Vote for the Most 'Gentile' Animal!

Often when I read the term "gentle animals" (it comes up a lot in animal rights literature), I think about how funny it would be if someone misspelled it "gentile animals." Thanks to Google, this typo has gone from a hypothetical situation to an online phenomenon.

Below are some of the animals that are listed as gentile animals on the World Wide Web. Which one best exemplifies what it means to be a gentile animal? Cast your vote by writing the gentile animal of your choice in a comment following this post. The most gentile animal will be announced on heebnvegan in May. And tell your friends to vote! Let's see if we can turn the list of gentile animals into a bigger phenomenon than that list of kosher imaginary animals that's been popping up on lots of J-blogs lately.

Alpacas: According to a rescue group, alpacas are "wonderful gentile animals."

Deer: A Web site for North Carolina mountain biking describes does as "very beautiful, gentile animals."

Dogs: One E! Online reader contends that corgi mixes are "loving, gentile animals" and a video promoting greyhound adoption prompted one viewer to say that the video "[t]ruly shows the beauty of these gentile animals and the unconditional love they give," but there's a lot of stuff out there saying how "gentile" pit bulls are. A Web page titled "The Truth About Pitbulls" says that pits can have a "gentile disposition," are "gentile dogs," are "really quite gentile dogs," are "gentile giants," and are "the most gentile and loving breed of dog." And a pit bull breeder in Florida talks about devoting "a great deal of time and effort" to "[b]reeding gentile animals." (Note: This should not be seen as an endorsement of breeding. Millions of dogs and cats die in U.S. animal shelters each year because there aren't enough good homes to go around.)

Guinea Pigs: "I am sad that some people use these gentile and docile creatures as lab animals," writes an apparent anti-vivisectionist. And a commenter on a Yahoo! forum noted that "guinea pigs are some of the calmest and most gentile animals in the world." (Note: If you're tempted to vote for pigs as the most gentile animals, guinea pigs are the closest option.)

Horses: In response to an article about wild horses in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald, one reader commented that it's "a big disgrace that people are 'allowed' to kill these beautiful majestic gentile animals."

Monkeys: "Monkeys are gentile animals," says a guest on the Sun Developer Network forum.