Like their extinct avian namesakes, ‘canaries’ were bred as an early warning system for epidemics. Criss-crossed with canines, felines and all sorts of mammalians, including Homo sapiens*, came the breed of animal we now call canaries. Their weak immune systems and accentuated tell-tales (such as bright red noses and sweaty-ears when sick) could provide enough warning to medicate and protect their human owners from suffering the same condition.
Canaries are the most popular domesticant on all the worlds and throughout the fringe, safeguarding the health of more privileged creations. We can be such monsters.
Breeding is considered a ‘normal’ process, attuned with Darwinism, though it is controlled and directed through human selection. Perhaps this means we have been beyond Darwinism for millennia.
* Incidentally, “modern” man is a further sub-species called Homo sapiens sapiens, though I don’t think this matters here.
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