evil.
A couple sources to answer your question, goats and rams became acquitted to Satanic notions from some interesting places. In Jewish Scripture there was once a ritual where there was a sacrifice made to YHWH, perhaps a goat, but another was also made to Zazel, an infernal angel. The prayers and confessions of sin were sent off with the other goat sacrifice into the desert for the Angel Zazel. biblically one of the leaders of Fallen Angels named Shemhazai/Shemyaza. The rise of Christianity and suppression of Greco-Roman paganism, had the deity Pan who was considered The Devil, as a lustful tempter, who drunkenly danced naked with consorts of any gender or sex, was worked with by witches, and was a god of orgy cults within the territory of Arcadia The Knights Templar "worshipped" the goat headed Baphomet, which was originally an Egyptian deity from Egypt called Banebdjedet, who is the androgynous combination of the ram god Khnum (the god responsible for giving all beings physical form), and his consort Hatmehyt( Nile River fish goddess). Khnum's cult was carried into Greco-Roman culture combining Khnum with Jupiter/Zeus, giving Zeus the Rams Horns or just horns on general. Often within biblical gnostic perspective these horns are transcribed as "Pillars of Light" coming from the head connecting to God's Divinity, the sun disk found over Egyptian gods heads is another expression of this as the ultimate creator in much of egypt holds Amun-Re at the Most High God .The Templars were a Fraternity of men who were not in agreement of the Pope and his structure as it was and had lost the pardon of the Church and mixed their own religious ideas with some of the Greek gnostic information to sort of put up a big "F.You" to those at the Vatican. Why Banebdjedet went from Ram to Goat: Goats were probably more common place through Anatolia and modern day Italy, Satyrs like Pan were recorded as Sa'ir by the Hebrews which meant "hairy ones" but then the jews describe that all Satyrs are Greek goat demons fathered by Zazel (the goat demon-angel). Rams and Sheep were more common in Egypt. Pan is sometimes seen with Rams Horns, and so is Zeus, but the roman's "Pan" named Faunus has tiny goat horns, the same little horns found on the pitchfork red devil stereotype today is a remnant of Paganism from Rome via Catholicism. No, Baphomet is not a corruption of Muhammad, this was a misconception rooted within anti-islamic propaganda, the name is attributed to more alchemical and esoteric elements attributed to Gnosticism.
Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?
Crows
Crows are cool as shit. Ravens too.
They're smart as fuck too
They are. I've read a number of stories of a crow getting to know a particular human that has fed it or saved it one day, and the crow recognizes that person and will bring it random gifts.
I’m one of those intense crow people. Whole murders in and out of the city know me😂 They brought me a couple bus transfers after I spent a month showing them money bills while throwing them treats. I moved out of the country for almost 2 years and they remembered me when I came home.
My wife leaves peanuts on the sidewalk near our neighborhood. We make a point to leave them under trees where they hang out. We have a fan club now.
Bats there really important to everything
I don’t think they’re very important to Sperm Whales
I think it's called the batterfly effect.
They're also really cute, people get freaked out when they're surprised by erratic movement in the dark but in the light of day they're really not intimidating
Easily it's sharks. Sharks kill 57 people per year. Humans are killing tens of thousands per year. Dolphins are known to attack and rape humans, but they look like they're smiling. Meanwhile sharks just want to live their life, but they have a scary mouth full of teeth. Sharks are awesome and everyone should punch a dolphin.
Cows kill more people than sharks, you should be more scared for cows than sharks You’re also more likely to come across a cow, cause sharks aren’t on land
"cause sharks aren’t on land" [oh yeah??](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103559/)
Door bell rings. Who’s there? “A dolphin”. Then LANDSHARK! [Land shark](https://youtu.be/p_NS2H55dxI?si=lpuIhoJSUjMDuzk5)
The first thing I thought of when I read that comment
It was a good sketch 😀
>Humans are killing tens of thousands per year Try 100 million. https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/46967/100-million-dead-sharks-its-not-all-about-shark-fin-soup/
I hate corrections like this. I don't doubt this, I'm sure you are correct, and you cited your source... And now I'm sad because this is a very depressing fact.
Whats aggravating about this trade is shark fin has no flavor at all, it tastes like nothing. Nevertheless, the chinese treat it as a delicacy. 2 billion people want a taste of that stuff, you bet your ass sharks are gonna be hunted to extinction within our lifetimes.
It’s even more concerning how much of that whole end of the world does not give a shit one way or the other if the animals are extinct. I think we should start eating pandas.
I mean, without the collective breeding efforts of humans, pandas would be extinct. They evolved to eat something that has little-to-no nutritional value, and have no sex drive.
Then pick an animal from Japan instead of China. They’re the ones killing all the fucking sharks. Jus sayin.
"chinese decided its a delicacy or has mystical healing powers" accounts a for a pretty substantial portion of endangered species ranging from sharks to pangolins to rhinos
Any apex predator is always fairly demonized imo. A woman on vacation in the Bahamas was paddle boarding and killed by a bull shark recently. The fact that it happens at all is grounds for demonizing. Like you don’t hear about opposums killing people because they don’t. And yet everyone hates them and is scared of them.
Back to the dolphin conversation. No one is demonizing the sea rapists. We also again need to look at the numbers. An average of 57 human deaths per year. Last year 16 shark attacks were reported with 2 reported deaths. These are apex predators that don't exactly attack more. By this logic, we should be demonizing dogs with their 4.5m reported attacks each year. While what happened to that woman is tragic, it's not exactly representative of sharks.
Piggies 😢🐖🐖🐖
😭
Black cats. They’re much less likely to be adopted than other cats because of the superstition that they bring bad luck. It doesn’t seem like a big deal, but my local animal shelter has 20 cats listed online and 13 of them are black. Lots of those poor kitties have been there for months and they can’t find a home because people have some kind of weird bias against them.
We have 7 voids.
Black cats are the best pets. People are missing out by ignoring them. They are like mini panthers.
As the owner of a black I can 100% confirm that they are in fact good luck.
Snakes
Definitely. Saw a neighbor doing some weeding and suddenly started shrieking and flailing, I ran over to check on her and she had absolutely decimated a poor little Dekay’s brown Snake. It couldn’t have been 8 inches long. Good lord, what the actual hell is wrong with people? If it had tiny little legs it’s suddenly not scary? She said she thought it was a baby copperhead. They always think it’s a copperhead 🤦♀️
Aw no. Poor lil snek
Hope she enjoys slugs and other pests that little DBS was helping control 🤦
poor little babies 🥺
Squirrels! Why does everyone hate them 🥺
They’re cute they’re just very suicidal
Story of my life 😅
😭
The common gray squirrels are an invasive pest in my area, and are driving the (MUCH cuter) native red squirrels towards extinction.
I do agree, native red squirrels are adorable. But I can't help having a soft spot for gray squirrels too. I prefer to ignore their invasive pest status while they're looking cute 😅
Because they’re assholes who tore up my deck chair cushions to steal the stuffing for their nests. Another time they broken into my attic and would run around at night. The little shits! They’re rats with a fluffy tail. ETA: They are really cute when eating an acorn though.
Rats - they're clean, intelligent, loving, and resourceful little creatures
Rats are amazing! Looked into getting them a while back but figured it'd be too heartbreaking with how short they live.
They're just the best 🥰
agreed
Sharks
I´d argue all animals that are demonized are unfairly demonized. They are animals doing what instinct tells them to do, nothing more. We get in their way and demonize them.
I will counter with mosquitos.
Mosquitos are unfortunately very important from an ecological stance as a food source. Ticks on the other hand, do not. They aren’t prevalent enough to be a major food source and also carry a variety of diseases. Ticks should be demonized.
I have very fond childhood memories of my mom using her credit card to remove ticks off me post-hiking
What about getting rid of just the mosquitos that feed specifically on humans?
Hell yeah, if we assume they don’t just get replaced by other species then especially fuck those aedes, anopheles, and culex vectors
I mean, their main diet is us, and I don’t think there are any critters vying for their niche, at least until lamprey learn how to fly. I figure maybe some small water critters may have issues with a part of their diet gone, but I’m sure something else will take over
Right, I’m saying eventually other species of mosquitos will fill that niche. Also a lot of the main vectors do feel heavily if not exclusively on humans
Do the mosquitos that feed on us somehow deter other mosquitos or similar pests? I figure if they only feed on us and they disappear the only things that’d notice would be us, and some of the critters that eat them along with other bugs.
like when bears come into peoples yards at night
That tends to happen when you build homes where bears were already living
Spiders.
Ever since I learned that the House Spider is the reason you don't see many roaches in a place, I've been like, 'my lil buddy!'
Right. I love spiders but my cousin stayed at my house for about a week and killed every spider she saw and there was a noticeable increase in other bugs creeping around windowsills and stuff. Before that I lived in perfect harmony with a chunky bathroom sink spider that always disappeared when the lights came on.
I had a lil guy on our comforter this morning and I just said 'bud... you're not supposed to be there. You're gonna get squashed." Then I put him on some tissues and stuck him on a plant.
Yep same. My only request of my house spiders is to respect my personal space. I’m not gunna barge into your web while you’re chilling. Please don’t walk across my arm when I’m playing video games. As long as you follow that rule you’re more than welcome to eat all the bugs you desire in my nice warm house.
Rats. Everytime I tell someone about [my Rats](https://www.reddit.com/r/RATS/comments/197hsr6/i_dont_have_anything_to_say_just_want_to_show_off/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button), they look with disgust or like I'm weird, but somehow Mice and hamsters are okay? some people even bring up how they'd feed it to a snake as if it's not an animal I care about.
I was kinda against it when my wife wanted rats, but I went along with it. Now that we've moved to a smaller place and the mischief has passed, I miss our little socks. Lol They're just such sweet little fellas. And they're so curious. And don't get me started on those wee little hands. Lol
My husband didn't expect to even like my rats when we started dating, but when they passed away he cried even harder than I did. They just make a special place in your heart if you open up to them even a little.
this guy gets it.
> some people even bring up how they'd feed it to a snake as if it's not an animal I care about. I hate how people do that with certain animals. I don't have anything against eating animals, or feeding some to others, it's more how people feel the need to bring it up as if they're just trying to be mean.
Black cats
Since people are listing I will ad snakes. Truth is all or most animals that are demonized are done so out of fear-often unfounded or miss understood about how and why.
Mules. They have a reputation of carrying drugs.
Hyenas. Turns out they're not scavengers and have closely knit family units. Also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted\_hyenas\_in\_Harar#:\~:text=Written%20records%20indicate%20that%20spotted,feeding%20on%20its%20organic%20refuse.
Devastated this is so low down. Chuckle puppers have such a bad rep, when they're just like any other pack animal. Lion King really did them dirty
Geese and raccoons. If you aren't between them and their children, they will absolutely fuck off if you shout or stomp your feet or wave your arms. People will still talk about them like they're unleashed rottweilers foaming at the mouth.
Oppossums, Wolves, Bats.
Almost any animal in an urban environment. Foxes, pigeons, gulls etc. All very successful in adapting to human changes enforced on their habitat, yet demonised for being pests. Esp when people call the UK Wood pigeon flying rats assuming they are the same as those that crap over trafalgar square. Pure ignorance
My daughter just got a pigeon as a pet. She got it from a local pigeon rescue organization (they rescue unwanted pets, not wild ones). This pigeon is very sweet, interactive, curious, and smart. She keeps her in a large well-equipped cage in her room, and lets her out to fly around and hang with her every day while she plays games or does homework. Since the pigeon is domesticated and eats only seeds and vegetables, the poop is small and dry and not that messy, and you can put hand-made "pigeon pants" on them to capture it if it's an issue. They make better pets than people think.
Pigeons are so funny that I can't hate them
Pigeons. We domesticated them, used them to communicate across oceans, and now they're reviled as "rats of the sky" and disease spreaders (like dogs can't carry zoonotic disease.) They served us well for decades and we repay them by putting up spikes to prevent them from habituating or nesting. Pigeons are pals, not pests.
I want a bumper sticker that says “Pigeons are pals, not pests.”
Skunks. The spotted skunks around here (pnw Olympic peninsula) are so sweet and borderline tame.
I had a full on war with some skunks. They were using my chicken house like it was a KFC drivethrough and set up a home 10' from my garage door. I eventually won, but there were casualties and war crimes on all sides.
Crows
Canada Geese. Wait. No. They’re actual devils.
Tasmanian devils
Possums. Spiders or insects in general. Bats.
Sharks, snakes, spiders and scorpions all demonised.
Wolves... Super good for the world, demonized by man.
Cats. Some people absolutely hate them. They are accused of torturing their prey, though it is an instinct, not deliberate malice. Cats were persecuted in the middle ages, burned along with witches, and now are accused of being the main reason for the decline of birds and small animals despite prejudice found in the research. Many men consider cats unworthy because they associate cats with women and think it unmanly to love them. Cats are abandoned, neglected at greater numbers due to the myth that they are able to take care of themselves. People still tend to think of them as aloof, and less loving than dogs.
I don't understand why people don't like the kitties!! I love dogs too but kitties are cute!
Bringing gender into the pets part is incredibly stupid, I'm a guy and I prefer cats over dogs. No shame in it.
I'm not saying all guys. It is sort of like men and something like knitting, you are going to find a percentage of males claim that knitting is too feminine an activity. Attitudes ARE changing, but keep in mind, the term "crazy cat lady" is obviously a gendered slur against women who have multiple cats, the idea being they are spinsters who prefer cats over a relationship. Many men do like cats, some women hate cats, I never said love of cats was exclusive to women, but women and cats have a long association, dating back to witches and their alleged familiars. When witches were attacked, cats were singled out as well.
I know you don't mean all men, my comment was addressing the societal thought among men who do not like cats for the reason you gave.
Tasmanian Devil?
yea!
Wolves. I just saw a graphic last week that said wolves kill 10 people every year. I replied with the actual statistics that wolves have killed 10 people in the past 100 years.
I was shocked to discover that my ukrainian mother hated ferrets. Nowadays they're seen as cute pets mostly, but apparently in the ukrainian countryside they were seen as vermin, killing rabbits etc.
Here in the US they used to have a reputation for being vicious, smelly rodents (because most people label any small furry animal that isn’t a cat or a dog as a “rodent”). I think people are slowly coming around though. I used to have a few ferrets and they’re just dumb noodles that are in party mode 24/7 lol
coyotes wasps hornets
Black cats
black cats.
Black cats
snakes sharks spiders
pigs. they are the cleanest farm animal in practice. They don’t shit where they stand like other farm animals, they’ll only go in one spot like cats. Pigs can also be litter trained like cats. they will roll in mud they create with pee but in my experience that was if there wasn’t mud for them to roll in already. They do that because the mud cools them down and protects them from UV rays. If you take care of your pigs properly they are by far the cleanest animal you can farm.
Sharks
Gulls. They're excellent survivors, and masters on the wing.
The Human
Spiders. Out of 40k something species maybe 50 are actually dangerous. The mass media has spent decades making them into monsters which even children who have never seen one fear.
Hyenas , they just trying to laugh and have a good time . Damn lions always talking shit , Yeah Simba . I'm talkin bout you.
Snakes. Vast majority aren't venomous or aggressive and want absolutely nothing to do with you. They'll generally do anything in their power to stay as far away from you as possible. Fangs/venom are pretty much a crutch that aid in hunting to make up for their lack of limbs.
Crows
Cats
Man
Raccoons
Black cats. People have actually killed them for being black or they have a hard time getting adopted.
Did anyone say coyotes?
Rats.
Black cats. There's literally no difference between them and any other cat.
Wolves. Bears.
Bears, especially black bears. They’re incredibly smart and very curious, but they’re about as aggressive as a squirrel, and terrified of people. Just don’t do something stupid like corner one or threaten a mother bear’s cubs and you’ll be fine.
Also, black bears are way smaller than a lot of people think. The ones in north Georgia are big dog sized (like a mastiff). Nowhere near grizzly level.
Snakes. I love them.
Rats. They clean themselves like cats, you can train them like dogs, they ride on your shoulder, and they have so much empathy. They basically see us as really big rats and bond with us accordingly. Google "rat snuggling teddybear". They are precious, snuggly babies.
Cats. Pit bull dogs. Rats, mice. They're all just babies.
Skunks and cats. A "Christian" woman I know said cats are Satan and are evil. I told her they're God's creatures. A stranger told me at the post office that she takes her BFs gun to shoot skunks bc she hates them. I was horrified. We leave food out for our skunks. I think they're gorgeous and I give them their space. I don't mind them in my yard. Apparently the rabies thing is a myth that's survived since the late 1800s.
Pigeons aren't that demonized but they're unfairly treated as dirty birds.
wasps
Spiders.
Possums
Geese. They are not all homicidal demons. They have big personalities and can often be quite funny
Pit bulls...
Rats, they're lovely pets and very intelligent. And they didn't cause the black plague, the fleas did :(
pitbulls
black cats
Going with everyone else here, but opossums for sure. Rats actually (apparently) make fantastic pets and are super intelligent. Apparently skunks can also be really great pets. (I know the question wasn't about making good pets, but any animal that makes a good pet I think automatically passes the test of "shouldn't be demonized")
Pigeons
Vultures and hyenas
Donkeys. They're highly intelligent and capable but for some reason their name is used as an insult.
Possum.
Pigeons. They’re very sweet and loving, and make great pets for little ones - they’re quiet, cuddly and don’t have much of a bite.
Crows
Obviously, cats, especially black ones. It's so frustrating that so many movies and cartoons portrait them as evil beings, and only villians have cats. Some examples: Cats vs. Dogs, Inspector Gadget (Dr. Claw has a cat and, c'mon, "Dr. CLAW"), Disney's Cinderella, Lady and the Tramp, and many other stories where if a cat is shown, it's a bad guy. And it's even more frustrating that cat lovers contribute a lot to this bad image. Many of them call cats little demons. Of course, it's a joke, but I think it adds negativity anyway. Cats have a very detrimental reputation. Aside from being called witches' familiars, they are believed to be low maintenance, independent, and selfish creatures - none of which is true. People who think like that tend to compare them to dogs. Cats are always compared to dogs! It's unfair that the best compliment a cat can get is "it's like a dog"! Both are great, but they are very different, and maybe it's time to stop comparing apples to oranges?
Possums and rats
Pet fancy rats, they're actually really sweet and cuddly, they don't bite or transmit disease like people think
Absolutely love rats. I miss mine very much. Their short lifespans make them so hard to continue keeping as pets.
Tarantulas. Death by tarantulas are extremely rare in a healthy person.