The twisted politics and false dilemmas of trying to save the American wolf. These conflicts between human culture and economics on the one hand, and species survival on the other hand, are increasingly legion. So far, the sensibilities and priorities we bring to these issues don’t bode well for the animals.
I have to say, I have particular disdain for claims regarding the romance and pleasure of hunting as a priority or rationale for killing animals.
What about the romance and heritage of one of North America’s iconic species?
Following yesterday’s discussion of whether “humane” meat, dairy and eggs are possible, Free From Harm sent me (and everyone else on their mailing list) a slideshow on the dairy industry. Granted, this focuses on factory-farm dairies. But some things are inevitable in the dairy industry, whether the cows are factory-farmed or family-farmed in the most humane way possible (like the slaughter of male calves).
Anyhow, here is the slideshow, which only helps get me past my desire for Half And Half in my coffee.
UPDATE: My call-in time has changed to 6:10 pm EST.
Tomorrow evening (Friday), at 6:10 pm EST, I’ll join Sam Simon to talk about orcas on his radio show on RadioIo. Simon is an interesting guy, who was “lucky” (his word) to be involved in getting The Simpsons up and running. He was also involved in a lot of other shows and you can read about him here.
On the side of all this, and in addition to a radio show, Simon has a foundation, and does a lot of work protecting and rescuing dogs. SteveO, of Jackass fame, will also be on the show, to talk about circuses.
If you want to listen in, the show will start at 6 pm EST, and I am calling in at 7 pm. Just go to this link, and click the red “Listen” button next to the “Bubba One” channel.
Should be an interesting and unpredictable evening, so hope you can join in.
I have no doubt that the next great evolution in humanity’s relationship with animals is a steady expansion of animal rights that will start to elevate the most social and intelligent animals to an approximation of “personhood.”. I don’t know how fast it will happen, but I do believe that it will happen and that, say 100 years from now, people looking back on the way in which animals are treated today–in food production, in entertainment, and in medical research–will view us as certainly unenlightened and perhaps even barbaric.
There is similar energy in the effort to elevate the rights of primates and chimpanzees (also intelligent and social), and with regard to chimpanzees this is especially poignant as, unlike cetaceans, they are used for medical research.
It is a very complex issue because chimps arguably do have unique research value when it comes to finding cures for some human diseases (I don’t hold out much hope that humanity will stop entirely subordinating animal welfare to human welfare anytime soon–though I support the ethical argument to do just that). But the guidelines would at least be a significant improvement and set a much higher bar for chimp research. They are:
That the knowledge gained must be necessary to advance the public’s health;
There must be no other research model by which the knowledge could be obtained, and the research cannot be ethically performed on human subjects; and
The animals used in the proposed research must be maintained either in ethologically appropriate physical and social environments (i.e., as would occur in their natural environment) or in natural habitats.
These sorts of debates, and human consensus, move painfully slowly. But over years the accumulation of these incremental steps will add up to real change (I hope). I just wish that the process could be fast-forwarded from its current glacial pace.
UPDATE: Have to add this, since this 14-year old girl is a powerful example of how the future could look very different. You can imagine how an impassioned young person like this might help pick up the pace of change.
The Earthist Chronicles 