I see Joe’s point here.
“Person” ality. I stand corrected.
I also agree that it is folly to place human traits onto animals and expect a meaningful interpretation. I never got the dead animal gift thing myself.
Yes, it is wrong to anthropomorphize animals. It is neither fair to them nor to us. And if it comes to a point of choosing them or us, we should choose us.
But to allege that they are things with nobody inside is also absurd.