Thinking About a Zoo Utopia
It finally happened. We cashed in on all of society's promises: "Automation will mean that we all have to work less to still gain prosperity in our lives! Scientific advancement will cause lab grown meat to become commonplace, dramatically reducing the footprint of climate change while everyone's dinner table remains the same!" And it came true: We ran for the right offices and ousted the people who were keeping us from getting all the good stuff. Now leaders who we actually like are at the helm of the world, and we're doing everything right, finally.
I woke up this morning in bed with my two dog partners--well, it would look like I was in bed with a Yellow Lab and with a green-and-black-haired human, but, actually my emo partner is a therian, and so I have in fact woken up with two whole dogs snuggling me. I am usually the first one up. I give my boys each a smooch on the top of the head--the Yellow Lab wags, the animal in the Green Day shirt with holes in it keeps snoring--and then I slink out of bed and leave our bedroom, and walk to the front door.
Dressed in an old pair of gym shorts and a baggy black t-shirt, I open the door, and then I pause, standing there with the door open. With the dim early-morning light coming in, and the smell of outdoors at my nose, I wait a moment, with the door open.
Three...
Two...
One...
My Yellow Lab partner comes walking past me, and goes out through the door ahead of me, his wagging tail whacking my leg in passing. I love him. I step out into the dim early-morning light after him, leaving the front door open behind myself as I step out.
I have only gone out to bring the recycling bin back up the driveway, and to check the mail.
But, standing in the driveway, I pause for a moment, and take it all in.
There is a sunrise casting a beautiful orange glow over these streets and over my neighbors' houses. The sky looks incredible overhead, with oranges and thin wisps of clouds; if I had my phone on me, I would probably try to photograph it, but, it's still charging on the counter in the kitchen. My Yellow Lab romantic partner pees in the yard nearby me. He and I are the only ones standing outside at this exact moment, it seems.
All of my neighbors are also animals. And by that I just mean, I live in a whole town that's mostly made up of people who, like me, see non-humans as beautiful and important. People who really take that kind of thing to heart, and define themselves by their love of the non-human. To my left is a house occupied by two equine therians, who care for some chickens and some other creatures around their place. To my right is a house occupied by a bunch of party furries, who sometimes end up passed out in my yard come morning time; this is not one of those mornings, it seems, but when it happens I like to come to the rescue offering water, coffee, a blanket, and myself plus one or two dogs to cozy up with, while the worst of the hangover passes.
I walk out to the mailbox, open it, and grab the letter that's inside.
Without even thinking, I hold it down by my side for a Yellow Lab's nose to sniff.
He sniffs it for a while, and then trots away.
After he has sniffed it, I take a look at it, to see what it's about.
It's a letter for my emo boyfriend, from one of his pen pals from overseas.
Cool.
I walk over to the recycling bin that's at the end of the driveway, whose contents were taken overnight, and I wheel it back up to the top of our driveway, and then I go back inside with my emo boyfriend's letter, as my Yellow Lab boyfriend scampers back in with me.
My neighbors aren't animals by coincidence. A lot of us just kind of ended up moving close to each other, when it became trivially easy to pack up, without worry, and move to be with whoever you most want to be with right now.
Back inside the house, I set the letter on our table, and I go get started on cooking breakfast for all of us.
All of that is the dream, basically.
I want a world defined by pleasantness.
I want a world where good things are just happening because that's just what we do when we have abundance.
I want a world where our ability to offer kindness to others includes animal kind.
I don't want a world where there's a catch, where there's some stupid plot twist: I want a world that is actually simply as good as it seems. My life doesn't follow the same rules as a shitty movie: there does not "have to" be a dramatic turn of events that sweeps everything out from under me when things seem good. Things can just actually be good.
I want cuddles with animals and with animal-inclined humanoids.
I want to feel happy to openly talk about my animal cuddling experiences.
I want to exist, and I want to exist gladly.
These are not outlandish desires.
I want to be nice to others, and I want to see that others are nice to one another.
Not everyone in my zooey utopia has to be a dog smoocher too; other people who aren't into the whole animalcore dogpilled thing can live human-relationship-focused lives that make them happier.
I literally just want good.
Article written by Scent Object 182 (January 2026)
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