In June 2006, Jane and I visited a chimpanzee sanctuary near Girona, Spain. Is this moral? He says of this behavior, “It was a moral raven seeking the human equivalent of justice, because it defended the group’s interest at a potential cost to itself.&#. Grief, friendship, gratitude, wonder, and other things we animals experience. by Marc Bekoff. Scientific research shows that many animals are very intelligent and have sensory and motor abilities that dwarf ours. MORE

On November 7, 2006, Arizonans voted overwhelmingly, by 62 percent, in favor of Proposition 204, to ban the cruel and intensive confinement of veal calves and pregnant pigs on industrialized factory farms. September 7, 2006, a bill banning the slaughter of horses for human consumption( H.R. Since morally decent individuals oppose treating animals inhumanely for no good reason, factory farming is becoming an increasingly hard sell. MORE

Note that this debate is independent of the debate about the moral permissibility of eating fish. If organically raised fish suffer less than nonorganically raised fish, it is an accident, morally speaking. I'm not saying that there is no correlation between an animal being organically raised and it being treated in a morally permissible way; I'm saying that any such correlation is contingent rather than necessary. MORE

The previous best month (March 2006) had 1,730 visitors (55.8 In my view, the moral status of nonhuman animals is one of the most important issues that any of us will confront, and it confronts all of us This blog had 2,325 visitors during November, which is an average of 77.5 visitors per day—which projects to 28,287.5 visitors per year. That is by far the most visitors during any month of the blog's three-year existence. MORE

As such, they are likely to be better moral reasoners , as well, both in their ability to identify moral reasons and in their ability to appreciate these reasons. Anyone who thinks that it is wrong to contribute to unnecessary suffering and who realizes that eating meat is entirely unnecessary has a moral reason to refrain from eating animals and animal products. I suspect that many of the vegetarians in Gale's study base their vegetarianism on just such moral reasons. MORE

A handful Animal Person readers since May of 2006, when I started this then-daily blog, have asked me if I've read Joan Dunayer. I'd rather extend moral consideration to something that can't suffer than fail to extend it to someone who can" (154). And now that I've read Animal Equality and begun Speciesism , I think I know why. MORE

That's what moral integrity—being an integrated person rather than a fragmented one—is all about. Don't focus on how little you can do, for that will depress you and destroy your moral motivation. It's been 25 years to the day since I ate turkey. I gave it up on 31 December 1981. Consequently, no turkey has suffered or died on my account for the past quarter century. Addendum: Sometimes, in talking to omnivores, I get the sense that they feel impotent. MORE

It is asking the burger-stuffer to come clean ; to show just why it is that his greed should be indulged in this way, and just where he fits into the scheme of things, that he can presume to kill again and again for the sake of a solitary pleasure that creates and sustains no moral ties. Roger Scruton, A Political Philosophy [London and New York: Continuum, 2006], 61-3 [italics in original A great number of animals owe their lives to our intention to eat them. MORE

On this Christmas holiday, Christians would do well to reflect on what their faith teaches about the moral status of animals. Here is a New York Times story about St Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals. Here is a website that contains information about St Francis. If you're a Christian, please reflect on the following. Your religion does not require that you eat animals. It may not forbid it, but it doesn't require it. MORE

The question (presumably) is whether animals have moral status, i.e., whether the interests of animals must be taken into account in our deliberations. Using “who” assumes that the being in question has moral status (even if not full-blown personhood). But notice: Using “that” also begs the question, for it assumes, without argument, that the being in question lacks moral status. Does your dog have the same moral status as your car? MORE

If you are like most people, you think that it is seriously morally wrong to contribute to unnecessary animal suffering. Switching to a vegan diet will help you to live your life in accordance with your own deeply held moral values and will, thereby, help you to live an authentic life , a meaningful life of integrity. As another year comes to a close, most of us find ourselves reflecting on our lives and resolving to improve ourselves and our lives in various ways. MORE

Animal experts descended for investigations of their own, and employee morale sank to an all- time low. Insurance companies and the city settled lawsuits in conjunction with the fatal mauling and a 2006 attack of a zookeeper who was assaulted by the same tiger during a public feeding. Things have been tough at the San Francisco Zoo after Tatiana the Siberian tiger attacked those three people in 2007. Here's an article that explains the hard times the Zoo has faced since then. MORE

Each semester when I teach Contemporary Moral Issues, on the first day of class I begin with a survey. One of the questions on the survey is: "Is it morally permissible to kill animals for fur coats?" Watch the video first, and then, ask yourself whether torturing an animal in this way is morally permissible just so that we can have ornamental fur trim on the hoods of our jackets. MORE

He thinks that the treatment of animals in factory farms is morally unjustifiable, and yet, he continues to support those practices financially by purchasing and eating meat and animal products. It goes something like this: Yes, I agree that factory farming is morally unjustifiable and ought to be abolished. Since it would not be wrong to eat the flesh of animals raised in that manner, eating meat is not morally wrong! [As MORE

But, according to City-Data.com , they have been successful in getting other government contracts" WORLD WIDE PRIMATES INC (16450 SW 180TH ST in MIAMI, FL; small business): $362,855 in 5 contracts from 2002 to 2006 Contracts for Live Animals, Not Raised for Food, Laboratory Equipment and Supplies by Army, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health Signed by year: 2000: $0; 2001: $0; 2002: $42,000; 2003: $0; 2004: $37,145; 2005: $282,120; 2006: $1,590. MORE

Basis of this collection are the interdisciplinary lectures on Animal Rights which took place from April to October 2006 at Ruprecht-Karls-University in Heidelberg (Germany). It should support a stronger attention in research and teaching and should guide as the latest reference for all those who are dealing with the moral status of animals and related questions. Hello! MORE

Currently, I do not believe that killing an animal is prima facie morally wrong. I think this is a very powerful moral argument that is compelling to anyone who gives animals moral consideration. Aside from moral issues, I have also been learning more about how vegetarian diets are actually much healthier for humans in many ways—which I find very encouraging. Hi there, I'm Jonathan. First of all, I would like to thank Keith for inviting me to be a part of this blog. MORE