Thinking Animals Are Like Humans
This story involves a bitter controversy in Los Angeles over euthanizing the millions of stray cats and dogs that LA has to contend with, the tactics of some animal liberationists that may have successfully induced (coerced?) the mayor to fire an embattled head of the city's animal control system, and the steps his successor is taking to assuage the protestors. I am not going to get into all of that, but this made me shake my head:
"Still on vacation when he arrived in town two weeks ago, Boks [the new guy] got right down to business, meeting with the community, visiting shelters, and putting out the word that he needs volunteers to help paint the facilities bright, non-institutional colors, just as he did in New York." (My emphasis.)
This is fine, I suppose. Make the place cheerier for the people who work there. But if it is being done "for the animals," it is an example of the rampant anthromorphization that is endemic in the animal rights movement: The dogs and cats sheltered won't give a tinker's darn about what colors the walls are. They are color blind.
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 7:57 AM
6 Comments
6 Comments:
I don't think that is what this is about: the bright colors are supposed to make the shelter more appealing to PEOPLE and cause more PEOPLE to come into adopt the animals. It seems like you guys have a theory and won't accept that others may actually agree with it, but are trying to expand the discussion.
As I said in my post, if it is for the people, fine. But if it is for the animals, it is ludicrous.
FYI,the "Nokill Movement" personified by people like Nathan Winograd, Richard Avanzino and Becky Robinson is about animal welfare/respect for the creation, not about asserting moral equivalence. My experience in Portland shows me that there are people who try to tie no-kill advocates to the ALF and that some of these people are part of the National Animal Interest ALliance, and animal use group on whose board Adrian Morrison sits.
I certainly have no moral objections to no kill. Don't know if it is feasible in a city the size of LA, both based on numbers and cost. The real answer, of course, is neutering.
I certainly don't believe no-kill advocates are terrorists. But in LA, advocates used terrorist threats and vandalism to push the firing of the head of the animal control department. That is why it is so important for animal welfare activists to always unequivocally condemn such tactics.
I hope the new guy does a good job.
There actually are several no-kill shelter policies and protocols, neutering being an extremely important one. Others are fostering, marketing, non-lethal cat control, and public education as to all of the above. If you are interested, check out Winograd and Avanzino. Both are lawyers, smart innnovative ones. As I have said before, based on my experience with NAIA in Portland, I am not sure that the terrorist threats are not strawmen originating with the medical research establishment itself. You views sound just like NAIA's position (Adrian Morrison's) and there is much more to the topic-so many angles and nuances to explore.. As for animal consciousness, I think there is much we don't know. We do know that dogs and cats' sense of smell and hearing is far more acute than ours. I think key questions are "What are animals and what are their purposes vis a vis human beings?" Matthew Scully's book, "Dominion" THe Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call for Mercy" addresses these sorts of questions. I just started reading it, an Atlantic Monthly Editor's Choice award winner, and believe one ignores this guy at his or her intellectual peril. Like you, he is an excellent writer and researcher. This quote from the first chapter struck me: "My earliest recollections is of coming upon some rabbit tracks in the backyard snow. I must have been three or so, but had never seen a rabbit and can still recall the feeling of being completely captivated by the tracks. Someone had been here. And he left these prints. And he was alive. And he lived somewhere nearby,maybe even watching me at this very moment. Four decades later, I do not need to be reminded that rabbits are often a nuisance to farmers and gardeners. My point is that, when you look at a rabbit and can see only a pest, or vermin, or a meal,or a commodity, or a laboratory subject,you aren't seeing the rabbit anymore. You are seeing only yourself and the schemes and appetites we bring to this world-seeing, come to think of it, more like an animal instead of a moral being with moral vision. Just one little varmit among millions....In the grand scheme of things, not much. And yet, we are told, each one is counted and known by Him, and I believe it".
I reviewed Dominion for the Weekly Standard when it came out. Here is the URL: www.weeklystandard.com/Content/
Public/Articles/000/000/001/792wtcum.asp
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