Pets Are Forever

Ralph Helfer is one of those famous people very few know

about. He is well known to those who use his services, but they are

so specialized that most of us never become aware of his

uniqueness. He has entertained all of us even though we have not

likely ever seen him. Ralph has supplied animal performers for

over 5,000 movies and TV programs. He has won 18 Patsy Awards

for the best animal performer on the screen. He owned and

operated the world's largest wild animal rental company, and is the

founder of Marineworld/Africa USA.

He has revolutionized the animal training industry by rejecting

the old methods of training by fear and violence which had led to

many injuries. Animals were kept under constant threat of

physical abuse if they did not perform. It worked, but as soon as an

animal saw a chance for revenge, he took it, and every trainer had

fingers missing, and a good number of scars, and some were even

killed. He was trained in the old school, and had been clawed by

lions, attacked by bears, bitten by snakes, and nearly suffocated by

a python. He said, "Enough of that," and he developed what he

calls affectionate training in which he uses love, patience,

understanding, and respect, to get animals to perform.

He had the only lion in the world that could play a whole movie

live without a stuffed replica. He posed no danger to anyone. He

knew he was loved and respected, and so he loved and respected in

return, and never gave a scratch to anyone. His lion was the only

one in the world that could be trusted to work with children. He

eliminated the danger of working with animals, and for him, the

day is already here when the lion can lie down with the lamb. Love

doesn't just work on people, it works on any creature that has the

capacity to relate and respond to another creature.

He was mocked and scorned, and called a loony, but when he

proved it could work, everybody wanted his animals, for they could

do what no others could, for they were risk free. By love he lifted

the man-animal relationship to a new level. This should not be

surprising for those who know their Bible, for the God who created

man, and provided for his salvation, is the same God who created

the animals first, and revealed His love for them also again and

again.

God gave man dominion over the animal kingdom, and He

expected man to treat the animals with love and respect. Adam

was given the authority to name all the animals and the birds. We

read in Gen. 2:20, "So the man gave names to all the livestock, the

birds of the air, and all the beasts of the field." Man and animals

were linked from the start to share this earth together, and to be

mutually beneficial. Every time God saved man He also saved the

animal kingdom, for man cannot survive without the animal

kingdom.

So in the flood God saved the animal kingdom. In the exodus out

of Egypt God saved the animals of the Jews. When God spared

Nineveh of its great judgment, He also spared their animals. In

fact, in the last verse of Jonah, God said the reason He had

compassion on that pagan city is because of the 120 thousand babies

and the many cattle. It is strange that God would link babies and

cattle, but they are both in the same category. They are innocent,

and God loves and has mercy on the innocent.

No animal has ever sinned. They are innocent of all wrongdoing.

And they do not need a Savior like man does. They are saved in the

sense of being spared judgment because God loves them, and they

have no reason to be judged. In fact, God says the animal kingdom

is superior to man in the sense that they always obey Him as Lord,

and do not rebel as man does. The prophet Isaiah begins his book

with this lament of God: "Here, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For

the Lord has spoken: I reared children and brought them up, but

they rebelled against me. The ox knows his master, the donkey his

owners manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not

understand."

Because of the greater love and loyalty of animals to their

master there were a number of animal rights laws in the Old

Testament. There were laws for proper killing of them, and for

caring for them when they were injured, and for their proper

feeding. Prov. 12:10 puts it all in a nutshell. "A righteous man

regardeth the life of his beast." That is the KJV. The NIV says, "A