Since When Did Animals Become Human, and Subject to Our Rules?

In the county where I live, there was a recent case where a 6 month old child was left alone in a room with a dog.  All the adults in the house at the time, including the child's mother, were in another room.  The dog bit the child on the head, and the poor baby died.  The whole situation is just horrible.  My heart breaks for the baby.  And for the mother.  Granted, I really don't think I would leave my baby in another room with any animal, no matter how well-behaved and domesticated it may be.  But that doesn't mean that we don't all make mistakes at some point or another, and I can't imagine the pain she has to suffer with every day of her life, always thinking to herself, "If only I didn't leave him in there, even for a second".

Now, I'm not exactly a card-carrying member of PETA, but I do have feelings for animals (except for spiders, they are icky!).  I guess that's why I'm surprised that so many people seem to think that putting the dog down was the right thing to do in this situation.  First of all, this dog was an animal.  Animals are part of the NATURAL world.  In other words, they aren't human, and they do what is natural to them.  I think that people in general are very presumptuious in assuming that just because they bring an animal into their home, and love it, and feed it, and take care of it, that their "pet" is just another human roaming around the house.  They aren't.  Animals can be very companionable, and loving, and even so protective of their human companions that they would lay down their lives.  But they are still "natural" beings.  Second of all, although the dog in question was rescued from an abusive home, he had never shown any sign of being aggressive.  He was also deaf, which may have played a part.  Unfortunately, no one will ever know for sure.

So was it right to put him down?  Part of me says no; based on the fact that there were no prior incidents, perhaps there could have been another alternative.  But the other part of me, the one that would kill anything with her bare hands should her children be in danger, says that I'm just not sure.  I'm just thinking that us humans have tried to control Nature for so long, we expect everything in nature to adhere to our rules.  And I think that is a mistake.  

A comment on an article discussing this case is what got me thinking about all this.  In the comment (we'll just say it was written by Bob to make things easy), Bob states that if a human being had killed the baby, they would be charged with murder.  Well, according to Bob, even though the dog carried out the evil deed, it is still murder, and the doggie got his just desserts.  Wow.  Really?  I know dogs are really smart, they learn all kinds of stuff, and can even be trained, but honestly, I think that the belief that a dog understands what murder is, and that it is wrong, is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard in my life!  What next, are we going to put the snakes on trial for killing and eating the mice?!

That is all.