Advertising firms know how to pluck our heartstrings and animals are very often used. Baby animals are especially powerful at sucking us in. Puppies and kittens help to sell everything from toilet roll to paint, along with pet food of course. Puppy baby blankets are the cutest thing ever! Who could resist? Greeting cards also have pictures of kittens playing with balls of string, cute ducklings gliding across the pond and puppies curled up in a basket. There is something about these offspring; the doe eyed deer, the ponies and new born hippos. Even little gorillas look sweet. There is a whole industry in soft toys. Recently, the usual animals have been supplemented by infant dinosaurs, Loch Ness Monsters and sharks. I guess sharks can be cuddly sometimes.
Films have also capitalized on our sentimental streak. Who could forget the Disney tearjerkers of Bambi and Dumbo? There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when Bambi lost her mummy. Some people found it difficult to eat rabbit stew after seeing Watership Down, in which baby rabbits frolicked in the dew. Baby animals have always been a staple of cartoons. The fishy movie, Finding Nemo was a big hit, proving that modern movie goers are just as soft.
Owners of puppies know the challenges that they bring. They have to be toilet trained and taught not to chew slippers and chair legs or to howl through the night. It’s a difficult task but it’s important to enjoy a puppy too. These baby animals grow incredibly fast. Kittens also have to be trained, in the use of the litter tray especially. All the baby animals will continue to delight us and sometimes make us cry.