I hate to see animals sad, and I’m not alone. There is an entire cinematic industry predicated on the idea that people will pay good money to watch a tragic animal become happy over 90 minutes. This trope is demonstrated in «boy and his dog movies» and «girl and her horse movies,» which have existed since at least the 1940s and aren’t going away anytime soon.

Social media has made sad stories about animals overcoming odds even more pervasive. How many times have you scrolled through Facebook and watched a full 5-minute video about an abandoned dog being rescued by good-hearted people and rehabilitated? I am obsessed with stories like these, and this one is no exception. A TikTok recently went viral about a horse who got bullied by his fellow horses. The other horses wouldn’t let him eat food or drink water, so he was sent away to another farm with nice horses.