Animal Ethics

NOVEMBER 6, 2009

Jonathan Safran Foer's pup-in-cheek essay " Let Them Eat Dog " (Weekend Journal, Oct. Beyond the environmental impacts of meat production there is a basic ethical issue involved. So here is an even more modest proposal than roasting Fido: Try eating only what animals you are willing to kill with your own hands.

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Animal Ethics

JANUARY 21, 2009

Who Should Not Eat Meat, or What Does a Vegetarian Feed His Dog? Vegetarians certainly cannot think that only vegetarians have a prima facie duty not to eat animals or animal products. To see this, imagine animal-control officers putting a dog into their vehicle. The dog, let us say, has bitten a child.

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Animal Ethics

JULY 8, 2012

A man who, without provocation, beats a dog into unconsciousness is actively cruel, whereas one who, through negligence, fails to feed his dog to the point where the dog's health is impoverished is passively cruel, not because of what he does but because of what he fails to do.

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Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 12, 2008

The author isn't advocating that we eat dogs. The author is pointing out the inconsistency of eating cows and not eating dogs (or rather, caring about dogs but not caring about cows). It's not morally permissible to eat dogs. There are no morally relevant differences between cows and dogs.

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Animal Ethics

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

We accept that the state has the right to ban cruelty to animals, even when such cruelty is in the interests of the person being cruel, for example, of the greyhound owner who trains his dog on cats, first removing the cat's claws to protect his dog from injury, or of the householder who half-starves his dog so that he can have an extra beer or two, (..)

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Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 18, 2006

Currently, I am very interested in social and political philosophy and ethical issues. I felt a strong sense of connection to the ideas of Peter Singer while taking Ethics from Keith. Currently, I do not believe that killing an animal is prima facie morally wrong.

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Animal Ethics

JUNE 27, 2008

To the Editor: “ Getting Bacon the Hard Way: Hog-Tying 400 Pounds of Fury ” (front page, June 21), about Texas hog hunters, illustrated the barbarity of hunting with dogs. As the dogs tear chunks of flesh from the terrified pig, the hunters undoubtedly feel proud of their accomplishment.

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Animal Ethics

OCTOBER 9, 2007

Here is an interview with Peter Singer.

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Animal Ethics

APRIL 8, 2008

To the Editor: While businesses that rent dogs may be well intentioned, they’re unlikely to benefit the overall welfare of pets, and may actually do harm to the individual dogs they “rent” (“ For a Temporary Best-Friend Fix, Rent a Dog (Kibble Included) for a Day ,” news article, March 30).

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Animal Ethics

JANUARY 10, 2010

31, 2009 To the Editor: Let me see if I have this straight: We are now feeding our children stuff that used to be reserved for dog food, by treating it with ammonia, in order to save three cents a pound? Hey, why not just feed the little tykes dog food? Evelyn Wolfson Wayland, Mass., I’m sure it would save even more money.

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Animal Ethics

MARCH 6, 2014

It is no more acceptable to confine 60 hens for their entire lives in a cage that you report is “about the size of a Ford F-150 pickup truck’s flatbed” than it would be to treat 60 cats similarly.

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Animal Ethics

OCTOBER 8, 2007

Today, while running in 84º heat (and excessive humidity), I noticed a dog lying on a slab of concrete in someone's back yard. It looked as though the dog was lying in the shadow of a basketball backboard. Sure enough, there was a black dog (a pit bull) lying in the three-by-three-foot shadow cast by a backboard on the concrete.

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Animal Ethics

JUNE 8, 2008

If my dog and I both have headaches then the dog should have the one available aspirin if it has the worse headache. To treat the dog's pain as less important because it is a dog not a man is speciesism (a nasty word for a nasty thing). John Benson, "Duty and the Beast," Philosophy 53 [October 1978]: 529-49, at 530)

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Animal Ethics

JULY 29, 2007

To the Editor: Re “ States Try to Weigh Safety With Dog Owners’ Rights ” (news article, July 23): Any law that deems a dog as dangerous or vicious based on appearance, breed or phenotype is unfair and discriminatory. Richard Spencer Executive Director, Association of Pet Dog Trainers Greenville, S.C.,

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Animal Ethics

MARCH 30, 2008

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. 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.

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Animal Ethics

JULY 21, 2008

Yet, in the case of domesticated animals especially, many people, particularly lonely people, regard (and often want to regard) their pet as a kind of lesser human being, with a less rich but still plentiful mental life which explains why their cat or dog behaves as it does.

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Animal Ethics

AUGUST 4, 2007

overall well-being), there is great inequality among dogs. Some dogs have their basic needs satisfied, but little more. What we should be concerned with is not the gap between "rich" dogs and "poor" dogs, but the absolute welfare level of dogs. No dog should have its basic needs unsatisfied.

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Animal Ethics

JULY 31, 2007

The site recently posted a section called “How Dog Fighting Works” in response to the Michael Vick court case. How Dog Fighting Works” is a look into the illegal sport of dog fighting and gives readers information on the issues and its effects.

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Animal Ethics

SEPTEMBER 26, 2009

To the Editor: Re “ A Free Speech Battle Arises From Videos of Fighting Dogs ” (front page, Sept. 19): The Supreme Court should reinstate a crucial 1999 federal law banning the commercial sale of videos depicting animal cruelty.

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Animal Ethics

MAY 28, 2008

To the Editor: Re “ Biotech Company to Auction Chances to Clone a Dog ” (news article, May 21): Cloning animals to “replace” treasured companions is a boondoggle. These beloved animals’ personalities and charming quirks cannot be so easily reproduced.

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Animal Ethics

JUNE 17, 2007

To the Editor: “ My Dog Days ,” by Arthur Phillips (Op-Ed, June 10), gave me those warm, fuzzy feelings and made my eyes tear. There are puppies with puppy breath and slobbery kisses; young dogs with enthusiasm, devotion and intelligence; older dogs with patience, loyalty and wisdom. Karen Benzel Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif.,

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Animal Ethics

APRIL 5, 2010

I'm a dog person, not a bird person, but I understand the loss suffered by my friend Peg today.

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Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 10, 2006

To the Editor: I wish that I could better understand the recent trend of anthropomorphizing dogs. Our dogs have a better standard of living than millions of people in other parts of the world. I had two dogs growing up, and I remember their being thrilled with a dirty old tennis ball or a dip in the somewhat murky town pond.

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Animal Ethics

JULY 11, 2008

To the Editor: Re “ Dog Eat Your Taxes? ” (Op-Ed, July 9): It may be amusing for Ray D. Madoff to criticize Leona Helmsley’s charitable giving by saying her fortune “is going to the dogs,” but those of us who give to the Humane Society of the United States and other animal-rescue organizations feel otherwise.

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Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 4, 2007

See here.

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Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 6, 2009

Here is an interesting New York Times story about wolves and dogs. It's good to see my old friend Marc Bekoff quoted in the story.

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Animal Ethics

MARCH 17, 2008

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).

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Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 19, 2007

The horrific practice in China of skinning cats and dogs alive for their fur must go down as one of the worst cases of sustained mass cruelty to animals in human history. Every year, more than 2,000,000 cats and dogs are skinned alive in China for their fur.

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Animal Ethics

JANUARY 20, 2008

Causing an animal to suffer for no good reason is cruel, and our ordinary commonsense morality tells us in no uncertain terms that cruelty is wrong. A brief look at the public outcry concerning Michael Vick’s dog-fighting ring shows just how widely accepted premise (1) is. Animal abuse is a crime in all fifty states, and rightly so.

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Animal Ethics

MAY 9, 2008

A young bird, yet to reach flight, is extremely vulnerable to pet cats and dogs. I regret that I didn't leave that little fellow with some dog food or a can of tuna. There is really nothing you can do for them. Feeding and caging them from your own pet, is impossible. Birds, possums, same problem. We took positive action.

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Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

People who study pigs say they are as intelligent as a 3-year-old child, smarter even than the dogs we share our homes with. Would anyone in this day and age dare to say that we cannot presume to know a dog’s mind, that a dog cannot tell us if it is happy or sad, frustrated, lonely or bored?

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Animal Ethics

MARCH 16, 2009

This highly informative documentary is produced by Tom Simon (a seven-time Emmy® winner) and Sarah Teale, producer of the 2006 HBO special "Dealing Dogs," which received two Emmy® nominations, including Best Documentary. "Death on a Factory Farm" chronicles an investigation into alleged abuses that took place at a hog farm in Creston, Ohio.

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Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 24, 2006

I wonder, though, whether those who use “that” use it in reference to their dogs and cats. Suppose you’ve lived with a dog for 10 years. Wouldn’t it be odd to say such things as, “I have a dog that eats grasshoppers”? Does your dog have the same moral status as your car? Are both of them mere objects?

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Animal Ethics

AUGUST 6, 2007

,” by Verlyn Klinkenborg (Editorial Observer, July 30), is right: “The rate at which dogs are purchased and euthanized in this country is not a sign of our affection for them. It’s a sign of our indifference.”

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Animal Ethics

MARCH 6, 2008

Would you feel differently if Isenhour had driven golf balls at your cat or dog until he succeeded in killing your pet? If Isenhour had killed your cat or dog with the same kind of wanton disregard for your pet's life that he allegedly displayed toward the hawk's life, what kind of penalty would you want imposed on him? What say you?

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Animal Ethics

JULY 30, 2007

Should there be a law that mandates spaying and neutering of dogs and cats? See here for Verlyn Klinkenborg's column.

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Animal Ethics

MARCH 27, 2008

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! Where else?

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