CHAPTER 17. AUTHORS WITH 1945-1949 BIRTHDATES
We will need to replace "mindlessness" with "mindfulness"
about our interactions with animals and the Earth.
Nothing will be lost and much will be gained.
We can never be too generous or too kind.
Surely, we will come to feel better about ourselves
if we know deep in our hearts that we did the best we could
and took into account the well-being
of the magnificent animals with whom we share Earth,
the awesome and magical beings
who selflessly make our lives richer,
more challenging, and more enjoyable
than they would be in the animals' absence.
The Ten Trusts: What We Must Do
to Care for the Animals We Love
Marc Bekoff (1945- )
American ethologist
…………….
(CONTINUATION OF QUOTES FROM PAGE 1 AUTHOR)
***
We are not alone on this planet,
although we frequently behave as if we were.
***
The abuse and killing of animals continues,
but we must make our objections known.
Given what some people choose to do to animals,
I often wish they were not
the marvelous and magical beings they are.
But the fact is that many animals do indeed
suffer brutal exploitation and intense pain,
and we must change our ways—now.
We need animals and love animals
because they are feeling beings,
not because they are unfeeling "things."
Of course, even animals who might not be able
to experience pain and suffering
deserve our respect and consideration
so that their lives are not compromised
by our self-centered activities.
We do not have to be afraid of being sentimentalists
or apologize for our idealism.
***
Martin Luther King, Jr. once said:
"A time comes when silence is betrayal."
He was right.
Silence and indifference can be deadly
for our animal friends and the Earth.
By "minding animals" and "minding the Earth"
numerous animals, people, and habitats
are far better off than they would have been
in the absence of an ethic blending together
respect, caring, compassion, humility, grace, and love.
Caring about some being...can spill over into caring for everybody.
***
If we focus on the awe and mystery of other animals and the Earth,
perhaps we will be less likely to destroy them.
Do we really want to live in harmony with nature?
Are we truly the people we think we are?
These are simple yet extremely challenging questions.
If we answer yes to either or both,
which not only is politically correct
but also ethically and ecologically correct,
we are compelled to move forward
with grace, humility, respect, compassion, love.
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***
(NOTE: PAGE 1 TEXT FITS HERE)
By minding animals we mind ourselves.
Personal transformations are needed and will serve us well.
We owe it to future generations to transcend the present,
to share dreams for a better world, to step lightly,
to move cautiously with restraint.
We destroy one another when we destroy the Earth.
We all can be dreamers and doers.
We owe it to ourselves and to other animals,
to whom we can, unfortunately, do whatever we choose.
We owe it to ourselves to keep in mind the power of love.
(The Ten Trusts: What We Must Do to Care for the Animals We Love,
co-authored by Jane Goodall © 2003)
<>
The guiding principles for all of our interactions with animals
should stress that it is a privilege
to share our lives with other animals;
we should respect their interests and lives at all times,
and the animals' own views of the world
must be given serious consideration.
(Minding Animals: Awareness, Emotions, and Heart © 2002)
<>
Compassion begets compassion,
cruelty begets cruelty.
What we give we will ultimately receive.
Nonhumans help make us human.
They teach us respect, compassion, and unconditional love.
When we mistreat animals we mistreat ourselves.
When we destroy animal spirits and souls
we destroy our own spirits and souls.
The integrity and well-being of the universe
depends on fostering and maintaining reciprocal and deep
relationships and interconnections with all life.
***
I feel it's essential to provide people with the opportunity
to experience animals in their own "natural" environments,
and not confined in unnatural conditions of captivity.
I feel it's essential for people to learn more
about how animals sense their worlds
from the point of view of the animals
and not merely from humans' points of view.
***
[M]any animals have deep and rich emotional lives
and deep and rich spirits.
People need to know more
about how animals are treated when they are exploited
by humans for food, research, education,
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and amusement and entertainment.
It isn't a pretty picture,
and people must give more than lip service
to the rampant exploitation of animals
—they must act on their passions,
or else little will ever be done to improve animals' lives.
A commitment to action will certainly make it easier
for many people to appreciate other animals as spiritual beings.
("Interview with Marc Bekoff" by Sharon Callahan anaflora.com)
<>
Our relationships with nonhuman animals are complicated,
frustrating, ambiguous, paradoxical, and range all over the place.
When people tell me that they love animals
and then harm or kill them,
I tell them I'm glad they don't love me.
We observe animals, gawk at them in wonder,
experiment on them, eat them, wear them,
write about them, draw and paint them,
move them from here to there as we "redecorate nature."
"Redecorating nature" refers to the global tendency,
almost a human obsession,
to move into the living rooms of other animals
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with little or no regard for what we're doing
to them, their friends, and their families.
We unrelentingly intrude because there are too many of us
and because it's so easy for us to do.
We also shamelessly over-consume.
Animals are constantly asking us in their own ways
to treat them better or leave them alone.
What might their manifesto look like?
Basically, animals want to be treated better or left alone,
and they're fully justified in making this request.
We must stop ignoring their gaze
and closing our hearts to their pleas.
We can easily do what they ask
—to stop causing them unnecessary pain, suffering,
loneliness, sadness, and death, even extinction.
It's a matter of making different choices:
about how we conduct research, about how we entertain ourselves,
about what we buy, where we live, who we eat, who we wear,
and even family planning.
Like any good manifesto, there is a call for action
that must be a gentle call for action that mixes facts with values.
We all need to raise our consciousness
about the lives of our fellow animals
and change the current paradigm,
in which those who work on behalf of animals
and the environment are seen as "radicals" or "extremists."
No one should be an apologist for passion
and no one should be ashamed or shamed for feeling.
This animal manifesto is a plea to regard animals
as fellow sentient, emotional beings,
to recognize the cruelty that too often
defines our relationship with them,
and to change that by acting compassionately on their behalf.
To a very large extent we control the lives of other animals.
We're their lifeguards.
It's essential that we move rapidly to make kindness and compassion
the basis of our interactions with animals.
We shouldn't be afraid to make changes that improve animals' lives.
Indeed, we should embrace them.
Such changes will only help heal our world and ourselves.
The late theologian Thomas Berry stressed that our relationship
with Nature should be one of awe, not one of use.
Individuals have inherent or intrinsic value because they exist,
and this alone mandates that we coexist with them.
All animals, including humans, have a right to lives
of dignity and respect, without forced intrusions.
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We need to accept all beings as and for who they are.
All animals, all beings, deserve respectful consideration
simply for the fact that they exist.
Our alienation from animals and nature kills our hearts,
and we don't even realize how numb we've become
until we witness the beauty of nature and the wonder of life:
something as simple as a squirrel performing acrobatics
as she runs across a telephone wire,
a bird alighting on a tree limb and singing a beautiful melody,
a bee circling a flower,
or a child reveling at a line of ants crossing a hiking trail.
In these small moments, we feel our inherent connection
to all creatures and all of nature.
If we try to bring forth our innate compassion
with every being we meet
we will always be making progress
and expanding our compassion footprint.
Unlike our carbon footprint, our compassion footprint
is something we can try to make bigger.
It's a lens for evaluating our daily decisions.
We can all make more humane and compassionate
choices for animals.
It's really pretty simple.
Here are six reasons for expanding our compassion footprint:
 All animals share the earth and we must coexsist
 Animals think and feel
 Animals have and deserve compassion
 Connection breeds caring, alienation breeds disrespect
 Our world is not compassionate to animals
 Acting compassionately helps all beings and our world
More and more people around the world are truly concerned
about how we affect the lives of animals.
More than ever we understand that coexistence
with other animals is essential,
that our fate is tightly bound with them.
I'm an optimist and a dreamer
and I do think that with hard work
the future can be a much better one for animals,
nonhuman and human.
( "What Do Animals Want from Us? Their Manifesto"
Animal Emotions blog psychologytoday.com January 23, 2010)
Marc Bekoff, Ph.D. (1945- )
American author
Emeritus professor of ecology and biology
Co-founder, Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
…………….
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"Wild horses are living symbols of America's strength and spirit.
So precious are they to the soul of our country
that in 1971 the United States government
passed an act that gave them protection under federal law.
Since 1971, our horses have been given no protection at all.
They have been shot to death, poisoned, rustled for slaughter,
and captured in the tens of thousands
by a government charged with protecting them.
The capture system does not preserve wild horses in America.
Families are separated by age and sex
and are forced into trucks and vanned to a central camp
to await the outcome of federal giveaways
that lead many down the slaughterhouse ramp.
I will oppose the genocide against America's wild horses
through direct action. I will oppose it with all my strength and spirit.
Join me,
Michael Blake"
Those words were written on a postcard to my friends around the country,
asking them to join me in witnessing a destructive wild horse capture
in Nevada that took place 19 years ago.
The genocide has accelerated wildly through succeeding years,
and today America's wild horses are approaching extinction.
Though many government agencies are infected with deceit,
I have never experienced more corruption
than exists in the Department of the Interior
and its field agents—the Bureau of Land Management.
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They continue to claim that the last of our wild horses
are being captured to protect them from starvation,
lack of water, overbreeding, and disruption of cattle ranching.
The only wild horses I have seen in starvation are those in captivity.
On many occasions I have witnessed wild horses
having to travel 20 or 30 miles a day for water,
because ranchers and the government have denied them
by fencing off access to streams.
Scientists who have studied true wild horse herds
have never experienced reported overbreeding,
which happens because our government destroys unique families.
Wild mares choose a single stallion to mate with,
raise children, and provide protection.
Other stallions roam in bachelor herds,
hoping for chances to become herd stallions.
When captured, all herd stallions are either killed
or castrated and confined.
Mares left in the wild are overcome by bachelor herds
who conduct making babies as rape of all mares.
That is what produces overpopulation.
Today, less than two percent of America's cattle are on open land.
Wild horses do not steal grass from cattle and never have.
Today, they couldn't if they tried.
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Simply put, the government's removal of wild horses
from public land is based entirely on production of money.
Corporations engaged with the BLM—drillers, coal diggers, uranium,
miners, and companies that lease our public land for tax write-offs—
are ruling the land that allegedly belongs to all citizens.
A large insurance company offered its leased public land
to the BLM for a discount.
The BLM made the deal and the first capture I ever witnessed
was conducted on the same property.
If American laws we all depend on were equal,
the Secretary of the Interior and his squads in the BLM killing
of the last of our wild horses for capitalism
would be defending themselves—in court.
The near extinction of animals
who were essential in aiding humanity
in the settlement of America is truly tragic,
because their regard for life on earth is deeply inspiring.
In my most recent book, Twelve the King,
I share with the public the 14 1/2 years
I lived with a wild herd stallion who had existed
more than 20 years in the wild before capture.
How deeply he affected my own human life
could only be expressed in written words.
The first day I saw him I could not forget what I had seen,
and the same night I put down in verse what I had observed.
Many of his like are now being destroyed.

Twenty years on the open range
Twenty years of running
Twenty years a stallion
……
Answering to no one
……
Now he is horse number 1202
Prowling a circular pen of steel
Moving lightly over the soft earth
Sniffing
Waiting
And moving again
……
Unbowed
……
He is forced to acknowledge
The man and woman
Inside the pen
Avoiding them perfectly
As he travels
Around and around
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……
He looks through
The people crowded in the stands
The children pushing toy trucks on packed ground
The square, white lunch truck standing in the back
……
He cares nothing for the flying flags
Or the video cameras
Or questions from the audience
Or for what's missing
From between his legs
……
It is the horizon
……
That is what holds his attention
The meeting place of sky and earth
Is the only destiny
("Horse Number 1202" poem written in the Fall of 1991)
("Let Them Run Free" essay written in March 2010)
Michael Blake (1945- )
American author and screenwriter
Academy Award for Best Writing (Dances With Wolves) 1990
Golden Globe Award for Best Film (Dances With Wolves) 1990
…………….
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[N]onhumans are often, though inconsistently,
the object of charity, but not of justice.
***
[on whether man is the "higher" species]
Darwin used to remind himself not to use words like "higher"
(though he often forgot his own warnings)!
The human species has particular abilities and powers
that effectively mean we can affect much of the rest of the world.
***
The idea that we are made "in the image of God"
has had unfortunate effects—people seem to assume
that this means we matter more than other creatures,
whereas the original point is manifestly that we are made
to appreciate the good of the created world, and to look after it.
Quite how people who don't accept the theology
(Christian, Jewish or Muslim) still go on supposing
that human beings are somehow special…I don't understand!
***
[on effecting change for nonhuman animals]
People have to appreciate that we are all animals together,
that we can't afford to carry on treating our cousins
as tools or materials for our own local purposes.
If we don't manage this
we'll continue to corrode the habitats we share,
and eventually suffer the population crash
that afflicts any species that loses its way.
Some of us (and me) may interpret this as a divine judgment,
but even without that description,
and the attendant metaphysics, it's likely to be a fact.
***
[on rights for wildlife]
My claim is that the only rights that could be generally protected
are the ones to a habitat in which as many creatures
of as many kinds as possible live out their lives
(which will often be predatory lives, but which probably won't
be so far "successful" as to destroy the habitat:
where this has happened it's usually been because
we have introduced some sudden species
—rats, goats—that native stocks can't cope with).
I contrast this with our additional responsibilities
towards creatures that have been part
of our households for millenia, co-evolved with us.
We ought not to injure wild things,
and especially ought not to damage their habitats,
but have no absolute duty to protect them
against injury by each other (the case of the domestic cat
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is an awkward one, requiring a lot of thought).
***
It's very sad that some sectors of the Christian churches
(both Catholic and American Protestant)
have decided that efforts to get legal protection
(including protection of their lives and liberties)
for "animals" are "unChristian,"
because disregarding the special significance of the human.
I hope that sensitive theologians will gradually dispel this nonsense,
in line with Humphry Primatt's judgment:
"When a man boasts of the dignity of his nature,
and the disadvantages of his station, and then and from thence
infers his right of oppression of his inferiors,
he exhibits his folly as well as his malice."
If there is any "special significance" in the human,
it's that we can (and will) be held responsible
for what we do to others, and the mess we make of things.
("Animals and Their Moral Standing" interview with Claudette Vaughan
abolitionist-online.com December 2008)
<>
If we are to understand the animals with whom we share the world,
we need to watch them, interact with them, without too much prejudice.
Understanding them, we may also understand ourselves a little more.
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By seeing what constrains and motivates our kindred
we may, perhaps, discover what the morals and manners
of the human beasts might be.
<>
It is not necessary, rather it is incompetent,
to kill and torture animals to eat.
Those who retain the end of flesh-eating
but admit the iniquity of factory-farming
and the need to reduce the demand for flesh,
are in practice in no better state.
Where so many eat so much flesh,
there is no "moderate amount of flesh"
that the moralist can decently eat.
***
The open iniquity of factory farming has this merit,
that it makes self-deception about the horrors
caused to animals more difficult.
It has this demerit:
that by contrast the old ways seem courteous and kind.
So the existence of concentration camps acclimatizes us to slums.
***
Honourable men may honourably disagree
about some details of human treatment of the non-human,
but vegetarianism is now as necessary a pledge of moral devotion
as was the refusal of emperor-worship in the early Church.
Those who have not made that pledge
have no authority to speak against
the most inanely conceived experiments,
nor against hunting, nor against fur-trapping, nor bear-baiting,
nor bull fights, nor pulling the wings off flies.
Flesh-eating in our present circumstances
is as empty a gluttony as any of these things.
Those who still eat flesh when they could do otherwise
have no claim to be serious moralists.
(The Moral Status of Animals © 1977)
<>
If we should respect Humanity in ourselves and others
we should, by the same token, respect the other creatures
that reflect that Form in however tarnished a mirror.
If we are apes, let us be apes together.
If we are "apes" (as aping the Divine),
let us acknowledge what our duty is as would-be saints
and give the courtesy we owe
to those from among whom we sprang.
Either we evolved along with them,
by the processes described elsewhere,
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13
or else we evolved, in part, to imitate a Divine Humanity.
Neither theory licenses a radical disjunction
between ourselves and other apes.
Either may give us reason to esteem
and serve the greater humankind.
("Apes and the Idea of Kindred")
<>
Affection towards clan-mates, love of children, deference to authority,
disinclination to kill those who have reminded us of common humanity,
even some respect for property; these features of human life do not,
it seems, stem from our intellectual gifts.
We share them with our cousins.
Stephen R. L. Clark, Ph.D. (1945- )
English author
Emeritus professor of philosophy
…………….
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There has been a remarkable change among philosophers
in recent decades concerning the moral status of animals.
With some notable exceptions,
philosophers now agree that sentient creatures
are at least of direct moral concern,
even if there is disagreement about how much
they are to count in our moral reckoning.
***
The issue of our proper relationship with non-human animals
tends to evoke strong emotions.
There is more at stake here than dispassionate argument
over the correct application of moral principles.
At stake is our conception of what it is to be human:
Who are we, what value do our lives have,
and what is our place in the universe?
For some, animal liberation is a misguided
and even misanthropic cause
that attacks progress and human dignity.
For its advocates, animal liberation is simply
the consistent application of the Golden Rule.
***
World-wide, the demand for meat is growing significantly.
True, growing revulsion in Western nations
for the most blatant abuses of animal agriculture
may provide an entry point for attempts
to dismantle the system of industrial meat production.
***
On the other hand, a veritable industry has sprung up to promote
"happy meat," "compassionate carnivores," and "humane slaughter."
These phrases may be oxymorons,
but they strikingly illustrate a modern phenomenon:
growing unease about the industrial treatment of animals,
combined with a refusal to abandon
the use of animals for food and clothing.
***
The "liberation" of sentient non-humans, if it happens,
will be a long, complex struggle, not some overnight revolution.
***
Whether capitalism's need for incessant growth
can be sufficiently channelled into ecologically sustainable modes
(e.g., growth in green industries
and in non-material, information technologies)
to avoid catastrophe is not yet clear.
Whatever the answer, throughout the world
there is a growing awareness
of the possible dire consequences, on sundry levels,
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15
of a failure to preserve the health of the biosphere,
including the well-being of its animal species.
Animal liberation, of course, demands something more:
recognition that numerous non-human creatures
are members of the moral community.
***
The idea that animals are not just resources to be exploited,
that they are individuals with lives that matter,
is still too radical for most people to accept.
(Animals and Ethics: An Overview of the Philosophical Debate
© 2003 and 2009 Reprinted with permission of publisher Broadview Press)
Angus MacDonald Taylor, Ph.D. (1945- )
Canadian philosopher, writer, lecturer
…………….
As the trucks rolled by, I saw the cows and sheep
in those trucks being transported.
One could only see their eyes through the slits in the trucks,
and it struck me that that was very much
like the scene out of the Holocaust period
of Jews being transported in cattle trucks to their fate.
During the Holocaust, I am sure that the German people
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were aware that Jews and others
were being treated in the most horrific way.
They may not have known all the details,
but they must have known something,
but they didn't want to think about it.
And I think today, we also don't want to think about
the way in which animals are being treated.
So there is a parallel in terms of our desire
not to reflect on what is really happening.
Rabbi Dan Cohn-Sherbok, Ph.D. (1945- )
American Reform Judaism rabbi, professor, author
…………….
The way a society treats its animals
speaks to the core values and priorities of its citizens.
We as a society have betrayed those core values
of compassion, mercy and decency.
We have reduced living, feeling, sentient beings, God's creatures,
to meager units of economic production.
***
[W]e have not only brutalized the animals,
but also degraded the workers in those industries
and degraded ourselves.
The proclamation being unveiled today is a consensus of principles
calling on people of faith and their leaders
to put compassion into action for all of God's creatures.
These principles address companion animals, factory farming,
animals exploited in entertainment, medical and commercial testing,
and wildlife habitat protection.
If the general public knew, truly knew,
how animals were treated on factory farms,
they would be outraged.
And their outrage under the proper leadership
could be transformed into real reform.
***
[T]he faith-based community...can bring the message
to...congregations and by doing so lead and transform
the core spiritual values of kindness, compassion and mercy
into effective legislation and, ultimately,
respectful, responsible stewardship of God's creatures.
("A Religious Proclamation for Animal Compassion"
signing and speech on Capitol Hill, November 7, 2007)
Christopher H. Shays (1945- )
United States Representative (R-CT)
Co-chair, Congressional Friends of Animals Caucus
…………….
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It seems disingenuous for the intellectual elite of the first world
to dwell on the subject of too many babies
being born in the second- and third-world nations
while virtually ignoring the over-population of cattle
and the realities of a food chain that robs the poor of sustenance
to feed the rich a steady diet of grain-fed meat.
<>
With the human and cattle population
growing at an unprecedented rate,
it seems virtually every available square mile
of rangeland and cropland is being exploited, depleted,
and eroded with little thought of tomorrow
or the needs of future generations.
(Beyond Beef: The Rise and Fall of the Cattle Culture © 1992)
<>
The transition of world agriculture from food grain to feed grains
represents an...evil whose consequences may be far greater
and longer lasting than any past examples
of violence inflicted by men against their fellow human beings.
<>
The human journey is, at its core, about the extension of empathy
to broader and more inclusive domains.
At first, the empathy extended only to kin and tribe.
Eventually it was extended to people of like-minded values
—a common religion, nationality or ideology.
In the 19th century, the first humane societies were established,
extending the empathy to include our fellow creatures.
Today, millions of people,
under the banner of the animal rights movement,
are continuing to deepen and to expand human concern for,
and empathy toward, our fellow creatures.
The current studies into animals' emotions, cognition and behaviour
open up a new phase in the human journey,
allowing us to both expand and deepen our empathy
—this time, to include the broader community
of creatures who live alongside us.
("Man and Other Animals" The Guardian Unlimited, August 2003)
Jeremy Rifkin (1945- )
American economist, writer, public speaker
Founder and president, Foundation on Economic Trends
…………….
I'm no shrinking violet.
I played hockey until half my teeth were knocked down my throat.
And I'm extremely competitive on a tennis court.
But that experience at the slaughterhouse overwhelmed me.
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When I walked out of there,
I knew I would never again harm an animal!
I knew the physiological, economic, ecological
arguments supporting vegetarianism,
but it was firsthand experience of man's cruelty to animals
that laid the real groundwork for my commitment to vegetarianism.
(Peter Burwash's Vegetarian Primer co-authored by John Tullius © 2002)
<>
You will notice that someone who truly understands vegetarianism
will have a sense of humility about them
because they will have respect for all life.
(interview with Heather Gorn Vegetarian Journal Issue 2, March 1, 2006)
Peter Burwash (1945- )
Canadian-American author
Pro hockey and tennis champion
…………….
There has never been a killing like it.
We've killed hundreds of thousands of wolves,
sometimes with cause, sometimes with none.
In the end, I think we are going to have to go back
and look at the stories we made up
when we had no reason to kill,
and find some way to look the animal in the face again.
***
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Before a wolf was brought into their classroom,
a group of grade school children
were asked to draw pictures of wolves.
The wolves in the picture all had enormous fangs.
The wolf was brought in,
and the person with him began speaking about wolves.
The children were awed by the animal.
When the wolf left,
the teacher asked the children to do another drawing.
The new drawings had no large fangs.
They all had enormous feet.
(Of Wolves and Men © 1978)
Barry Holstun Lopez (1945- )
American author
…………….
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We need to adopt and enforce laws and policies
about humane treatment of animals
in every sphere of interaction with our fellow creatures.
Cruelty towards all other forms of life has been a shameful aspect
of human existence for thousands of years.
We use our distant cousins in feather and fur for food.
Many animals are exploited as beasts of burden.
We kill beautiful creatures for their fur.
To some people fashion statements
are more important than reverence for life!
Poachers kill rare animals for ivory
and for the manufacture of aphrodisiacs.
Medical schools use live animals for dissection.
Animal organs are used in xenotransplantation to save human lives.
Genetic engineering of animals is increasingly common.
There are cruel "sports" such as hunting and cockfights.
Matadors pierce bulls' bodies to the roar of delighted fans.
Animal businesses employ brutal ways
of transporting creatures from farms to markets.
Slaughterhouses skin animals alive.
Some of our exotic food preferences
and cooking techniques are absolutely bestial.
Fish and crustaceans are cooked alive.
In some gourmet restaurants live monkey skulls are split open
for connoisseurs to feast on raw brain!
The smugness with which man does whatever he pleases
to other species exemplifies a brutal anthropocentric approach
and is based on the principle that might is right.
I have reliable reports from animal lovers that, contrary to official denial,
monkeys are being trapped and shot in Bangsar in Kuala Lumpur.
It is suspected that unscrupulous traffickers in animals
are emboldened by the recent lifting of the ban
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by our authorities on the export of monkeys.
Animal lovers fear that many of the monkeys trapped or shot dead
will end up in cooking pots or on vivisection tables in laboratories.
I have strong doubts about the morality or utility
of monkey and crow shoots,
and the offering of rewards to catchers of stray dogs.
Are we ignoring the root causes of conflict
between animals and humans
[not to mention the havoc this conflict engenders]
—the damage to our environment,
the slow elimination of our flora and fauna,
the constant encroachment on animal habitats
and the slow but sure de-gazetting
of forest reserves, green belts and parks?
These human-centred development policies
confirm our callousness towards animal welfare,
and reinforce the mistaken view that all other forms of life
on this planet exist only to serve human beings.
In fact, they have God's own reason for existence.
Some readers will..wonder why "animal rights" are important.
Animals are, after all, a "lower form" of life.
My answer is that animals are our fellow creatures
and part of God's majestic creation.
Like humans, they have a spark of life
that deserves respect and demands compassion.
Whether animals can reason or talk
is less important than whether they can suffer.
It is undeniable that all animals with central nervous systems feel pain.
Their suffering at our hands is as real
as our suffering would be if the roles were reversed.
In an earlier age, most human beings had a "tribal ethic."
Members of the tribe were protected,
but people of other tribes could be robbed,
raped or killed as one pleased.
As civilisation advanced, the circle of protection expanded.
We began to see the evil in tribalism, slavery, caste system, racism,
religious bigotry, colonialism and gender exploitation.
***
Many studies indicate that those who are cruel towards animals
are also more disposed to crimes against other human beings.
The movement for the protection of animals is split into two.
 The first approach is that animals are sentient beings
possessing inherent value and deserving moral and legal rights.
Religions like Buddhism and Hinduism support this approach fully.
In most other religions there are strictures
against cruelty towards animals.
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
22
Unfortunately there is as yet no international treaty on animal rights.
 The second approach is that animals have no inherent rights,
but their protection is part of the biodiversity of this planet.
As such, animals should be protected because of their instrumental
value for the survival of this planet's ecosystem.
Both approaches call for methods and environments
that are more humane for the lives of animals,
and envisage that the time will come when animals
will not be used as mere tools of human interest.
A few non-binding instruments like
the International Convention for the Protection of Animals (1988)
and the World Medical Association Statement
on Animal Use in Biomedical Research (1989)
have been framed by eminent legal thinkers and regional organisations.
***
Sadly, the Malaysian legal system has not developed along these lines.
The Penal Code regards animals as property
and makes it a criminal offence to "(commit) mischief
by killing, poisoning, maiming, or rendering useless,
any animal or animals of the value of five dollars or upwards."
The law is obviously quite inadequate
to deal with many of the animal abuses mentioned earlier.
What we need to do is to adopt and enforce laws and policies
about humane treatment of animals
in every sphere of interaction with our fellow creatures.
In addition, we need to conserve and protect areas
that are vital to the survival of all other inhabitants of the earth.
We need to learn to live with our fellow creatures.
This new consciousness cannot wait.
Time is running out on our planet.
The government must join hands with animal lovers
to remind the apathetic citizenry
of the unity of life and its interconnectedness.
Education should be directed towards the refinement
of the individual's sensibilities in relation not only to one's fellow
humans everywhere, but also to all things everywhere.
Animals are not our underlings.
They are an integral part of the net of life and time.
They are fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of Earth.
Our life depends on their survival.
("Animal rights, human wrongs" October 17, 2007
Reflecting on the Law column for thestar.com)
Shad Saleem Faruqi, Ph.D. (1946- )
Malaysian professor of law
Emeritus Professor Datuk
…………….
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
23
According to current polls, most of us agree
that we want a united country—"one nation under God."
And that wish—the desire to be "one nation indivisible"—
stems from something instinctive and basic
—the simple knowledge that we really are one:
one people, one world, one planet.
We all know this deep down.
Our creation stories, whether in the Bible
or any of hundreds of other sacred texts,
tell of a time when humans lived at peace
with each other and with nature.
And they go on to tell of a time when we broke away
from that state of innocence and harmony
and set out on a different path that led to division, conflict, and war.
They also include a simple formula for how we can recapture
the connections that we've lost: It's the simple Golden Rule
that tells us that as we give, so do we receive,
and so to treat others as we would want to be treated ourselves.
That's because this Golden Rule is the way
we express the knowledge that we are one.
By treating you with the respect that I would like you to accord me,
I affirm that, on the most basic level, we really are one.
Most of us try to behave this way with our friends, family, and pets.
That's what binds us together.
But we can reach out much further—as far as our dreams can take us.
Albert Einstein said the idea that we are separate from each other
is "a kind of optical delusion."
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
24
He wrote that "Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison
[of separation from each other] by widening our circle of compassion
to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
When we treat animals simply as commodities—as sport or
entertainment or medical spare parts or factory-farmed food—
we turn them into objects, into something "other."
We don't just steal their bodies, but their soul or spirit or inner nature.
[By ignoring the] Golden Rule, we lose touch with our own true nature.
Kindness to all living beings—to each other, to the animals,
even to our enemies—is nothing more than treating them
as we would want to be treated ourselves.
And it's the key to a better world for all of us.
("Separation Anxiety (human style)" Best Friends September/October 2004)
Michael Mountain (1946- )
British-American co-founder and past president,
Best Friends Animal Society
…………….
Our presence on this planet has a higher calling.
That we can through our activism,
make light in this world,
that we can through our activism,
lift up the cause of the humblest beings,
that we can through our activism,
open up not only our own hearts,
but the hearts of people everywhere
so that our society can become more compassionate,
so that our society can be more loving,
so that our society can create policies which are caring for animals.
(Animal Rights Conference speech, August 2003)
Dennis John Kucinich (1946- )
United States Representative (D-OH)
…………….
[O]ne cannot say that one is completely against all cruelty to animals
and then voluntarily harm them seriously in any way.
If you eat meat (or have leather in the house, etc.)
you must admit that although you may detest cruelty to animals,
you were brought up in a society that forgives most behaviour
that was not considered cruel in the past,
and you have not developed a passion for change.
(Parade, August 2005)
Marilyn vos Savant (1946- )
American magazine columnist, lecturer, author, playwright
Guinness Book of World Records Hall of Fame: Highest IQ
…………….
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25
I believe that ending the abuse of animals is the final challenge;
the last main obstacle to civilisation.
And I believe that in order to win the battle on behalf of animals
those of us who care have to arouse massive public indignation.
***
The bad news is that the opposition to giving animals their freedom
(and giving them back their basic rights)
is supported by rich and powerful people and corporations
who (largely for financial reasons) want to retain the status quo.
The good news is that those of us
who want to see an end to animal abuse are in the majority.
Most people want animal cruelty stopped.
***
The way in which human beings now exploit and abuse animals
(and other living creatures) is no different in principle
to the way in which the Romans treated their slaves,
the Americans treated non-white races
and the Victorian Englishman treated "his" women.
In every case the underlying problem is the same:
the exploiters see the world
from a provincial, small minded standpoint.
Those who exploit have inherited from barbarians and savages
the utterly self-centered belief that they—and they alone—
are blessed with wisdom and imagination.
They are narrow-minded, bigoted bullies, blind egoists
who care only about themselves and their own tiny world.
And they try to support their bigotry and their prejudices
with pseudo-scientific nonsenses
which bear no resemblance to the truth.
***
Those who love animals are widely regarded
(particularly by politicians, scientists and pseudo-intellectuals)
as irrational, sentimental, Bambi-hugging bunny lovers.
The gentle and the humane have for too long been regarded
as merely weak and ineffectual.
The laws and regulations which currently exist to "protect" animals
are conveniently designed so as not to inconvenience humans.
The laws and regulations governing the use of animals
in experiments are so weak and ineffectual,
and so poorly policed, that they might as well not exist.
The laws authorise cruelty and oppression
more than they try to prevent it.
Our laws relating to animals are a sheer disgrace.
Experimenters can cause whatever pain they like to animals
as long as the cage in which the tortured animal
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
26
will be imprisoned afterwards is a certain modest size.
To make life easy for the animal abusers
there are so many exceptions to the rules,
and so few "checks" to make sure that the rules are being obeyed,
even the regulations which do exist
are little more than cosmetic in nature.
***
Vivisectors are the ultimate hypocrites.
Some, who perform viciously brutal experiments on animals,
claim to have family pets which they love.
Would those who perform and support animal research
donate their own pets for laboratory research? If not—why not?
Hunters claim to love animals. So do farmers.
But how can any of these possibly have any understanding
of the meaning of the word "love"?
(Animal Rights, Human Wrongs © 1999 vernoncoleman.com)
<>
I will never forget the day I decided
that experiments on animals had to be stopped.
The experience scarred my memory for life.
I was a 19 year old first year medical student—still too ignorant
and inexperienced to be allowed out on to the wards.
With several of my fellow students,
I was taken into a physiology laboratory
to be taught a little about the human body.
The lecturer took a large, miserable looking cat from an assistant,
climbed onto a table, turned the animal on its back and held it high….
Then, after ordering us all to watch carefully,
he dropped it ten or twelve feet to the ground.
The screeching cat landed on its feet and ran off terrified into a corner.
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
27
I don't know what this experiment was designed to teach us
—but I cannot see what relevance it had
to the treatment of illness in humans.
Already feeling uncomfortable
I and a group of students were then ordered
to experiment on a live rabbit.
I can't remember the details but I do remember
that it was a pointless exercise which filled me with fury and nausea.
How can you learn anything useful about life
by torturing and killing, I thought.
I couldn't go through with it.
Along with several colleagues I walked out of the lab,
refusing to have anything more to do with the lesson.
As I was leaving, other students began the experiments.
The medical establishment must have shared some of my views
on the irrelevance of this experiment.
No one said anything about my walk out,
no one called me back, no one disciplined me.
I never completed the course—but I qualified as a doctor.
This sad experience awakened my curiosity
about animal experiments.
Secretly, I began to explore the basement
—and the grim cages where cats, rabbits and monkeys were kept.
I was sickened by what I saw.
I felt the experiences in which these animals would die
would have no relevance to humans.
They would not help me or any one else become a better doctor
—and would never help any physician treat patients better.
The more I studied the subject, the clearer it became
that the anatomical and physiological differences
between animals and humans mean animal experiments
can never be of practical use to anyone.
Animal experiments were done, I realised,
because no one cares enough to stop them.
Scientists were butchering thousands of cats,
dogs, monkeys and rabbits
because that was how they earned their living.
They got grants from drug companies, charities
and government departments by promising answers
which they knew they could never deliver.
I decided that most scientists who experiment on animals
were second rate academics who didn't have
what it takes to become doctors.
At the age of 19 I decided that one day
I would help stop this cruel, senseless trade.
***
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28
Although I also campaign against hunting
and all forms of animal cruelty
—including the use of animals for food—
I am sometimes asked why I've chosen
to put so much energy into attacking vivisection
rather than other versions of animal cruelty.
There are several reasons.
***
 First, vivisection involves huge numbers of animals
—around one thousand animals every thirty seconds.
That is far, far more than all the forms of hunting, for example.
What is more, the animals suffer constantly.
They are usually kept alone, in tiny cages,
until they are used in an experiment.
Many are kept alive for months or even years
in great distress and pain.
***
 Second, vivisection is probably the best and longest established
form of organized, officially acknowledged animal cruelty.
It is the one form of animal cruelty
for which people have devised apparently credible excuses.
Vivisection is symbolic of the way we treat animals.
It has the support of the world's most profitable industries.
I believe that when vivisection is banned
then other forms of animal cruelty will quickly follow.
Vivisection is the most immoral, academically
and intellectually dishonest form of animal abuse.
The vivisectionists practice a particularly
cruel form of intellectual terrorism:
they terrify ordinary people into supporting them
by arguing that animal experiments are of medical value.
***
 Third, vivisection affects human beings as well as animals.
The vivisectors are responsible for countless human deaths
—as well as animal deaths.
By stopping vivisection we will also be helping to save human lives
and protect human patients from iatrogenesis.
Now that slavery and apartheid have been abolished
I firmly believe that vivisection is the most evil and barbaric,
unjust and unjustifiable practice on earth. We have to stop it.
***
The scientific and medical arguments
against vivisection are overwhelming.
No honest scientist could possibly support animal experimentation
(although there are a lot of dishonest scientists who try to).
Morally, there is no question that experimenting on animals
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29
is a vile, inexcusable business.
Ethically, the vivisectors are in the position of slave traders,
arms dealers and concentration camp guards.
There is no excuse for what they do.
***
Those of us who oppose animal experimentation are
ethically right, morally right, scientifically right and medically right.
(Fighting for Animals © 1996 vernoncoleman.com)
Vernon Coleman, M.D. (1946- )
British author and columnist, retired general practitioner
…………….
We must then sing even louder,
a psalmody whose music tells that the Earth is not ours alone
but shared, with reverence due all life
as reverence is due life's Maker.
***
Reverence is like love;
it is not something that falls from the sky free for our taking.
It is something we must work at,
a spiritual task needing perseverance and vigilance
if it is to grow stronger and become expansive,
embracing more and more of living things, ever more the living God.
Any spirituality of animal care must make this reverence
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
30
a part of the repertoire of its accomplishments,
or at least of its pursuits,
needing to nourish it—or just bring it alive—
in everyone the spirituality touches.
(Bless the Beasts: A Spirituality of Animal Care © 1991)
Father Jeffrey G. Sobosan, C.S.S., M.Th. (1946-1999)
American professor of theology
Congregation of Holy Cross priest
…………….
[on the origins of man's aggression toward animals]
We often hear hunting described as a "manly" sport.
Its macho image accounts for most of its appeal.
Why do hunters see the killing or wounding
of a defenseless animal as a mark of manhood?
Animals are unarmed and can't compete effectively
against human weapons.
How could participation in such an unequal contest
be seen as an affirmation of masculinity?
The answer is surprisingly simple: it has to be viewed that way.
Otherwise it could not continue.
The roots of this misunderstood phenomenon go back to prehistory.
As Jim Mason documents in his pioneering book, An Unnatural Order:
Why We Are Destroying the Planet and Each Other,
the rise of hunting and herding in prehistoric societies
triggered a quantum leap in tribal aggressiveness.
These societies tended to be far more territorial,
combative, and violent than their predecessors.
What accounts for this change?
All evidence suggests that earlier foraging cultures
had a profound respect for animals.
To foragers, animals were spirits and close relatives
who evoked powerful bonds
and complex emotional responses in their human kin.
Their routine victimization would have been
almost as repellent as cannibalism is today.
To develop an economy based on a brutal act of violence,
a radical cultural change was necessary.
What occurred might be described as the invention of "manhood."
In order to legitimize the taking of animal life,
hunters and herdsmen idealized aggression, enveloping it in mysticism.
Psychologically, much of this may be understood
in terms of compensation.
The Dictionary of Behavioral Science defines compensation
as "the mechanism of covering up aspects of oneself
that are unacceptable and substituting
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
31
more desired traits in an exaggerated form."
Hunters and herdsmen compensated
for the shame, horror, and cowardice of animal abuse
by idealizing aggression. The cult of aggression,
which replaced animals and nature as the focus of spirituality,
elevated cruelty to a rite of male power.
These new masculine ideals supported
an unprecedented assault against animals and nature.
Highly effective in justifying animal cruelty,
such beliefs took root in many animal-exploiting cultures.
***
The figure of the cowboy epitomizes these ideals
in contemporary society.
Unadorned, the "cowherdly" exploitation of harmless herbivores
would be too unpalatable to generate social consent.
It has to be reinterpreted.
By enshrining the cowboy as an exemplar of masculinity,
celebrating his deeds as epic achievements,
and promoting his mythology of wholesome brutality,
industry and media succeed in repackaging
animal cruelty for public consumption.
The "sportsman" renders a similar service.
His occult faith that he can prove his manhood by bullying
a duck, a deer, or a rabbit establishes aggression as a virtue.
***
Most people know intuitively that manhood
consists in protecting, loving, and defending, not in victimizing.
But the need to idealize aggression
in order to promote animal agriculture
produces a different concept of masculinity entirely.
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
32
This version values aggression per se.
It confers acceptance and prestige on those who dominate,
and on the act of domination itself.
Through the magic of social ritual, aggression against the weak
achieves not only respectability but honor.
***
In ancient times the practice of animal sacrifice
gave cruelty the implicit blessing of the gods.
(This barbaric ritual still persists in some areas,
where its essential purpose remains unchanged.)
***
Today, sport hunting, bullfights, rodeos, dissections,
dog shows, zoos, 4-H clubs, and other traditions
serve to sanction and sanctify animal abuse.
The honor accorded to aggression by animal-based economies
has disfigured human relations for millennia.
Militarism, racism, genocide, crime, child and spousal abuse,
economic exploitation, even sports and entertainment
exhibit the malignant effects of our "aggression obsession."
The primary model for human aggression is animal abuse.
"They treat us like animals" we say to signify
total disregard for the rights of others.
***
As children we learn that animals can be exploited for human benefit.
We quickly grasp the reason: they can't defend themselves.
Might makes right is the foundation of our interspecies relations.
Whether we see animals as prey, prisoners, sacrificial offerings,
slaves, commodities, experimental subjects,
toys, ornaments, or educational tools,
our relentless drive to profit from animal suffering
inspires the most debased human behaviors.
***
[O]ur persecution of animals—the original scapegoats—
sets the pattern for discrimination
against any population deemed inferior or threatening.
We always depict such groups as animal-like, therefore expendable.
***
Animal cruelty kills respect for life.
When an entire society exploits animals on a massive scale,
violence becomes an institution.
What has been called "the banality of evil"
springs from the same phenomena:
worship of aggression, scapegoating,
the myth of biological superiority,
and habituation to violence.
***
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
33
The Nazis proved how easily mass murder crosses the species barrier.
Some of the bids submitted by the German manufacturers
who built Hitler's herding and killing facilities have been preserved.
These bland documents are indistinguishable
from contracts for livestock equipment.
Industrialized violence kills millions of animals every day.
"Collateral damage" to our own species takes an additional toll.
***
With a rapacity bordering on apocalyptic,
we now spill more blood of man and beast
than all other terrestrial species combined.
The cult of aggression responsible for this war against life
originated in the distant past as a cover-up for animal cruelty.
It may be the most archaic superstition to survive antiquity.
***
We are not carnivores by nature
and there is nothing manly about abusing the defenseless.
Those who prey on the vulnerable are cowards and cutthroats.
Their pursuit of cruelty through the ages
transformed violence into a human institution.
For it is the systematic slaughter of sentient beings
that has made history "a nightmare
from which we are trying to awake."
("Where Violence Begins: Animal Industries
and the Cult of Aggression" pinecone.on.ca)
Irwin Feldman (1946- )
American librarian and library administrator
…………….
I tried again today.
I tried so hard.
To make it right.
But even as I tried,
the bird died.
The little bird you left behind,
without a thought,
died.
You were all she had.
But she was only a bit of color,
a splash of emerald green,
to set off the reading nook
in your trendy loft
on your upward climb.
I hear you've done your new flat
in uptown silver and grey.
Lots of glass and steel.
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
34
Not the sort of place
for a little emerald bird.
She knew you weren't coming back for her.
She stopped singing
a week before she died.
The old man at the cleaners
said he saw you last Friday.
Said you came to pick up your suit;
Said you had two afghan dogs;
on a double lead.
Well behaved, he said;
a matched set.
"Very uptown," he added
as I turned to leave.
I didn't have to ask what color.
("The Emerald Green Bird")
(copyright © Patricia Rogers)
<>
Good news! Good news!
Won't you come to my Sunday feast!
......
Good news! Good news!
I'll take a leg or a breast.
I'm the patron saint of equal opportunity.
Fried, baked, barbequed or grilled;
pig, cow, chicken, or fish—
don't matter to me.
……
Oh, Maureen, do go on!
Don't you tell me how
that cow
struggled and cried
on her way to becoming
that carolina-style barbeque.
Just slide some on a bun.
……
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
35
.
Jim said he'd take his steak rare.
Just two minutes on each side
will do.
He likes to sop the juices
with his roll.
……
Good news! Good news!
We're practicing loving our neighbor.
And we're mighty glad Julia Child
didn't die.
Always try to catch her show
on cable TV.
Never lived near
no turkey, pig or cow.
So pass the Henderson boy
a dog and some beer.
……
Best Sunday feast we ever had!
Amen.
(excerpts from "Good News!")
(copyright © Patricia Rogers)
<>
"But you don't understand," said the man with the gun
to the little bird with the velvety buff plumage.
"I will save you from starvation. I will ask for a clean kill
and give thanks to the universe
for the opportunity to shed your blood."
"Thank you, Sir," she said.
"But all the same, I think I would prefer to live."
("To Give Thanks" copyright © Patricia Rogers)
(The above poems can be found at animalsandethics.org)
Patricia Rogers (1946- )
American poet
…………….
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There is nothing separating any of us,
be we black or gay or bright or poor
or rich or human or animal or plant.
We are all part of the one consciousness
and our differences are to be celebrated,
not feared and certainly not taken advantage of.
I believe we should say this gently but say it daringly,
as if it is the most important thing in the world.
Most especially we should emphasize that animals
are not here to be used by humans in any way at all….
There's no need to be associated with cruelty
and there's no need to be wasteful.
***
I really do understand the world from an animal's perspective
and all I want to do is help them get free of the human enslavers.
("Vegan Voices" veganpoet.com)
<>
At the center of empathy is the principle of
do unto others what you'd have done to yourself.
If we can apply it to fellow humans, why not to animals too?
By taking the emphasis off ourselves and our own self-development,
we bring our arguments down to a very natural feeling.
We all have it.
It stems from a simple comparison between
the empathy we feel for our companion animals at home
and our non-feelings for edible animals.
To hurt our own [companion] animals is unthinkable,
because we know them as individuals.
We know each one to have their own personality.
Animal rights is about empathetic bonds we have
between ourselves and "the creatures" we know.
It's likely none of us could purposely de-individualize any animal.
How then can we de-individualize a farm animal?
***
The sort of death these animals meet is mind-bogglingly cruel.
It's the humans forcing the animals forward, to their execution.
Think how even one animal could suffer this, let alone billions of them.
Humans love animals as they do children.
We have a strong sense of empathy for animals.
***
What feat of mental gymnastics has to happen
to exclude farm animals from that same empathy?
We know what happens when we effectively condemn
the animal to be our slave living on death row.
We know what happens when their dead bodies
and their byproducts are called for by market demand.
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
37
But how do we as individuals contribute to that demand?
("Hurting Animals" veganwise.blogspot.com November 7, 2009)
<>
Self obsession stands in the way of self-development,
so we might think to put some energy
into things outside our own self interest.
***
[W]e might get more from representing another's interests,
because we can see how theirs is more important than one's own.
***
Veganism isn't just about abstaining from eating certain foods,
it's about developing something all-round better.
Food-wise it means healthier food, ethics-wise it means compassion,
and yes, yes, that's all very good,
but what about "my happiness, my development"?
That's where most of us are now.
[T]angled up in too much self and not enough un-self.
The main purpose of our lives is to succeed.
Success is golden, especially when we reach our own goals.
That makes for quite a lot of happiness.
So, it seems logical that we need to find happiness
in taking on responsibility to do the right thing.
("Self focus" veganwise.blogspot.com November 15, 2009)
David Horton (1946- )
Australian author, blogger, reformer
…………….
Man's ability to exploit the planet,
to take of its resources as he needs,
and to usurp entire forests and all living creatures therein,
rests upon the unwritten assumption that the chasm
between himself and all other creatures is impassable.
All of modern man's activities operate from the premise
that the planet is his to allot into countries, states, counties,
and individual plots, because he, unlike other creatures,
has been given the twin gifts of reason and expression.
By assuming that other animals lack these gifts entirely,
man obviates any need to listen to the wishes
of the creatures with [whom] he shares the planet.
He can therefore proceed comfortably by his own lights,
blind to information that is perceived as nonexistent.
(Kanzi: The Ape at the Brink of the Human Mind © 1994
co-authored by British anthropologist Roger David Lewin)
Sue Savage-Rumbaugh (1946- )
American primatologist
…………….
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
38
One day in Iowa I met a [man who] owned and ran
what he called a "pork production facility."
I, on the other hand, would have called it a pig Auschwitz.
The conditions were brutal.
The pigs were confined in cages
that were barely larger than their own bodies,
with the cages stacked on top of each other in tiers, three high.
The sides and the bottoms of the cages were steel slats,
so that excrement from the animals in the upper and middle tiers
dropped through the slats on to the animals below.
***
[on being invited to dinner by the pig farmer's wife]
I was trying to be a polite and appropriate dinner guest.
I didn't want to say anything that might lead
to any kind of disagreement.
***
[S]uddenly, out of nowhere,
the man pointed at me forcefully with his finger,
and snarled in a voice that I must say truly frightened me,
"Sometimes I wish you animal rights people would just drop dead."
***
"They accuse me of mistreating my stock," he growled.
"Why would they say a thing like that?"
***
[H]e launched into a tirade
about how he didn't like being called cruel,
and they didn't know anything about the business he was in,
and why couldn't they mind their own business.
***
[E]ven though he didn't like doing some of the things he did
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
39
to the animals—cooping them up in such small cages,
using so many drugs, taking the babies away from their mothers
so quickly after their births—he didn't see that he had any choice.
He would be at a disadvantage and unable to compete
economically if he didn't do things that way.
This is how it's done today, he told me, and he had to do it too.
He didn't like it, but he liked even less being blamed
for doing what he had to do in order to feed his family.
***
[I] began to grasp the poignancy of this man's human predicament.
I was in his home because he and his wife had invited me to be there.
[I]t was obvious that they were having a hard time making ends meet.
Things were threadbare. This family was on the edge.
Raising pigs, apparently, was the only way
the farmer knew how to make a living, so he did it even though,
as was becoming evident the more we talked,
he didn't like one bit the direction hog farming was going.
At times, as he spoke about how much he hated
the modern factory methods of pork production,
he reminded me of the very animal rights people
who a few minutes before he said he wished would drop dead.
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
40
As the conversation progressed,
I actually began to develop some sense of respect
for this man whom I had earlier judged so harshly.
There was decency in him.
***
We are talking along, when suddenly he looks troubled….
Finally, he looks at me, and I notice his eyes are teary.
"You're right,…. No animal…should be treated like that.
Especially hogs. Do you know that they're intelligent animals?
They're even friendly, if you treat 'em right. But I don't."
There are tears welling up in his eyes.
***
He grew up, he tells me, on a small farm in rural Missouri,
the old-fashioned kind where animals ran around,
with barnyards and pastures, and where they all had names.
I learn, too, that he was an only child,
the son of a powerful father who ran things with an iron fist.
With no brothers or sisters, he often felt lonely,
but found companionship among the animals on the farm,
particularly several dogs, who were as friends to him.
And, he tells me, and this I am quite surprised to hear,
he had a pet pig.
***
In the summer, he tells me, he would sleep in the barn.
It was cooler there than in the house,
and the pig would come over and sleep alongside him,
asking fondly to have her belly rubbed, which he was glad to do.
There was a pond on their property, he goes on,
and he liked to swim in it when the weather was hot,
but one of the dogs would get excited when he did,
and would ruin things.
The dog would jump into the water and swim up on top of him,
scratching him with her paws and making things miserable for him.
He was about to give up on swimming,
but then, as fate would have it,
the pig, of all people, stepped in and saved the day.
Evidently the pig could swim,
for she would plop herself into the water,
swim out where the dog was bothering the boy,
and insert herself between them.
She'd stay between the dog and the boy,
and keep the dog at bay.
***
"What happened to your pig?" I ask.
He sighs, and it's as though the whole world's pain
is contained in that sigh.
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
41
Then, slowly, he speaks.
"My father made me butcher it."
"Did you?" I ask.
"I ran away, but I couldn't hide. They found me."
"What happened?"
"My father gave me a choice.
He told me, 'You either slaughter that animal
or you're no longer my son.' "
***
"So I did it," he says, and now his tears begin to flow,
making their way down his cheeks.
***
The pig farmer has remembered something that was so painful,
that was such a profound trauma,
that he had not been able to cope with it when it had happened.
Something had shut down, then.
It was just too much to bear.
Somewhere in his young, formative psyche
he made a resolution never to be that hurt again,
never to be that vulnerable again.
And he built a wall around the place where the pain had occurred,
which was the place where his love
and attachment to that pig was located, which was his heart.
And now here he was, slaughtering pigs for a living
—still, I imagined, seeking his father's approval.
***
What could he do? This was all he knew.
He did not have a high school diploma.
He was only partially literate.
Who would hire him if he tried to do something else?
Who would invest in him and train him, at his age?
***
When I wrote Diet for a New America,…I sent him a copy.
***
Several weeks later, I received a letter from him.
***
He [said] that reading the book was very hard for him,
because the light it shone on what he was doing
made it clear to him that it was wrong to continue.
[W]hen he had finished the book,
having stayed up all night reading,
he went into the bathroom, and looked into the mirror.
"I decided, right then…that I would sell my herd
and get out of this business.
I don't know what I will do, though."
***
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42
As it happened, he did sell his operation in Iowa
and [did] move back to Missouri, where he bought a small farm.
And there he is today, running something of a model farm.
He grows vegetables organically…that he sells
at a local farmer's market.
He's got pigs, all right, but only about 10,
and he doesn't cage them, nor does he kill them.
Instead, he's got a contract with local schools;
they bring kids out in buses on field trips to his farm,
for his "Pet-A-Pig" program.
He shows them how intelligent pigs are
and how friendly they can be if you treat them right,
which he now does.
He's arranged it so the kids, each one of them,
gets a chance to give a pig a belly rub.
He's become nearly a vegetarian himself,
has lost most of his excess weight,
and his health has improved substantially.
[H]e's actually doing better financially than he was before.
***
He dared to leap, to risk everything,
to leave what was killing his spirit
even though he didn't know what was next.
He left behind a way of life that he knew was wrong,
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43
and he found one that he knows is right.
***
The man is one of my heroes because he reminds me
that we can depart from the cages we build
for ourselves and for each other,
and become something much better.
He is one of my heroes because he reminds me
of what I hope someday to become.
("The Pig Farmer" The Food Revolution © 2001)
<>
Awareness is bad for the meat business.
Conscience is bad for the meat business.
Sensitivity to life is bad for the meat business.
Denial, however, the meat business finds indispensable.
***
The problem is that the behemoths of modern agribusiness
seek profit without reference to any ethical sensitivity
to the animals in their keeping.
(Diet for a New America © 1987)
John Robbins (1947- )
American author
Founder, EarthSave
…………….
We cannot talk with [animals] as we can with human beings,
yet we can communicate with them on mental and emotional levels.
They should, however, be accorded equality
in that they should receive both compassion and respect;
it is unworthy of us to exploit them in any way.
(Animals Are Equal: An Exploration of Animal Consciousness © 1983)
Rebecca Hall (1947- )
English author
…………….
[on the morality of zoos]
Couldn't most of the educational benefits of zoos be obtained
by presenting films, slides, lectures and so forth?
[C]ouldn't most of the important educational objectives
better be achieved by exhibiting empty cages
with explanations of why they are empty?
***
There is a moral presumption against keeping animals in captivity.
This presumption can be overcome only by demonstrating
that there are important benefits that must be obtained in this way
if they are to be obtained at all.
It is clear that this is not the case with knowledge for its own sake.
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
44
There are other channels for our intellectual curiosity,
ones that do not exact such a high moral price.
Although our quest for knowledge for its own sake is important,
it is not important enough to overcome
the moral presumption against keeping animals in captivity.
***
There is some reason for questioning
the commitment of zoos to preservation:
[arguably] they continue to remove
more animals from the wild than they return.
In addition to these problems, the lack of genetic diversity
among captive animals also means that surviving members
of endangered species have traits very different
from their conspecifics in the wild.
This should make us wonder what is really being preserved in zoos.
***
Is it really better to confine a few hapless Mountain Gorillas in a zoo
than to permit the species to become extinct?
To most environmentalists the answer is obvious:
the species must be preserved at all costs.
But this smacks of sacrificing the lower-case gorilla
for the upper-case Gorilla.
In doing this, aren't we using animals as mere vehicles for their genes?
Aren't we preserving genetic material
at the expense of the animals themselves?
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
45
If it is true that we are inevitably moving towards a world
in which Mountain Gorillas can survive only in zoos,
then we must ask whether it is really better for them
to live in artificial environments of our design
than not to be born at all.
***
Zoos teach us a false sense of our place in the natural order.
The means of confinement mark a difference
between humans and animals.
They are there at our pleasure, to be used for our purposes.
Morality and perhaps our very survival
require that we learn to live as one species among many
rather than as one species over many.
To do this, we must forget what we learn at zoos.
Because what zoos teach us is false and dangerous,
both humans and animals will be better off when they are abolished.
("Against Zoos" Morality's Progress: Essays on Humans,
Other Animals, and the Rest of Nature © 2002)
<>
[more on the morality of zoos]
In my opinion we should have the honesty to recognize
that zoos are for us rather than for the animals.
Perhaps they do something to alleviate our sense of guilt
for what we are doing to the planet,
but they do little to help the animals we are driving to extinction.
Our feeble attempts at preservation
are a matter of our own interests, values, and preoccupations
rather than acts of generosity towards those animals
whom we destroy and then try to save.
Insofar as zoos distract us from the truth about ourselves
and what we are doing to nature,
they are part of the problem rather than part of the solution.
***
One hope I have for the future is that we will recognize
that if we keep animals in captivity,
then what we owe them is everything.
Whatever else we may believe about the morality of zoos,
I hope we can come to a consensus
that these animals are in our custody
through no wish or fault of their own.
They are refugees from a holocaust
that humans have unleashed against nature.
There should be no question of culling these animals
or trading off their interests against those of humans.
("Zoos Revisited" Morality's Progress: Essays on Humans,
Other Animals, and the Rest of Nature © 2002)
<>
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
46
Those who retain "Old Macdonald" fantasies
of how farm animals are treated
now border on denial or culpable ignorance.
Behavior change lags this growth in awareness
and various contradictions in our treatment of animals
are painfully obvious.
But even the recognition of contradiction
is itself a sign of moral progress,
at least compared to the moral complacency
that governed our treatment of animals prior to the 1970s.
(Foreword: "Morality's Progress" Morality's Progress © 2002)
<>
The animal liberation movement is committed to changes
that are world-historical in scale,
that will take centuries to effect and to consolidate.
We are actors in a drama that is much larger than ourselves,
and we will be long gone before our most profound goals are realized.
***
However, such a long-term perspective may help us to see
that although eliminating animal suffering
is an urgent and demanding obligation,
it is one that we are more likely to successfully discharge
in a spirit of compassion, understanding, and humility
than in a spirit of dogmatism and vindictiveness.
(Afterword: "Child of the Sixties" Morality's Progress © 2002)
Dale W. Jamieson, Ph.D. (1947- )
American author and speaker
Professor of environmental studies and philosophy
…………….
People who enjoy killing animals
have long tried to disguise their barbarity
in a cloak of respectability they call "sporthunting."
The fact is, sporthunting does not exist. It never has.
All sports share certain conditions to ensure a sense of fair play
and create equal opportunity for all participants.
What the animal killers call sport hunting
meets none of the conditions of real sports.
Let's take a look at some of the criteria that define sport
and why so-called sporthunting fails every one of them.

Willingness to Participate

In any sport, all participants choose to be there.
Both boxers want to be in the ring that night,
the players on both football teams want to be on the field that day,
and both tennis players agree to meet on the court at that time.
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
47
Sporthunting fails on this point
because the animal is never a willing participant.

Knowing When the Contest Will Start

All basketball players are aware of the starting time of the game,
giving them time to prepare.
Golfers know what time they will tee off.
Wrestlers know what time the match will start.
They don't expect their opponent to break into their home
and hurt or kill them while they are sleeping
or having breakfast with their family,
which is what happens to animals
because this sporting condition is not met.

Even Chance

All participants are given the same equipment
with which to play the game.
Both boxers have equally weighted gloves and protective gear,
as do football and hockey players.
Bowlers are only allowed to throw one ball at a time
while all rowers use the same numbers of oars.
Sporthunting fails here also because the hunters have airplanes,
automatic weapons, high-powered scopes, steel traps, etc.,
while the animal has only the equipment it was given at birth.

Equal Prize

The criterion here insures the same prize is awarded
to whichever team or player wins the contest.
The prize itself may be a trophy, belt or an award,
but the commercial and athletic value of that prize
is the same for each potential winner.
Sporthunting fails miserably on this point
because the prize is life itself, but it is not an equal prize.
The hunter can only win or draw
while the animal can only draw or lose.
The hunter wins by killing the animal
or draws if the animal manages to escape.
Conversely, the animal draws by getting away
or loses by being killed.
The animal cannot win.
Some hunters say that once in a while
the animal wins by killing the hunter
but that only happens on rare occasions
with all the odds stacked against the animal,
who is never a willing participant anyway.
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
48
I have heard some hunters say that hunting
is not about the animals at all.
It is, they insist, an awareness of self.
Once and for all, let's not buy into their facade.
Sporthunting is not a sport.
It is simply an excuse for unhappy men and women
to go out and kill.
How do I arrive at the fact they are an unhappy lot?
Look around you!
Happy people do not take time away from their happiness
to go out and kill something.
The real shame is that sporthunters
pass this travesty onto their children
who will come to believe that killing is a sport.
(The Big Lie © 1996)
Dino DiGiacomo (1947- )
Italian-American writer
…………….
Reflecting on the Earth Day to come
and on the lamb-besotted Easter
and brisket-baked Passover that has passed,
and still being emotionally tender from the death of my dog,
I need to confess my steak-loving sins.
Sins because there is simply no spiritual defense
in either the Western or Eastern religious traditions for eating meat.
***
The problem is that animals, though obviously not people,
are also obviously not things.
Animals are sentient beings and their deaths,
particularly in the grotesquery of what is euphemistically called
food processing causes them great pain and suffering.
That is the nub of the spiritual problem.
Animals are God's creations that, unlike plants,
suffer when they die just to become food for us.
***
Gandhi wrote that "There is no transcendence without renunciation."
This means to me that we,
natural or habitual or meat-imprinted-from-childhood,
carnivores should constantly try to overcome our baser instincts
and rise to the level where we eat as low down
on the sentience food chain as we can.
It just makes sense to cause the least suffering possible
to get through lunch or dinner.
As for me, I consider my love of meat a morally corrosive habit.
I went eight years once as a vegetarian,
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
49
but I ended up chiefly a dessert-atarian.
I know however, that God is not finished with me,
and I keep trying to love lettuce,
humbled in the knowledge that when I die and am judged,
a long line of chickens and cows will be clucking and mooing
when I pass, "That's the man!! He's the guy who ate me!"
("The First Hamburger: A guilt-ridden carnivore makes the
spiritual case for vegetarianism" Newsweek, April 20, 2006)
Rabbi Marc A. Gellman, Ph.D. (1947- )
American Jewish rabbi
Co-host, The God Squad
…………….
As a so-called "civilized" people,
and as members of a society in search of lasting peace in the world,
we cannot remain callous to our responsibility toward nature
and insensitive to the inherent rights of animals.
(Eating for Life © 1973)
<>
Although other animals cannot reason or speak the way humans do,
this does not give us the right to do with them as we like.
Even though our supposed possession of a soul and superior intelligence
are used to create an arbitrary dividing line over rights,
the fact remains that all animals have the capacity
to experience pain and suffering, and in suffering they are our equals.
(quoted in Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals
and the Holocaust, Charles Patterson (ed.) © 2002)
Nathaniel Altman (1948- )
American writer
…………….
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50
The most important reality for me is helping animals
and exposing the people and institutions that profit
from exploiting, torturing and killing animals.
***
I'm no soft-hearted sentimentalist
who just feels sorry for fuzzy, furry creatures.
I have never even had a pet.
But I hate injustice, and one of the greatest injustices
in the world right now is how we treat animals.
***
To me, the fight to save animals from torture and death
is worth living for and, if necessary, dying for.
***
[T]he most common question people ask me is,
"Why animals, when there is so much human suffering in the world?
Why not try to help human beings?"
That's an easy one to answer.
First, the plight of animals is far worse,
and there are already a lot of people working for human rights.
I feel I can do more good by working for animal rights,
which doesn't yet have as much public support.
Second, it's not an either-or choice. As Dr. King said,
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
And by showing how animal exploitation also harms humans,
I believe I am helping people at the same time.
***
And I don't need an excuse to rationalize fighting against injustice.
The only time I'd look for an excuse
would be if I weren't out there fighting.
If you see injustice in the world,
do you need to find a special reason to fight it?
There is nothing pleasant about struggling
against the entrenched forces that profit from animal exploitation.
***
But I can't and won't walk away from this fight.
[T]o quote Dr. King: "I don't march because I like it.
I march because I must."
How can people turn their backs on injustice and suffering?
***
Look—if you heard someone screaming for help next door,
wouldn't you try to do something? Sure you would.
You'd come running even if you couldn't actually hear the screams,
especially if you knew that the person was being tortured
to death and needed your help.
The animals are screaming for our help right now.
Each year, four billion animals scream to us from inside factory farms.
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
51
Sixty to a hundred million a year from research labs.
What am I supposed to do, just shrug at their screams?
Would feeling indifferent to suffering and death make me "normal"?
If so, then I don't want to be normal.
If it means not caring enough to try to do something to help,
then normal must be another word for dead.
***
Vivisectors get federal grants to do the same experiments
hundreds of times, publishing hundreds of scientific reports
detailing exactly how animals die under torture.
***
But society pays the price—needless sickness and death—
as people are misled into relying on high-tech medical salvation
instead of learning to take responsibilty for their own heatlh.
***
I've spoken with doctors, scientists and environmentalists,
and I've read thousands of articles and reports
on how animals are abused and killed in laboratories,
factory farms, circuses, rodeos and fur farms.
I've gone into animal research labs
where scientists are using our tax dollars
to do things that anyone else would be arrested for doing.
***
I've seen and held animals dying in pain, fear and despair,
and I swore that their suffering and death
would never be forgiven or forgotten—never!
***
We don't ask whether human slavery turns a profit,
and we don't try to reform it by passing laws
to make sure that slaves are treated humanely.
It had to be abolished completely because it's wrong.
Same thing with animal slavery.
It has to be abolished because it's wrong.
***
[on the relationship between pet theft, Class-B-licensed
dealers and the United States Department of Agriculture]
Pet theft is organized crime sanctioned by the USDA.
Let me explain how it works.
The USDA issues commercial licenses to people
who want to go into business selling animals
—for example, to research laboratories.
The Class-A license is a permit for breeding animals
specifically for this purpose (also for sale to pet stores).
The Class-B license is a permit for obtaining animals
in any other way, such as at auctions, from pounds,
or through classified ads.
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
52
In fact, a lot of these "random source" animals are stolen pets,
and no one—least of all the labs that buy them—ever asks
any questions about where they come from.
So a Class-B license is, in effect, a permit to steal animals.
***
It's no trick to get a Class-B license
—any [person] with $50 can get one.
The B-dealer often works with a "buncher,"
the person who actually goes out and answers classified ads
titled "Free Pet" or "Free to Good Home."
***
The whole pet-theft business is founded on lies.
The bunchers lie to trick people into giving away their pets.
The USDA lies to conceal its responsibility for licensing the thieves.
And the vivisectors lie to convince people that animal experimentation
is humanity's only hope for improved health.
***
[on the feeling of being abandoned]
I've never forgotten about the orphanage,
not because the place was so terrible
but because of that hopeless feeling of betrayal and abandonment
I had when my mother left us there [temporarily, when she was ill].
[T]hat memory has come back to me time and time again
whenever I see animals being dumped at the pound.
I see the fear in their eyes and hear their sad whimpering,
and I hate that because I know they're feeling
the same things I had felt in that orphanage.
No one, human or nonhuman, should ever have to go through that.
To me, abandonment and betrayal are unforgiveable.
***
Some people smile at me when I say that.
They accuse me of anthropomorphizing, a $64 word that means
attributing human characteristics to things that aren't human.
That kind of thinking really bothers me.
Human beings have no monopoly on pain, terror and despair,
or on love and loyalty.
Animals can experience these feelings as intensely as humans.
Anyone who has lived with an animal knows that.
It's only the smug superior types who try to deny animals'
emotional likeness to humans by giving it a scientific sounding name.
***
Becoming aware of injustice against animals was just part
of a continuing process of seeing things in larger perspective.
That's why I have always felt that fighting on behalf of humans
and fighting on behalf of animals is all part of the same fight.
Injustice has to be fought and stopped,
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
53
no matter who the victims are
and no matter whose vested interests are threatened.
Let me give you an example of a vested interest.
Every year, the National Institutes of Health funnels billions of dollars
into animal experiments performed at university research labs.
But above whatever money goes directly to the researcher as a grant,
the university itself gets an additional amount
that may be as much as 75% of the grant, to do with as it pleases.
This is called "indirect cost recovery,"
and it means that research is basically a cash cow for the university.
As long as researchers on the faculty keep getting federal grants,
the university keeps getting money.
No one really [cares] what the researcher does,
as long as the money keeps coming in.
In other words, the university has a vested interest
in promoting animal experiments,
no matter how horrendous and stupid they are,
and it will try to bury anyone or anything that threatens its interests.
***
The reality of an animal research laboratory is a nightmare:
cramped and uncleaned cages, festering wounds, neglect,
despair, agony and finally death.
That's all kept hidden away, far from public scrutiny.
It has to be hidden.
If the public ever saw what really goes on
and knew that doctors and scientists with no vested interest
in vivisection say it is useless, they would drag the vivisectors
out of their labs and string them up….
***
As an animal rights activist I am concerned about
all forms of cruelty and exploitation,
whether it involves factory farming, circuses or rodeos,
the fur industry or biomedical research.
But vivisection is unique.
For one thing, it is done in total secrecy.
For another, it is supported by the strongest alliance in the world
—the medical establishment and the pharmaceutical manufacturers
(many of which are divisions of international petrochemical companies).
Torture is an accurate term for vivisection,
and I can say that because I've seen it first-hand with my own eyes.
***
The vivisectors have convinced a lot of people
that biomedical research on animals is humane and essential.
If you're not sure what to believe, look at how each side uses words.
Vivisectors call antivivisectionists "terrorists."
But who is it that is inflicting pain and death
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
54
in procedures too awful for a sane person to imagine?
They call us "extremists," as if to suggest that any radical
or abolitionist position is automatically wrong.
Was the fight to abolish slavery wrong?
They call us names because they don't want to confront the issues.
***
We've been brainwashed into regarding scientists as a superior breed,
entitled to special privileges not given to mere mortals.
That kind of thinking is disgusting.
It doesn't even matter whether the researchers will ever deliver
the miracles they keep promising.
(They won't—new drugs and surgical procedures
are just technical accomplishments, despite the media's
breathless wonder at every new "medical miracle.")
What does matter is that society bows down before researchers,
reverently granting them unlimited license
in the vain hope for medical salvation.
***
You might think I'm just anti-science. Not so.
I'm opposed to the worship of science.
I have the highest respect for real scientists.
The ones I hate are the parasites who feed at the NIH trough,
torturing animals to death and lying…about what they do.
***
Government-funded animal torture goes on every day,
and you're not allowed to see it.
In fact, it's illegal for you to see it,
even though your tax dollars are paying for it.
If it's legitimate scientific research,
why is it conducted in such secrecy?
Why is the truth never shown except when someone sneaks in
or breaks in and takes photos and videotapes of the horror?
And even then, when the evidence is right in front of them,
why do reporters and politicians act like sheep
and swallow any explanation the researchers offer?
***
[on two lies told about selling pound animals to research labs]
First lie:
"It's better to use these animals in scientific research
than to let them just be killed at the pound."
False.
Being gassed at the pound is bad enough,
but vivisection is a far worse death.
The answer to pet overpopulation is not to turn pounds
into warehouses for the vivisection industry,
but to set up effective spay-neuter programs.

© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
55
Second lie:
"If laboratories can't obtain animals from pounds,
research will become even more expensive
and human health will suffer."
False.
Pound-seizure laws have since been repealed
in most parts of the nation, at no cost to human health
or the quality of medical care.
Even if animal experimentation were abolished right now
—not just slowed down but stopped completely—
it wouldn't affect the current state
of medical knowledge and capability.
As for future medical care, a refocus away
from reliance on animal models and back to clinical studies
can only improve our understanding of human health and illness.
Human health would actually benefit from an end of vivisection,
because people would no longer be misled
into expecting "miracle cures" and would instead
pay more attention to preventing disease and injury
through sensible changes in lifestyle and environment.

(In Your Face: From Actor to Activist © 1997)
Chris DeRose (1948- )
American television and film actor
Founder and president, Last Chance for Animals
…………….
The calling of each person to be charitable to all creatures
is not simply for sentimental reasons, to feel better about it,
but to fulfil a divine mandate on behalf of the cosmos.
***
As we embrace that which we share with all other created beings,
and take responsibility for the flourishing of all life,
so we become more perfectly human and,
through the redemption won by Christ,
attain the "glory of the sons of God" of Romans 8.
The "whole creation" is eagerly waiting for this (Romans 8:19)
and the whole creation, with each individual animal being within it,
will find that "shalom," that completeness and fulfilment of telos,
that wholeness not experienced in their earthly life.
(The School of Compassion: a Roman Catholic theology of animals © 2009
catholic-animals.org and oxfordanimalethics.org)
Deborah M. Jones, Ph.D. (1948- )
British author
Fellow, Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics
General Secretary, Catholic Concern for Animals
…………….
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
56
To be human is to be responsible.
That is the inner meaning of the "dominion" of Genesis 1:26,
which is a dominion not of domination but of stewardship,
taking care of the world's back yard.
***
God the world-maker is God the care-taker.
Humans properly stand over other creatures
only as they stand with other creatures,
showing them love, giving them space, and granting them "rights."
(Propositions on Christian Theology: A Pilgrim Walks the Plank © 2008)
Kim Fabricius (1948- )
American-Welsh minister and university chaplain
…………….
Poor animals!
How jealously they guard their pathetic bodies
—that which to us is merely an evening's meal,
but to them is life itself.
Terrance Casey Brennan (1948- )
American memoirist and comic-book writer
…………….
[T]erms like "humane slaughter"
and "humane meat" are misleading
—they're oxymoronic and give folks the wrong idea.
These terms are marketing ploys
designed to make a segment of the public
—compassionate consumers—
feel better about buying meat.
(interview in Satya October 2006)
Kim Sturla (1949- )
Co-founder, Animal Place Sanctuary
…………….
The future thus depends on humanity coming finally to see
that it is part of the natural world
—as vulnerable to destruction
as any wolf or whale or clear-running stream,
as integral to the proper workings of the planet
as the blowing of the winds and the shining of the sun.
(Epilogue: "An Age of Destruction" The Endangered Kingdom:
The Struggle to Save America's Wildlife © 1991)
Roger L. DiSilvestro (1949- )
American author and editor
…………….
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
57
Violence towards humans, violence towards animals,
and violence towards the earth is all of one piece
—it is all an endless appropriation of more and more.
Everything and everyone becomes a "resource"
that must be appropriated and exploited for human purposes.
Jesus and the early Christians
saw that the whole system of violence was madness,
and that the answer was not to try to reform it,
but simply remove oneself from it entirely.
(The Lost Religion of Jesus © 2000)
<>
[on killing animals for food being "natural"]
If one defends killing on the grounds that it occurs in nature,
then one is defending the practice as it occurs in nature.
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
58
When one species of animal preys on another in nature,
it only preys on a very small proportion
of the total species population.
Obviously, the predator species
relies on its prey for its continued survival.
Therefore, to wipe the prey species out
through overhunting would be fatal.
In practice, members of such predator species rely
on such strategies as territoriality to restrict overhunting
and to insure the continued existence of its food supply.
Moreover, only the weakest members of the prey species
are the predator's victims: the feeble, the sick, the lame,
or the young accidentally separated from the fold.
***
As it exists in the wild, hunting is the preying upon
isolated members of an animal herd.
Animal husbandry is the nearly complete
annihilation of an animal herd.
In nature, this kind of slaughter does not exist.
The philosopher is free to argue
that there is no moral difference
between hunting and slaughter,
but he cannot invoke nature as a defense of this idea.
Why are hunters, not butchers,
most frequently taken to task
by the larger community for their killing of animals?
Hunters usually react to such criticism
by replying that if hunting is wrong,
then meat-hunting must be wrong as well.
The hunter is certainly right on one point
—the larger community is hypocritical to object to hunting
when it consumes the flesh of domesticated animals.
(A Vegetarian Sourcebook: The Nutrition, Ecology,
and Ethics of a Natural Foods Diet © 1993)
Keith Akers (1949- )
American author
…………….
May those who oppose capital punishment for humans
extend that protection to animals as well.
(A Hatful of Pain © 1998)
Craig Burton (1949- )
English author
…………….
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
59
[on lessons learned from an African Grey Parrot named Alex]
The most profound lesson that Alex taught us
concerns the place of Homo sapiens in nature.
The revolution in animal cognition
of which Alex was an important part
teaches us that humans are not unique, as we long believed.
We are not superior to all other beings in nature.
The idea of humans' separateness
from the rest of nature is no longer tenable.
Alex taught us that we are a part of nature,
not apart from nature.
The "separateness" notion was a dangerous illusion
that gave us permission to exploit
every aspect of the natural world
—animal, plant, mineral—
without consequences.
We are now facing those consequences:
poverty, starvation, and climate change, for example.
***
There is a oneness in nature in the sense of interdependence.
Deb Rivel, a friend and The Alex Foundation board member,
put it this way: "Alex taught me the meaning of oneness.
What I learned from him also supported
what I have always known to be true:
that there is just one Creation, one Nature,
one good, full, complete Idea,
made up of individuals of all shapes and designs,
all expressing their oneness with one God.
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
60
We are not different because we look different,
but we all reflect the eternal beauty and intelligence
of one Creation in our own peculiar way.
It's what makes up the whole
—this textured fabric of thought and existence—
and knowing Alex has underscored to me
how much the same we really are."
(Two quotes from pp. 222-224 of ALEX & ME by IRENE PEPPERBERG
COPYRIGHT © 2008 BY IRENE PEPPERBERG.
Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers)
Irene M. Pepperberg, Ph.D. (1949- )
American professor, author, lecturer on animal cognition
Friend/student/trainer of African Grey parrot Alex
Founder and president, The Alex Foundation
…………….
END OF CHAPTER 17. 1945-1949 BIRTHDATES
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
61
Photo Credits for Chapter 17. 1945-1949 Birthdates
P 1 GRAY WOLF PUP CLIMBS UP FOR A BETTER VIEW (Canis lupus)
Photographers are usually not identified on this website, but own photo copyrights
Non-commercial, educational, inspirational use of this website's photos is permitted
Photo seen here: firstpeople.us/Gray-Wolf-Pup/Gallery_3_Wolves
Home page: http://www.firstpeople.us
 American Indians.
First People is a child friendly site about American Indians and members of the First
Nations. 1400+ legends, 400+ agreements and treaties, 10,000+ pictures, free
clipart, Pueblo pottery, American Indian jewelry, Native American Flutes and more.
P 4 ROSIE THE MOON BEAR—FINALLY FREE! (Ursa thibetanus)
Location: Moon Bear Rescue Centre, Chengdu, China
Artwork in ink/watercolor/color pencil by Ann Ranlett/© AnnRan.com
Artwork seen here: www.annran.com/pages/ursa.htm
Artist's website: www.annran.com
Photo of Rosie: www.animalsasia.org/index.php?UID=2J0NIOGTVCWA
Home page of Moon Bear Rescue: www.animalsasia.org
P 7 WILD HORSE FAMILY STANDS SIDE BY SIDE (Equus ferus caballus)
Location: White Mountain HMA, Red Desert, Wyoming, U.S.A.
Photo by Bob Schillereff/© Bob Schillereff Photography, Washington, U.S.A.
Photo seen here: www.bobschillereff.com/p797930665/h2b4f7d07#h2b4f7d07
Photographer's website: www.bobschillereff.com
P 8 WILD HORSE BACHELORS ON THE RUN (Equus ferus caballus)
Location: Sand Wash HMA, Sand Wash Basin, Colorado, U.S.A.
Photo by Bob Schillereff/© Bob Schillereff Photography, Washington, U.S.A.
Photo seen here: www.bobschillereff.com/p797930665/h20db1cbc#h20db1cbc
Photographer's website: www.bobschillereff.com
P 10 WILD STALLION GAZES LONGINGLY AT HORIZON (Equus ferus caballus)
Location: White Mountain HMA, Red Desert, Wyoming, U.S.A.
Photo by Bob Schillereff/© Bob Schillereff Photography, Washington, U.S.A.
Photo seen here: www.bobschillereff.com/p797930665/h2a382cc3#h2a382cc3
Photographer's website: www.bobschillereff.com
P 12 COYOTE MOM TRANSPORTS HER PUP (Canis latrans)
Location: Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, U.S.A.
Photo by Bob Schillereff/© Bob Schillereff Photography, Washington, U.S.A.
Photo seen here: www.bobschillereff.com/p573937330/he530ec9#he530ec9
Photographer's website: www.bobschillereff.com
P 14 COYOTE DAD PLAYS WITH HIS PUPS (Canis latrans)
Location: Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, U.S.A.
Photo by Bob Schillereff/© Bob Schillereff Photography, Washington, U.S.A.
Photo seen here: www.bobschillereff.com/p573937330/h1bf3b624#h1bf3b624
Photographer's website: www.bobschillereff.com
(PHOTO CREDITS CONTINUED ON PAGE 63)
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
62
(PHOTO CREDITS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 62)
P 16 BLACK-TAILED FAWNS ♥KISS♥ (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus)
Location: Olympic National Park, Washington, U.S.A.
Photo by Bob Schillereff/© Bob Schillereff Photography, Washington, U.S.A.
Photo seen here: www.bobschillereff.com/p718716588/h3db28708#h3db28708
Photographer's website: www.bobschillereff.com
P 19 BLACK-PHASED GRAY WOLF PAUSES—AND POSES (Canis lupus)
Location: Northwest Territories, Canada
Photo by Bob Schillereff/© Bob Schillereff Photography, Washington, U.S.A.
Photo seen here: www.bobschillereff.com/p192699029/h93d06e8#h93d06e8
Photographer's website: www.bobschillereff.com
P 20 BLACK-PHASED GRAY WOLF BARES FANG (Canis lupus)
Photographers are usually not identified on this website, but own photo copyrights
Non-commercial, educational, inspirational use of this website's photos is permitted
Photo seen here: firstpeople.us/Growling-and-Angry/Gallery_1_Wolves
Home page: http://www.firstpeople.us
 American Indians.
First People is a child friendly site about American Indians and members of the First
Nations. 1400+ legends, 400+ agreements and treaties, 10,000+ pictures, free
clipart, Pueblo pottery, American Indian jewelry, Native American Flutes and more.
P 20 GRAY WOLF GIVES HIS "BIG PAWS" A REST (Canis lupus)
Location: Ecomuseum, St-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, Canada
Photo by Eric Bégin/Flickr
Photo seen here: www.flickr.com/photos/ericbegin/4324213690
Photostream: www.flickr.com/photos/ericbegin
P 21 RED LEAF MONKEY a.k.a. MAROON LANGUR (Presbytis rubicunda)
Location: Sabah, Island of Borneo, East Malaysia
Photo by Rhett A. Butler/© mongabay.com
Photo seen here: http://travel.mongabay.com/malaysia/images/borneo_3185.html
Home page: www.mongabay.com
P 24 SNOW LEOPARD DAYDREAMS ON A ROCK LEDGE (Panthera tigris)
Location: Big Cat Rescue, Tampa, Florida, U.S.A.
Photo seen here: bigcatrescue.biz/Snow-Leopard-Photo
Home page: www.bigcatrescue.org
P 27 CAT'S EYE PEERS DEEP—INTO A VIVISECTOR'S SOUL (Felis catus)
Location: Tacoma, Washington, U.S.A.
Photo by Kevin Farias — Kevin_F2008/Flickr
Photo seen here: www.flickr.com/photos/kfarias/3498138620
Photostream: www.flickr.com/photos/kfarias
P 30 SEAGULLS IN FLIGHT AT SUNSET (Larus occidentalis)
Location: Hove, Sussex, England, U.K.
Photo by sunsetoneuk/Flickr
Photo seen here: www.flickr.com/photos/27681134@N08/3551347744
Photostream: www.flickr.com/photos/27681134@N08
(PHOTO CREDITS CONTINUED ON PAGE 64)
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
63
(PHOTO CREDITS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 63)
P 32 FEMALE (left) AND MALE MANDARIN DUCKS (Aix galericulata)
Location: Gouda, The Netherlands
Photo by Maria Jo — ♥okkibox/Flickr and © Okkibox Fine Art Photography
Photo (left) seen here: www.flickr.com/photos/okkibox/3254564381
Photo (right) seen here: www.flickr.com/photos/okkibox/3253377361
Photostream: www.flickr.com/photos/okkibox
Photographer's website: www.okkibox.nl
P 35 FEMALE BUDGERIGAR (Melopsittacus undulatus)
Location: Canberra, Australia
Photo by Julian Robinson — aaardvaark/Flickr
Photo seen here: www.flickr.com/photos/ozjulian/4413720352
Photostream: www.flickr.com/photos/ozjulian
P 36 "BEST. COW. EVER." … IS … SADIE! (Bos taurus)
Location: Animal Place Sanctuary, Grass Valley, California, U.S.A.
Photo by Marji Beach — rinalia/Flickr
Photo seen here: www.flickr.com/photos/rinalia/4053682952
Photostream: www.flickr.com/photos/rinalia
P 39 OWEN AS A NEWBORN PIGLET (Sus scrofa domesticus)
Location: Animal Place Sanctuary, Grass Valley, California, U.S.A.
Photo by Marji Beach/Contributor, Animal Rights & AntiOppression blog
Photo seen here: challengeoppression.com
Home page: www.challengeoppression.com
P 40 "BRUCE WONDERING IF I HAVE FOOD" PIGGY PIG (Sus scrofa domesticus)
Location: Animal Place Sanctuary, Grass Valley, California, U.S.A.
Photo by Marji Beach — rinalia/Flickr
Photo seen here: www.flickr.com/photos/rinalia/3364155548
Photostream: www.flickr.com/photos/rinalia
 In 2004, Animal Place received a call from a concerned citizen about an emaciated
pig. Upon arrival, Animal Place staff discovered a horrible sight–a significantly
underweight pig, literally a skeleton with hide draped over. When the pig was
confiscated, Animal Place took him in, set him up in a stall, and just let him eat and
eat and eat until he gained the 200 lbs needed to be healthy again. At the age of 10,
he's the oldest pig at the sanctuary and prefers porcine company over human.
P 43 PIGS WHO HAVE IT MADE IN THE SHADE (Sus scrofa domesticus)
Location: Animal Place Sanctuary, Grass Valley, California, U.S.A.
Photos by Marji Beach — rinalia/Flickr
Upper L: "SUSIE PIG" www.flickr.com/photos/rinalia/4053684520
Upper R: "LOUNGING SUSIE PIG" www.flickr.com/photos/rinalia/4053684266
Lower L: "SUSIE & HAZEL SNUGGLE" www.flickr.com/photos/rinalia/4052943303
Lower R: "CHESTER & SUSIE GRAZE" www.flickr.com/photos/rinalia/4035148780
P 45 MOUNTAIN GORILLA MOM & BABY CUDDLE CLOSE (Gorilla beringei beringei)
Location: Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda
Photo by Sarel Kromer (Creative Commons 2.0 license)
Courtesy of Philip Kromer — mrflip/Flickr
Photo seen here: en.wikipedia.org/Gorilla_mother_and_baby
Photo seen here: www.flickr.com/photos/mrflip/94551811
Photostream: www.flickr.com/photos/mrflip
(PHOTO CREDITS CONTINUED ON PAGE 65)
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
64
(PHOTO CREDITS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 64)
P 50 CURIOUS COWS LINE UP TO CHECK OUT A VISITOR (Bos taurus)
Location: Idaho, U.S.A.
Photo by Paul Mayne — Paul_Mayne/Flickr (Creative Commons 2.0 license)
Photo seen here: www.flickr.com/photos/paulm/22062278
Photostream: www.flickr.com/photos/paulm
P 58 GRIZZLY BEAR CUB RAISES A PAW IN A "HI" OR A "BYE" (Ursus arctos horriblis)
Location: Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, U.S.A.
Photo by Bob Schillereff/© Bob Schillereff Photography, Washington, U.S.A.
Photo seen here: www.bobschillereff.com/p552474731/h303453cd#h303453cd
Photographer's website: www.bobschillereff.com
P 60 AFRICAN GREY PARROT ALEX (1976-September 6, 2007) (Psittacus erithacus)
LEFT: The famous talking parrot hangs out on a chair back
RIGHT: A profile of Alex, who had the intelligence of a human five-year-old when he
passed away at the age of 31. He had not reached the peak of his intellectual
development, according to his trainer, Irene Pepperberg. He expressed emotions
equivalent to a two-year-old human.
Location: Pepperberg Lab, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Photos by Jenny Pegg for The Alex Foundation
For more information, visit www.alexfoundation.org
P 61 AFRICAN GREY PARROT ALEX (Psittacus erithacus)
Here, Alex does his numbers work with trainer Irene Pepperberg, circa 2006
Location: Pepperberg Lab, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Photo by Arlene Levin-Rowe, Lab Manager, Pepperberg Lab, Department of Psychology
For more information, visit www.alexfoundation.org
End of Photo Credits for Chapter 17. 1945-1949 Birthdates
© 2010 CREATURE QUOTES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
65