Animal nationality

 Citizenship for humans is not much older than the French Revolution – and we’re already granting it to animals.

The most classic of travel documents – the passport – in its current form dates back to the early 20th Century. Prior to that, a document of the same name did exist, but it was essentially a ‘letter of request’ signed by a sovereign, addressed to another sovereign, granting an illustrious court subject permission to join the latter sovereign on an international excursion. Whereas simple folk travelled as they always had: sans papiers. The same held true for animals. Since they began colonising the world, they have always been entitled to frolic as they please, through the woods and forests, up valleys and down dales, crossing political borders without humans even even bothering to consider the option of restricting their movements. (Besides snatching a few species out of the wild and locking them up in stables and caves, or behind fences.)