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On "Pets" and "Its"

Animal Person

Nobody stopped me" brings me to the parents, who were all omnivores (though there were two ex-vegetarians) and who were all thoroughly unaware of the language the children were using to refer to animals. We need language that doesn't support a divide between "pet" animals and everyone else. We do that with cats and dogs already, right?

Gorillas 100
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From Today's New York Times

Animal Ethics

Children naturally love animals, but the many “uses we have found for them” lead us to teach our children to save their compassion for companion animals exclusively. We call ourselves vegetarians. We can treasure the cultural and historical bond between animals and domesticated animals only by ignoring the emotional bond.