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A Morning at Punta Morales, Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

With shorebirds on my mind, the other day, we opted for birding at Punta Morales. Dawn broke somewhere on the way down and was accompanied by two species of caracaras patrolling the roads, a motmot or two on the wires, and early morning on the edge of the ocean. Nothing even close to the motmot up north though.

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Review: The Moral Lives of Animals by Dale Peterson

10,000 Birds

You’d think, then, that applying science to philosophy by studying the evolutionary underpinnings of thought and behavior across species would be right up my alley. With those caveats in mind, I took up Dale Peterson’s The Moral Lives of Animals with hope and not a little trepidation.

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Tom Regan on Endangered Species

Animal Ethics

The rights view is not opposed to efforts to save endangered species. If people are encouraged to believe that the harm done to animals matters morally only when these animals belong to endangered species, then these same people will be encouraged to regard the harm done to other animals as morally acceptable.

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An Open Letter to Outdoor/Feral Cat Supporters

10,000 Birds

I have been rescuing animals, both wild and domestic, since I was a child. Can your hearts be so species-specific? There is no moral ambiguity here. Cats are domestic animals highly susceptible to a host of diseases, many transmittable to humans. It sickens me. It’s natural.”).

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Moral Vegetarianism, Part 9 of 13

Animal Ethics

For an explanation of this feature, click on “Moral Vegetarianism” at the bottom of this post. The Argument from Animal Rights A stronger argument is made by people who maintain that animals have rights. In particular, it has been argued that animals have a right to life. The subject is a large and controversial one.

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Can we talk about Cecil the Lion?

10,000 Birds

Although lip service was paid to the fact that lions are endangered and a lion was poached, the language of anger was the language of animals rights. The killing of Cecil was equated with murder, a moral crime rather than a symptom of a ecological problem. This is of course an anathema for many in the animal rights camp.

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Moral Vegetarianism, Part 4 of 13

Animal Ethics

For an explanation of this feature, click on “Moral Vegetarianism” at the bottom of this post. What Is an Animal Part? The last example suggests the difficulty of making a clear distinction between an animal part and an animal product. The same would be true of Martin’s hypothetical animal legs. KBJ: Agreed.