Like Animals 
From the musical "Doctor Dolittle"
Composer(s): Leslie Bricusse - Samantha Eggar
Performer(s): Rex Harrison


I do not understand the human race

It has so little love for creatures with a different face
Treating animals like people is no madness or disgrace
I do not understand the human race

I wonder 
Why do we treat animals like animals?
Animals treat us so very well
The devoted ways they serve us
And protect us when we’re nervous
Oh, they really don’t deserve us
All we give them is hell!

Tell me how else man repays them 
Do we ever think to praise them?
No we don’t, and this dismays them You can tell

We’re riddled with ingratitude
We give no love or latitude
In every way our attitude
Is, well, like animals

No, no — that’s not what I mean

I mean 
Why do we treat animals like animals?
How can people be so inhumane?
Cows and chickens work to feed us
Dogs and horses show they need us
And though cats don’t always heed us
Their affection is plain

What do we do? We neglect them
We do nothing to protect them
We reject them, don’t expect them
To complain
We ignore them or we beat them
When we’re hungry then we eat them
It’s appalling how we treat them
It’s insane!
Like animals!

We humiliate and murder and confine them
We create their wretched status
Then we use it to malign them

I mean
Why should we say, “treated like a dog”
Why should we say, “working like a horse”
Why should we say, “eating like a hog”
When what we mean is “eating like a man”?
Don’t we? Of course!

A man of ill repute is called a “weasel” or a “rat”
A woman you dislike becomes a “vixen” or a “cat”
A family that is blessed
With healthy reproductive habits
Occasions the remark,
"Well you know them, they “breed like rabbits”!

“He’s as stubborn as a mule!”
“He’s as stupid as an ox!”
“He’s as slimy as a snake!”
“He’s as crafty as a fox!”

Remarks like that really get my goat!

Why don’t we say, “noble as a frog”?
Or, why can’t we say, “wealthy as a hen”?
True, we say, “devoted as a dog”
But what we should say is
“Chic as a giraffe,”
“Pretty as a pig,” eh? 
That’ll be the big day
Won’t it? But when?
But when?
But when?

When will we stop treating them like animals?
Is the human race entirely mad?
Women see a baby goatskin
Or a lambskin or a stoatskin
And to them it’s just a coatskin 
Oh, it’s terribly sad!

When you dress in suede or leather
Or some fancy fur or feather
Do you stop and wonder whether
For a fad
You have killed some beast or other
And you’re wearing someone’s brother
Or perhaps it’s someone’s mother
In which you’re clad?

Like animals! Like animals!
Like animals

Well, it’s true, we do not live in a zoo
But man is an animal too
So why can’t you
Like me
Like animals?
... animals