We all know people who claim that their pets are their “babies”, after all a cat or dog certainly becomes a part of a family, right? How far does the definition of “fur baby” go though?
Canada typically offers mothers paid maternity leave for one year, and statistics show that 80% of mothers take it after they give birth. One Canadian woman is demanding maternity leave after she recently adopted a little one in to her home, only it’s a dog. 31-year-old, Trish Lemierre from Barrie, Ontario is actually suing her employer because they refused to give her paid maternity leave after she adopted a six-week-old Bichon Frise puppy.
“I want my 40 weeks just like any other mother.” said Lemierre.
“Taking care of a puppy is a full-time job and if I am not there for every moment in the first year of its life I have failed as a parent.”
When Lemierre was asked if she thought there was a difference between human babies and fur babies, she responded by saying, “Absolutely not! A puppy is a baby, a dog baby. I deserve the time to bond with my newborn too!”
Surprisingly, this is not the first case. Tanya Oliver from British Columbia took maternity leave a couple months ago for her new puppy. She said, “I believe in making sure every man, woman, child, animal has the best chance in life, and by taking maternity leave for my puppy he is going to be just a great dog. So for me, investing in this time is investing in a lifetime of a wonderful pet.”
Although Oliver did not get paid maternity leave, she did use sick time to stay at home for the first formative weeks.
What are your thoughts? Are these women taking pet ownership too far?
This is from a satirical radio program. This is not a real story.
This is actually a story from a satirical website. I should say – that program is satire. The rest of CBC radio is legitimate news.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_That
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