Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

To the Editor: Re “ Don’t Presume to Know a Pig’s Mind ” (Op-Ed, Feb. 20): Blake Hurst, a former hog farmer and president of the Missouri Farm Bureau, cautions that “we can’t ask the pigs what they think.” 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.

New York Times 40

New York Times New York Gestation Crates Gestation 40

Animal Person

MARCH 20, 2010

Here 's a factsheet about petting zoos, which at least in Florida have been a public health threat , to say nothing of the exploitation and suffering of the animals.) require hundreds of pig, cow and chicken corpses? I might be able to nix the petting zoo, and maybe even the pony rides, but the "BBQ" will remain untouched.

Zoos 100

Zoos Pets Ponies Cruelty 100

Animal Ethics

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

This passage puzzles me: Unsurprisingly, I believe it is wrong to inflict pain and death unnecessarily on a creature capable of suffering. How much do you want to bet that Randy Cohen eats cows and pigs? Here is a New York Times blog post about wolf hunting. Peter Singer more broadly examines the moral standing of animals here.)

Vegetarian 40

Vegetarian New York Times Pigs Morals 40

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 26, 2007

It might be argued that any decrease in suffering for farmed animals is good, morally speaking. But does giving pigs more room change the way they are viewed? Imagine arguing not that human chattel slavery ought to be abolished, but that it ought to be reformed so as to inflict less suffering on the slaves.

Factory Farm 40

Factory Farm Factory Farming Animal Suffering Farm Animal 40

Animal Ethics

AUGUST 22, 2007

To the Editor: Re “ Virus Spreading Alarm and Deadly Pig Disease in China ” (Business Day, Aug. Though it may be too late for too many, we can only hope that diseased animals are not left in pain but are humanely euthanized to end their suffering. In the long term, there is a glimmer of hope for China’s pigs.

New York Times 40

New York Times International Fund For Animal Welfare Wayne Pacelle Humane Society Of The United States 40

Animal Person

MARCH 11, 2010

To kill Violet Rays so I may eat her (or for any other reason other than to relieve her suffering) would be a betrayal, not to mention unnecessary. The same is true for cows, pigs, fishes, turkeys, chickens, buffaloes, sheeps, goats, and many other nonhuman animals whom we call "food."

Killing 100

Killing Vegan Buffalo Goats 100

Animal Person

JUNE 22, 2009

It's impersonal and hideously ugly and the animals suffer greatly. I wouldn't do it to a dog, and I shouldn't do it to a chicken/sheep/cow/pig. Their claim is that what has become the customary way to take sentient nonhumans from babyhood to untimely death is not humane. It's cruel. There's no "compassion" in the process.

Factory Farm 100

Factory Farm Factory Farming Slaughter Slaughtered 100

Animal Ethics

OCTOBER 13, 2008

From the perspective of the land ethic a herd of cattle, sheep, or pigs is as much or more a ruinous blight on the landscape as a fleet of four-wheel drive off-road vehicles. But this is not true of cows, pigs, sheep, and chickens. They want to abolish the institution of confinement, which inflicts horrible suffering on animals.

Animal Liberation 40

Animal Liberation Sheep Factory Farm Factory Farming 40

Animal Ethics

MARCH 11, 2007

But horses are not cows, pigs or chickens. To the Editor: Why would publicizing the ill treatment of slaughter-bound horses detract from the “undue suffering of other food animals,” as Christa Weil suggests? The issue is not whether slaughtering horses is un-American, but that it is inhumane and wholly unnecessary.

New York Times 40

New York Times New York Horse Slaughter Horses 40

Animal Ethics

AUGUST 2, 2008

Kristof’s thoughtful exploration of animal rights, I was astonished to read that he continues to eat animals, like geese and pigs, for which he obviously has such affection and respect. Doesn’t he realize that he does not have to engage in this voluntary activity, which causes moral conflict for himself and suffering for the animals?

New York Times 40

New York Times New York Factory Farm Factory Farming 40

Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 6, 2007

Consider some of the victories: On November 5th, 2002, more than two and a half million Floridians voted "Yes" on Amendment 10 to amend the state constitution and prohibit the use of gestation crates , narrow metal cages where breeding pigs are kept for most of their lives. The full text of the amendment is available here.

Factory 40

Factory Factory Farm Factory Farming Gestation Crates 40

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2012

I know on some level, I think that’s something almost all of us can get behind…no one, except the most callous and cold-hearted of the human race things its fine to torture animals, or deny that they are capable of pain and suffering.

Animal Rights Movement 207

Animal Rights Movement Animal Rights Rights Wildlife 207

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2011

Between 1985 and 1991, the ducks suffered a further drastic decline with fewer than 100 birds estimated from Grand Cayman. The National Trust of the Cayman Islands describes the success story as follows, “Willlie grows fruit and vegetables and raises pigs, and he noticed that the ducks were nibbling at the pig food.

Antigua and Barbuda 220

Antigua and Barbuda Puerto Rico Dominican Republic Jamaica 220

Animal Person

OCTOBER 26, 2009

This says it all: "[T]he vision of sustainable farms that give animals a good life (a life as good as we give our dogs or cats) and an easy death (as easy as a death we give our suffering and terminally ill companion animals) has moved me" (242). You never have to wonder if the fish on your plate had to suffer. Not a single one.

Factory Farm 100

Factory Farm Factory Farming Animal Vegan 100

Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 15, 2009

KBJ: Humans and pigs are not just sentient, which already distinguishes them from microorganisms; they are, in Tom Regan’s terminology, “subjects of a life.” Clearly, cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, and fish do not consent to being eaten. But the question remains. Why should microorganisms be sacrificed rather than humans? KBJ: Ditto.

Morals 40

Morals Vegetarian Meat Killing 40

10,000 Birds

APRIL 1, 2013

The Stephen’s Island Wren suffered a fate common to many island species of birds around the world. Humans, and the rats, pigs, goats, dogs, cats, snakes, mosquitos and disease they bring with them have wiped out species after species on islands. Island ecologies develop in fairly closed systems.

Feral Cats 195

Feral Cats Eggs Cats Feral 195