ABSTRACTThe changing role of pets in society is reviewed.‘But if you tame me, then we shall need each other’.To me, you will be unique in all the world.To you, I shall be unique in all the world…‘You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.’‘The Little Prince’ (Antoine de Saint‐Exupéry)‘An animal which exploits another species can always go one degree better than the existing system.’Animal Nature and Human