Pets in Taygeta - **Text only / Translated originally from Spanish**

Interviewer: What is the concept of having a pet in Taygeta and how does it differ from the same concept here on Earth?

Anéeka: On Earth, although it depends on the individual, the pet is seen as a subject. Something that must obey the master. As an object. Something that you can tie up in the yard or have on the roof and you forget it exists if it doesn't bark, but this, generalizing.

In Taygeta, a pet is a member of the family like the others. It's just not of the same species, but we don't see it as different. It does have different needs than you and you are in control. It's not that you are superior, but that it falls as your responsibility to provide for its life. More so if you have it in a captive state.

Maybe that's why cats are so popular in Taygeta, because of their mentality. It's your friend, your family, and at the same time they are still wild. Not quite domesticated. It is said everywhere that they seem to have domesticated us, and it is often said that it seems that we are there to serve them, like the concert of cat demanding voices when they ask for food every day.

Interviewer: I understand. It's just that there are like two types of pets here. This concept that you say and then the other one that is more like taking advantage of the animal, like having a bird in a cage, fish in a fish tank. Just for the person to be entertained and it's fun to have it there, but not for the benefit of the animal.

Anéeka: Yes, in Taygeta it's more like a symbiosis. There are no dogs per se because they are a terrestrial human invention. But in forested areas, in Erra, for example, it is common for a wolf or fox to become interested in approaching a family, especially if it is alone, or if it was found injured and the family helped it, and it is now a member of the family.

Interviewer: How do you get a pet in Taygeta?

Anéeka: They run in families. They are not obtained anywhere. They are adopted when you see that they need a home. It also depends on the pet itself because there are animals that do adopt you without you wanting them to. Cats do that, Moghyay or even foxes. I guess it starts out of interest for food, but then it's because they feel safer near you.

Interviewer: When the cats have the litter of kittens, is that when they are distributed?

Anéeka: Yes, that's how it works and how people acquire, in a way, the pets.

Interviewer: The Moghyay, are they also birth controlled in some way?

Anéeka: Moghyay are extremely prolific, more so than cats. The problem with Moghyay is that they attack people's food, be it crops, vegetables and even in the kitchen. And since they reproduce very fast, they can cause great losses, and therefore cause food shortages for a family or even a group or village. They are also controlled by the use of sounds that have been found to scare them away. At least for some time before they become immune. Also, with fencing around vegetable areas.

Interviewer: Wow, they can be a problem.

Anéeka: Yes. More so because they move in large herds. They are gregarious.

Interviewer: What are the animals that you can have or are most common to have as pets in Taygeta?

Anéeka: First: Domestic cats. Second: Ferrets, otters and weasels. Third: Moghyay. Four: Canines. Five: Big cats.

Interviewer: Big cats, like lions?

Anéeka: Yes. But more commonly panther, leopard, bobcat, lynx. Although wolf or fox is much more common. And domestic cats at the top of the list. They are everywhere.

Interviewer: Do you control the reproduction, the birth rate, of the animals that are aboard Toleka?

Anéeka: Yes, hormonally, through droplets that have a flavor that they like. And that is given twice a month calculated. Both males and females. Castration is not necessary, unlike on Earth, because they tend to regenerate completely. That is to say that if you castrate an animal, after a few months it will be complete again.

Interviewer: What is the effect that these hormones have on them, do they make them biologically sterile or do they just stop wanting to reproduce?

Anéeka: Both.

Interviewer: Does that affect their character?

Anéeka: It makes them more docile. If we didn't do that they would spend all their time fighting with each other. So they are happier and live more peaceful lives.

Interviewer: What do you feed them?

Anéeka: They have their own special food for cats. In this case, it's protein-based cat food made in tissue culture, which would be the same as what the Urmah do.

Interviewer: Do you have the same breeds of cats as we have here on Earth or is it more of a single breed?

Anéeka: There are different breeds of cats. But the one that is here with us on the ship, that is, the one that is customary to have on the ships, is the same one that you have there. They are not originally from Earth, they are of Lyrian origin from the planet Avyon. Not from Lyra. I mean, they are mini Urmahs.

Interviewer: Do you also have the Persian race, or is that a human invention like the dog?

Anéeka: That is a human invention, just like dogs. In Taygeta we have wild canines, like the wolf and the coyote, the fox, etc.

What we have is a feline breed that is very similar to the Siamese, but it is not the same, it is inverted in the colors, but they have something to do with each other because they still have that difficult character that characterizes them.

Interviewer: Are there cases of animals being abandoned in Taygeta?

Anéeka: No. That does not happen.

Interviewer: What other animals besides cats do you have on the ship?

Anéeka: Three otters, five ferrets and 14 Moghyays. But they are in the two green areas of the ship.

Interviewer: Is this green area a kind of park or a forest?

Anéeka: It's an area designed for planting vegetables to eat, to increase the autonomy of the ship. But since there are only 30 of us, we don't need it. So it's a free zone on board. The small forest is in the green area with the otter pond.