I guess it depends on the strength of the taboo. Dog and cat... very strong in our culture. Not so much in others.
I didn't know there was a taboo around pigeons. I think more recently people have come to regard them as the "rats of the skies", so /shrug. And I had no idea there was taboos about reptiles... I first tried it when I was oh, 14?
And no, I most certainly don't always pay attention to taboos. ;) But there's three kinds of taboos, imho: intelligent taboos based on reasons that you would have to be stupid to ignore; taboos based on things like religion, which may or may not apply to you; and taboos that once made sense but no longer do and which comes across as odd to most modern people.
I will say, however, that if I am traveling abroad, I do try to respect local taboos, laws, etc. But I also have a hard time looking at a culture, for example, where its people starve and yet "sacred" animals walk the streets unfettered.
So there's a question for you: what if the annoying local pest of an animal is protected by religious reasons and/or laws based on those reasons? For example, cows in India. (They come to mind first although I'm sure they're not the only sacred animal).
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I didn't know there was a taboo around pigeons. I think more recently people have come to regard them as the "rats of the skies", so /shrug. And I had no idea there was taboos about reptiles... I first tried it when I was oh, 14?
And no, I most certainly don't always pay attention to taboos. ;) But there's three kinds of taboos, imho: intelligent taboos based on reasons that you would have to be stupid to ignore; taboos based on things like religion, which may or may not apply to you; and taboos that once made sense but no longer do and which comes across as odd to most modern people.
I will say, however, that if I am traveling abroad, I do try to respect local taboos, laws, etc. But I also have a hard time looking at a culture, for example, where its people starve and yet "sacred" animals walk the streets unfettered.
So there's a question for you: what if the annoying local pest of an animal is protected by religious reasons and/or laws based on those reasons? For example, cows in India. (They come to mind first although I'm sure they're not the only sacred animal).