Drugs

Here is a New York Times story about animal-based drugs.

From Today's New York Times

To the Editor:

Re “With More News of Abuse, a Harder Search for Homes for Pit Bulls” (Westchester and the Region, March 16):

As a member of the League of Humane Voters of Westchester, I thank you for covering the efforts by the police and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to stop the dog fighting and animal cruelty in Westchester County.

The Westchester chapter of the league is calling on the county executive, Andrew J. Spano, and the mayor of Yonkers, Philip A. Amicone, to establish a task force dedicated to ending the dog-fighting in Westchester, and specifically in the City of Yonkers, site of most of the fights.

Yonkers prides itself on its gentrification and revitalization efforts. It is a blight on Westchester to have a city consistently in the news for such an odious activity.

The Michael Vick case shed light on the disgrace of those who cause dogs to fight each other, an event often accompanied by drug sales and prostitution. The animals are forced to fight through beatings, starvation, being thrown at each other, being made to attack smaller animals thrown at them, and worse.

We are tired of our dogs being bloodied, broken, scarred, crippled, killed and thrown into garbage cans. We are tired of our Westchester community being shown on TV in such an ugly light.

Let’s send a message to dog fighters: You are not welcome here.

Julie Serenson
Yonkers, March 23, 2008

From Today's New York Times

To the Editor:

Re “Thinning Yellowstone’s Bison Herd” (news article, March 23):

Yellowstone National Park bison, executed when they migrate outside the boundaries of the park, have plenty of company. Around the world, animal migrations are disappearing because of conflicts with development, agriculture and other human activities.

In the greater Yellowstone ecosystem alone, over half of the elk migratory routes and three-quarters of the antelope routes have been destroyed by sprawl, oil and gas development, and farming.

Earlier this month, NASA released new satellite photographs showing continued illegal cutting of the Mexican fir forests where virtually all of eastern North America’s monarch butterflies spend the winter.

And bird watchers across the United States and Canada face the prospect of a quieter, less colorful spring as a combination of climate change, tropical deforestation, mountaintop mining in the Appalachians and other activities destroys key wintering, breeding and stopover habitats.

The loss of migration is of more than aesthetic importance. Migratory birds protect forests and crops from insect pests; butterflies, bats and other migratory species are important pollinators.

Indeed, migratory animals are useful indicators of the health of the global environment; their safe passage is in our best interest.

David S. Wilcove
Princeton, N.J., March 24, 2008
The writer is the author of a book about the decline of the world’s great animal migrations.

From the Mailbag

I wanted to let you know about a website called AnimalAttraction.com where animal lovers come together to meet and oftentimes find love. We have many great stories from all over the country where folks had given up on having any romance in their life until they met at AnimalAttraction—everyone says it is much easier to get to know someone with your dog on the date too!

I was just contacted by a new couple who emailed me pictures of their wedding at the American Kennel Club where they tied the knot in the Best in Show ring. Where else? The bride was walked down the aisle by her standard poodle, John.

Also Animal Attraction is donating at least $100,000 to various animal charities next month (April is animal cruelty prevention month) to give back to the community we all adore—our pets!

Thanks for your time and please feel free to contact me with any questions!

Joanne Poesch

Recipe Idea!

For those of you who think that vegetarian cuisine must be bland and boring, think again. You'll find the recipe for Spaghetti con Rucola e Ricotta here. There's even an alleged aphrodisiac effect associated with arugula. That should inspire all but the most hardened meat-eaters to give it a try!

Bon Appetit!

Note: This dish will be much more healthful and just as tasty if you omit the ricotta cheese or replace it with crumbled firm tofu.

From the Mailbag

Hi there :)

I was hoping that we could do a link swap! I run a store called CutiePaws. I make animal plushies and donate 60% from each sale to AnimalsAsia's China Bear Rescue. :) My goal is to raise at least $1,000 this year, and you would be really helping me out by swapping links with me. :)

Let me know if you're interested!

Thank you very much,

Jenn Hartnoll
CutiePaws
60% of each sale is donated to AnimalsAsia's China Bear Rescue!

Global Warming

According to Yahoo! News, recent satellite pictures reveal that a chunk of Antarctic ice 7 times the size of Manhattan has collapsed and broken apart. The 160-square-mile chunk broke apart in Western Antarctica in what is called the Wilkins Ice Shelf. See here for video footage of the event.

Note from KBJ: I have a question for you, Mylan. Do you believe that a warmer globe would be bad for animals, all things considered? If so, what is the basis of your belief? Before answering, read this.

Bullfighting

Here is a New York Times story about bullfighting.

Bison Bison

Here is a New York Times story about Yellowstone National Park's bison herd.

Thugs

Somebody explain to me how this helps animals.

A Vindication of the Rights of Brutes

In 1792, Englishman Thomas Taylor (1758-1835), a prominent translator of Plato and other Greek philosophers, published a satirical pamphlet entitled A Vindication of the Rights of Brutes. His aim in this anonymous work was to mock Mary Wollstonecraft's books A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790) and Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), as well as Thomas Paine's Rights of Man (1791). Taylor's argument may be reconstructed as follows:

1. If women have rights, then animals have rights.
2. Animals do not have rights.
Therefore,
3. Women do not have rights.

In effect, Taylor is claiming (correctly) that the following three propositions are inconsistent:

A. If women have rights, then animals have rights.
B. Animals do not have rights.
C. Women have rights.

To say that these propositions are inconsistent is to say that not all of them can be true. At least one, therefore, is false. Taylor thinks C is the false proposition. I think B is the false proposition. What do you think?

Addendum: Here's another way to look at it. As between B and C, Taylor thinks B more likely to be true. Indeed, he thinks B is obviously true and that its denial is laughable. I think C more likely to be true. Indeed, I think C is obviously true and that its denial is laughable. One person's modus ponens is another's modus tollens.

Addendum 2: To give you a taste of Taylor's wicked prose, I quote the final paragraph:

And thus much may suffice, for an historical proof, that brutes are equal to men. It only now remains (and this must be the province of some abler hand) to demonstrate the same great truth in a similar manner, of vegetables, minerals, and even the most apparently contemptible clod of earth; that thus this sublime theory being copiously and accurately discussed, and its truth established by an indisputable series of facts, government may be entirely subverted, subordination abolished, and all things every where, and in every respect, be common to all.

It's a good thing Taylor didn't live to see Paul W. Taylor's book Respect for Nature: A Theory of Environmental Ethics (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986), in which his namesake defends biocentrism (a life-centered, as opposed to human-centered, ethic). Four beliefs form "the core of the biocentric outlook" (99):

(a) The belief that humans are members of the Earth's Community of Life in the same sense and on the same terms in which other living things are members of that Community.

(b) The belief that the human species, along with all other species, are integral elements in a system of interdependence such that the survival of each living thing, as well as its chances of faring well or poorly, is determined not only by the physical conditions of its environment but also by its relations to other living things.

(c) The belief that all organisms are teleological centers of life in the sense that each is a unique individual pursuing its own good in its own way.

(d) The belief that humans are not inherently superior to other living things.

Ibid., 99-100. Sadly, most of what is being published in environmental ethics (in periodicals such as Environmental Ethics) is rubbish. Some of it is obscure to the point of incomprehensibility. Much of it is progressive politics masquerading as philosophy. I highly recommend Paul Taylor's book.

Between the Species

Here is an online journal that should be of interest to readers of this blog. I will add a link to the blogroll.

From the Mailbag

Hi Keith,

Below is a calendar listing for Farm Sanctuary's annual Country Hoe Down at our Orland, California Shelter. We would be very appreciative if you would please list and help us raise awareness about this inspirational and educational event for farm animal advocates.

Please let me know if you would like more information.

Warm Regards,

Natalie Bowman
Communications Coordinator
Farm Sanctuary
P.O. Box 150, Watkins Glen, NY 14891

From the Mailbag

Hi! I am a long time vegetarian, now vegan for 10 years, and animal lover.

I wanted to pass on these amazing groups I'm a part of for possible features/links on your blog:

I run Etsy for Animals: Artists Helping Animals, a group of artists and
artisans helping animals, many are veg/vegan and donate to animal charities thru
sales: http://etsyforanimals.com/

Our shop w/100% to animal charity: http://etsyforanimals.etsy.com/

Vegan Etsy: Creating Without Cruelty: http://veganetsy.blogspot.com/

Cruelty Free Etsy: http://crueltyfreeetsy.blogspot.com/

Etsy Veg: http://etsyveg.blogspot.com/

My own vegan friendly shop giving 10% to animal charities: http://mvegan5.etsy.com/

Please let me know if you feature any of the above,

Thank you,
Michele Glick

From Today's New York Times

To the Editor:

Thank you for publicizing the plight of satos—street dogs—in Puerto Rico in “Scrutiny for Puerto Rico Over Animal Treatment” (news article, March 9).

Sadly, the situation in Puerto Rico is replicated in countries around the world where hundreds of millions of dogs live as strays, abandoned by the humans they have come to depend on for food, shelter and companionship.

Change will take place only when governments work with local and international animal welfare groups and concerned individuals to address the root of the problem through education and humane methods of population control, such as spaying and neutering.

As one animal advocate put it, “we need to work together and keep the finger in the side of government.”

Thank you for doing just that, by telling the American public what’s happening in Puerto Rico through your compelling article and photographs.

Allan Kornberg
Boston, March 11, 2008
The writer is executive director of the World Society for the Protection of Animals.

From Today's New York Times

To the Editor:

Re “Oceans at Risk” (editorial, March 9): We are in danger of ruining the world’s oceans and endangering marine ecosystems. You are right that what is needed is “a sustained effort by world governments and other institutions to do something about it” and that “the problems are global and so, in the end, are the solutions.”

One key solution, as you note, rests with the United States Senate: the Law of the Sea Convention. But without the political muscle of President Bush to illustrate the importance of this treaty to holdouts in his own party, the treaty will languish and our oceans will continue to be degraded.

As a nation, we value responsibility and cooperation. Ratification of the Law of the Sea would send an important message to the more than 150 countries that have already joined the treaty, including all of our allies, that we are committed partners in protecting the planet and its people.

Howard Salter
Director of External Relations, Citizens for Global Solutions
Washington, March 10, 2008

From Today's New York Times

To the Editor:

Re “A Case of Abuse, Heightened,” by Joe Nocera (Talking Business column, March 8):

Mr. Nocera tells us that most slaughterhouses don’t mistreat animals or funnel sick downer cows into the food chain. Oh, really?

If Mr. Nocera actually had such clairvoyant powers over the meat-packing industry, why didn’t he put them to use last autumn and blow the whistle on the Westland/Hallmark slaughter plant? He would have saved us the necessity of sending an undercover investigator to film the shocking mistreatment of animals. He might have prevented the recall of 143 million pounds of beef.

Mr. Nocera is anything but a soothsayer. He has simply rehashed the party line from the slaughterhouse industry. Most Americans, by contrast, join with us in demanding better regulations to safeguard farm animals and more credible inspections of our food.

Wayne Pacelle
President and Chief Executive
The Humane Society of the United States
Washington, March 8, 2008

Thwarting Progress

Here is a New York Times story about the short-eared owl.

Global Warmism

Bad news for animals: The globe is cooling.

Housekeeping

As unbelievable as it may sound, I still get comments without full names. Can you people read? Here is what it says on the editorial page of my local newspaper, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

LETTERS POLICY

Verification: Letters must have a printed full name, address and daytime phone number.

Frequency: Writers are limited to one letter a month.

Content: Be concise, to the point and original. Length is subject to editorial judgment, and letters will be edited to comply with Star-Telegram style and standards.

Think of this blog as a newspaper. Full names only. When a comment comes in without a full name, I reject it without reading it.