10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2015

Tell me, what happens if we rip away hunting when hunting protects more wildlife land in Africa than national parks? The killing of Cecil was equated with murder, a moral crime rather than a symptom of a ecological problem. Conservation is concerned about protecting populations, species, habitats, ecosystems. I’m sorry.

Lions 212

Lions Hunting Sierra Leone Buffalo 212

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 21, 2009

For an explanation of this feature, click on “Moral Vegetarianism” at the bottom of this post. SOME PROBLEMS OF MORAL VEGETARIANISM With respect to traditional moral vegetarianism some problems immediately come to the fore. What animals is it morally wrong to eat? But what is the extent of the universal moral principle?

Morals 40

Morals Vegetarian Meat Lions 40

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2015

If you love your cats so much, why don’t you protect them? There is no moral ambiguity here. Can you convince yourselves that your cat does not kill birds, when statistics show pet cats only bring home 23% of their kills? If that’s the case, then let me show you what happens to outdoor cats.

Feral Cats 255

Feral Cats Feral Cats Rescue 255

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2022

The Lesser Coucals sometimes try to argue with Chestnut-winged Cuckoos about the morality of having other species raise their chicks (The Lesser Coucal Species Committee also likes to point out that the species neither invaded Ukraine nor ever voted for Donald Trump – they can be a bit boring in insisting on always being on the good side).

Birds 190

Birds Sparrows Protection Humane 190

10,000 Birds

JUNE 28, 2018

Lacey of Iowa introduced the nation’s first wildlife-protection law, which banned the interstate shipping of unlawfully killed game. Thank God most human beings have developed a more modern view of wildlife and acknowledge that some animals display sufficient consciousness and self-awareness to deserve moral consideration.

Hunting 112

Hunting Hunters Gorillas Wolves 112

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2024

The prinia will then claim that its current name – celebrating a morally very questionable person – is no longer acceptable in the modern world. Personally, I wish the species the best of luck in this endeavor. (Of Of course, there should be a photo of a Plain Prinia here now, but somehow I did not get one this month).

Birds 196

Birds Research Science Europe 196

Animal Ethics

JULY 24, 2015

Forty years ago, the suggestion that nonhuman animals have moral rights—indeed, many of the same rights as human beings—would have been met with incredulous stares, if not outright ridicule. Fast forward to the present. Other results from this Gallup poll can be found here.

Morals 40

Morals 2015 Industry Protection 40

Animal Person

AUGUST 16, 2011

He is an unabashed speciesist, putting humans on “a different moral plane from that of other animals” (11) due to various reasons, such as our “vastly greater capacity for symbolic language, culture, and ethical judgment” (11). On page 172, when Herzog writes, “I am conflicted over many moral issues involving animals,” I respond, “No kidding!”

Vegan 100

Vegan Morals Animal Rights Advocacy 100

Animal Ethics

JULY 24, 2015

Forty years ago, the suggestion that nonhuman animals have moral rights—indeed, many of the same rights as human beings—would have been met with incredulous stares, if not outright ridicule. Fast forward to the present. Other results from this Gallup poll can be found here.

Animal Rights 40

Animal Rights Rights Animal Morals 40

Animal Ethics

JUNE 17, 2008

Utilitarians persuaded of the leading premise here should, I think, be willing to pay the higher prices, and to plump for protections of animals of the kind in question. And the other is taking up vegetarianism. But what about the vegetarian alternative? Here what one needs to do is calculate the pleasure, interest, satisfaction, etc.,

Vegetarian 40

Vegetarian Morals Vegetarian Cooking Slaughter 40

Animal Ethics

AUGUST 15, 2012

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.

Endangered Species 40

Endangered Species Species Los Angeles Morals 40

Animal Person

JULY 2, 2009

A new survey is getting the attention of many within the global animal protection community. Covering both moral and strategic issues, the "Ethics and Animals" survey will provide a snapshot of our movement as of the present moment. Everyone is invited to participate and share their views on what's best for animals.

Ethics 100

Ethics Animal Brazil 2009 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2013

I will address two of them in the new year, namely, “Is hunting moral at all?” And embattled minority should be protected. It’s a powerful motivator that has attracted millions of people from all around the world to devote time and money to protect these resources. A hungry child should be fed.

Tigers 175

Tigers Hunting Game Protection 175

10,000 Birds

MARCH 27, 2020

We’re all connected through email and listservs, and we all swap information and provide each other with moral support. The story of smuggling an eagle to Canada is fiction, as it would be far too stressful even for a bird used to being around people. The rehabber connection, though, is very real. The book is darkly funny.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 261

Wildlife Rehabilitation Bald Eagle Eagles Wildlife 261

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 17, 2014

A new willingness among scientists to consider certain moral and ethical implications with respect to wild animals, where previously utilitarian ideas prevailed, including ideas of intrinsic value. As a consequence, “people should treat all creatures decently, and protect them from cruelty, avoidable suffering, and unnecessary killing.”

Wildlife 243

Wildlife Coyotes Hunters Wolves 243

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 18, 2013

But in the end, being dead doesn’t protect an animal from mortality. Time and chance happeneth to museum specimens. Noble restoration work has been done at the AMNH, particularly to the glamorous megafauna. Taxidermy is a bizarre art. It is driven by love for animals, but relies on their deaths to exist.

Elephants 157

Elephants Mammals Buffalo Gorillas 157

Animal Ethics

JULY 14, 2012

The concept of moral rights differs in important ways from that of legal rights. First, moral rights, if there are any, are universal. An individual's race, sex, religion, place of birth, or country of domicile are not relevant characteristics for the possession of moral rights. a despot) or any group (e.g.,

Rights 40

Rights Morals Los Angeles Libya 40

Animal Ethics

JUNE 7, 2016

As an intelligent primate, I’d much rather be an ambassador for my species in a secure environment—served the best food and tended to by top-notch veterinarians—than take my chances in a national park where poverty and corruption result in little or no protection for the non-human residents. Lisa Edmondson, Los Angeles

Los Angeles 40

Los Angeles Gorillas Zoos Non Human 40

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

the development of field-based ornithological research in Europe and Great Britain; a quick step back through the history to look at bird protection, conservation, and our precarious future, with a focus on Birkhead’s long-term (50 years!) Common Guillemot research at Skomer Island, Wales.

Dissection 226

Dissection Birds Research Europe 226

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2014

They were protecting the last three pairs that were left in West Germany from egg thieves! Allegedly, the German reunification had a boosting effect on the morale of this German national symbol and the species decided to show its support by increasing incredibly fast ever since.

Eagles 169

Eagles Germany Breeding Hunting 169

Animal Ethics

OCTOBER 23, 2009

When it is asked whether animals have rights, and whether human beings have duties to them, the question, I think, is partly moral and partly verbal. Let us consider the moral question first. Similar considerations, I suggest, apply when we ask whether it is proper to say that animals have moral rights.

Animal Rights 40

Animal Rights Rights Animal Cruelty 40

Animal Person

JANUARY 6, 2010

Dolphins are so smart that scientists think they should be treated as "non-human persons" and as such it is "morally unacceptable" to use or kill them. The entire discussion, I fear, will be about comparing dolphins to humans and the more human-like they are, the more intelligent they are, and the more worthy of moral consideration they are.

Dolphins 100

Dolphins Animal Rights Rights Animal 100

Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 1, 2012

Their interests are primarily protected, if at all, through archaic state anti-cruelty statutes that were not passed in contemplation of the factory-farm or genetic engineering. Though factory-farming and biotechnological techniques massively violate the moral rights of farm animals, they have no remedy.

Farm Animal 40

Farm Animal Farmed Animals Farming Factory Farm 40

Animal Ethics

SEPTEMBER 14, 2012

But prejudices die hard, all the more so when, as in the present case, they are insulated by widespread secular customs and religious beliefs, sustained by large and powerful economic interests, and protected by the common law. Moral philosophy is no substitute for political action. Might does not make right; might does make law.

Animal Rights Movement 40

Animal Rights Movement Animal Rights Rights Los Angeles 40

Critter News

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

The International Primate Protection League was active in exposing and urging prosecution of this case. Aside from the moral issues involved in animal experimentation, why are US taxpayer dollars going to a company started by a man who went to jail for smuggling, and then transferred control of the company to his wife and mother?

Primates 100

Primates 2002 2004 2005 100

Animal Person

APRIL 26, 2009

Juluri is referring to something specific: the Supreme Court's examination of First Amendment protection of acts of cruelty to animals. But the ease with which we can tell our stories and post our videos must not render us incapable of moral judgment and decency. And the article is worth reading just for that.

San Francisco 100

San Francisco Cruelty Vivisection Open Rescue 100

Animal Ethics

NOVEMBER 7, 2008

In order to protect himself, therefore, he is not likely to rest his case upon (an appeal to) the state and intensities of our feelings. What the vegetarian wants, surely, is that we should stop eating meat even if our liking for it exceeds our revulsion at the suffering endured on factory farms.

Factory Farm 40

Factory Farm Factory Farming Vegetarian Meat 40

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2019

I do need to note that a rare error crops up here–LISTSERV is not a generic electronic bulletin board, it is a propriety product owned by a company and the use of the term is protected by trademark law. The sections are also labeled according to the months of the year, the idea being that the book will take us through a year of birding.

Birds 115

Birds North America Breeding America 115

Animal Person

MAY 10, 2009

Latimer refers to his previous two posts where he has "documented the ethical and moral shallowness of the 'animal rights' credo itself, which is based more on an anti-human self hatred, taking the form of a 'moral' squeamishness concerned more with stamping out human 'cruelty,' no matter what the social or economic costs might be.

Animal Rights 100

Animal Rights Rights Broiler Chicken Animal 100

Animal Ethics

MARCH 16, 2007

To inflict death or pain on animals for scientific or medical research is wrong morally, and ought to be prohibited. They may be killed in order to protect the health of humans (and other animals) if they are infected with a serious disease and cannot be quarantined. Animals cannot give consent.

Research 40

Research Medical Research Morals Animal 40

Animal Ethics

NOVEMBER 24, 2009

If the goal is not moral perfection for ourselves, but the maximum benefit for animals, half-measures ought to be encouraged and appreciated. How far do we go in protecting them? Mr. Steiner rightly rejects this view as morally flawed. My moral boundaries may be rational or reflexive, expansive or selfish—who can judge?

New York Times 40

New York Times New York Vegan Vegetarian 40

Animal Ethics

MARCH 5, 2007

Nor have I dealt with advances in the legal protection of animals both in practice and in theory. I have focused exclusively on moral theory. Franklin, Animal Rights and Moral Philosophy [New York: Columbia University Press, 2005], xvii-xviii) I have not reviewed these horrors here, because so many powerful accounts exist.

Animal Rights 40

Animal Rights Rights Animal Morals 40

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 31, 2011

I’m tired of hearing people who enjoy killing justify it with specious moral platitudes. It is only the prejudice of our species that justifies culling the deer population while protecting our own. He says meat tastes more precious when you’ve watched it die. May I recommend a trip to a slaughterhouse? Animals suffer when killed.

New York Times 40

New York Times New York Mountain Lions Deer 40

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 14, 2009

It is that coercion (via legal prohibition) is not a proper method of protecting animals, at least if the aim is to protect animals. Of all the ways of influencing behavior, rational persuasion is the most effective, the most secure (in the sense of long-lasting), and the most defensible from a moral point of view.

Meat 40

Meat Animal Welfare Vegetarian Protecting Animals 40

Animal Ethics

AUGUST 20, 2007

The rooster watches over the flock protectively and often participates in a hen’s egg-laying ritual, an extremely important and private part of her life. Let chickens be chickens, and avoid the whole moral dilemma by going vegan. To the Editor: Re “ Suddenly, the Hunt Is On for Cage-Free Eggs ” (front page, Aug.

New York Times 40

New York Times New York Battery Cages Factory Farm 40

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 30, 2012

In 2002 the German Parliament amended Article 26 of the Basic Law to give nonhuman animals the right to be “respected as fellow creatures” and to be protected from “avoidable pain.” Properly interpreted, the common law is meant to be flexible, adaptable to changes in public morality, and sensitive to new scientific discoveries.

Rights 40

Rights For Animals Legislation Laws 40

Animal Ethics

JUNE 11, 2008

I should think that the trustee of funds willed to a dog or cat is more than a mere custodian of the animal he protects. So far McCloskey is on solid ground, but one can quarrel with his denial that any animals but humans have interests. Rather his job is to look out for the interests of the animal and make sure no one denies it its due.

2004 40

2004 Animal Rights Rights Animal 40