It had me thinking, I will admit. I kept seeing a Facebook post quite a bit over the past few days. The one about keeping pets indoors with curtains and blinds drawn during the eclipse on Monday afternoon.
On the surface, it kind of makes sense. But when you think about it, if the eclipse effected the eyesight of our pets, it would also effect the eyesight of all the wild animals around us. If it was true that the rays from the sun would effect the eyesight of animals, we would be faced with thousands of sightless animals come Tuesday morning. Trying to avoid deer and other animals that can see you coming on the 103 is hard enough some days. This could be a nightmare.
Really, most animals will not look at the sun. They know better. Almost every animal has another animal out there trying to eat it. Glance at the sun, it could blind you, which, if you’re an animal, could be the end of you. So really, they do know better.
What can happen on Monday is that animals get confused. It will be like having two sunsets in one day, as far as they’re concerned. Pets could be hanging around going, “It’s sunset. Where’s dinner?” at 4:00 in the afternoon. So it might confuse them a bit. For that reason, it might be best to keep them inside.
But really, the idea of keeping pets sheltered from harmful rays from the sun seems perfectly reasonable. Then I started wondering about all the wild critters. Were teams of people being dispatched to outfit every animal with a pair of glasses? Not likely. But it did start me thinking about it.
And the idea of chasing a herd of deer around, trying to make them wear their glasses is rather amusing.
Eclipses have been happening for… well… forever. Animals don’t seem bothered by it. Other than the whole two sunsets in one day thing.
So don’t be overly concerned about what the eclipse might do to your pets. It could confuse them. They may want dinner early. But they should be okay.
Unlike us, they’re smart enough to not stare at the sun in the first place.