Lots of people describe themselves as “animal lovers.” Too often, that means only that they can say either “oh, how cute!” or “oh, ain’t it awful!” with feeling. How cute is the dear little kitten or puppy; how cute is the dog who shakes hands on command. Ain’t it awful about poor animals in shelters, ain’t it awful about abused pets, ain’t it awful what Michael Vick did. And so on, ad nauseam.
In the preface to his landmark 1975 book, “Animal Liberation,” Peter Singer tells about two such animal lovers he had met before its publication.
The Singers had tea with a couple of women who had heard he planned to write about animals. As a self-described “animal lover,” one of the women waxed rhapsodic about her pets and related subjects. Then, while she ate a ham sandwich, she asked the Singers about their pets. Both women were surprised to learn they had none.
They were more surprised to learn how the Singers were interested in animals: not as pets, but as independent sentient beings who should not be exploited by humans (as was the pig whose flesh was now in the sandwiches before them).
The Singers explained that they weren’t particularly interested in animals as pets and they didn’t “love” animals. But they did care about “the prevention of suffering and misery”; they were “opposed to arbitrary discrimination”; they thought it “wrong to inflict needless suffering on another being, even if that being were not a member of our own species”; and finally, they wanted to change how animals “were ruthlessly and cruelly exploited by humans.”
His book is not about pets, Singer says after telling that story. It would probably be uncomfortable reading for those who think “love for animals involves no more than stroking a cat or feeding birds in the garden.”
“Animal lovers” – it is to laugh.
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Friday, August 28, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Cats in trouble -- part 2
Second case of cats in trouble: In the last few days, two newspapers have reported on Princeton Borough’s problem with feral cats. Inexplicably late, the stories mention 50-some feral cats being rounded up about two months ago (!?), and taken to SAVE, described as a nonprofit shelter on Herrontown Rd.
Council members are reportedly wondering if cats should be licensed. Feral cats – licensed? Not likely. And why domestic cats aren’t already licensed is a mystery.
Without licensure (and its back-up info about owners and addresses and shots) a hurt or lost cat can’t be returned home. That’s just for starters. Either the newspaper reports were woefully incomplete (as well as late coming), or town officials haven’t (yet) given this issue their best thinking.
The cats deserve better.
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Council members are reportedly wondering if cats should be licensed. Feral cats – licensed? Not likely. And why domestic cats aren’t already licensed is a mystery.
Without licensure (and its back-up info about owners and addresses and shots) a hurt or lost cat can’t be returned home. That’s just for starters. Either the newspaper reports were woefully incomplete (as well as late coming), or town officials haven’t (yet) given this issue their best thinking.
The cats deserve better.
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Cats in trouble -- part 1
Feral cats are in trouble in Ewing Township, where there are also problems with the staff and volunteers, as well as the inhabitants, at the animal shelter. Sketchy newspaper coverage makes it hard to talk about the issues with authority, but the situation has been festering all summer, with no word of a peaceful solution.
The problems – many of which seem to come down to poor communications and indistinct lines of authority – include (1) what to do about feral cats; (2) should (and could) the operating philosophy of the animal shelter be "no-kill"; and then immediately (3) how is that term defined.
For instance, “no-kill” can mean different things to different people with different interests. What about incurably sick animals? What about vicious ones? What about animals for which there is simply no room? And then, how’s a word like “vicious” defined and proven? Who must vouch for “incurable”? And so on.
Meanwhile, of course, the animals are in the middle. That’s not a good place to be when emotional, partial and often politicized information is being traded without ground rules for civility, accuracy or timeliness. At some point, people can become their dearest cause’s worst enemies, and impartial mediation seems to be the only way out.
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The problems – many of which seem to come down to poor communications and indistinct lines of authority – include (1) what to do about feral cats; (2) should (and could) the operating philosophy of the animal shelter be "no-kill"; and then immediately (3) how is that term defined.
For instance, “no-kill” can mean different things to different people with different interests. What about incurably sick animals? What about vicious ones? What about animals for which there is simply no room? And then, how’s a word like “vicious” defined and proven? Who must vouch for “incurable”? And so on.
Meanwhile, of course, the animals are in the middle. That’s not a good place to be when emotional, partial and often politicized information is being traded without ground rules for civility, accuracy or timeliness. At some point, people can become their dearest cause’s worst enemies, and impartial mediation seems to be the only way out.
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Friday, August 21, 2009
P.S. on pachyderms
Another lucky elephant, this one in Thailand. She’s the recipient of a permanent artificial limb. Here’s what happened.
Ten years ago, Motola, now 48 years old, stepped on a land mine while working in a logging camp near the Myanmar border. She lost her left front foot and part of her leg. Happily for her, in 1993 a group called Friends of the Asian Elephant had opened the Elephant Hospital in northern Thailand. That’s where she was cared for.
The hospital has treated thousands of elephants – and well it should, because the numbers of domesticated pachyderms has dropped from 1950’s 13,400 to about 2,500 today.
For the last three years, Motola wore a temporary device aimed at strengthening her leg muscles and tendons and getting her fit for the permanent prosthesis. Then, earlier this month, she took her first tentative walk with her newly installed artificial leg.
If – as she was photographed doing -- grabbing dust with her trunk and spraying it into the air conveys happiness, then Motola is recovering well.
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Ten years ago, Motola, now 48 years old, stepped on a land mine while working in a logging camp near the Myanmar border. She lost her left front foot and part of her leg. Happily for her, in 1993 a group called Friends of the Asian Elephant had opened the Elephant Hospital in northern Thailand. That’s where she was cared for.
The hospital has treated thousands of elephants – and well it should, because the numbers of domesticated pachyderms has dropped from 1950’s 13,400 to about 2,500 today.
For the last three years, Motola wore a temporary device aimed at strengthening her leg muscles and tendons and getting her fit for the permanent prosthesis. Then, earlier this month, she took her first tentative walk with her newly installed artificial leg.
If – as she was photographed doing -- grabbing dust with her trunk and spraying it into the air conveys happiness, then Motola is recovering well.
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Thursday, August 20, 2009
Earned royalty
“There she is” . . . the Pachy Princess, chosen from among all the contestants in the “Ms. TUSKany Pageant.” The elephant (yes, the elephant) with the most votes (as in donations) will be crowned Ms. TUSKany on Oct. 17 at the 2009 Elephant Grape Stomp.
Humans who attend the event will “sip regional wines, savor Tuscan cuisine and share a squishy moment with the elephants” (a.k.a. “pachyderms” or thick-skinned animals).
If this seems stranger and stranger, that’s because it’s all about an elaborate fund-raiser for PAWS, the Performing Animal Welfare Society, in California. Among the residents at one of its three sanctuaries are nine elephants, including Maggie, formerly of the Anchorage, Alaska zoo.
You read it right: an elephant – whose habitat is tropical – lived for years in Alaska, in a cage with a concrete floor, and for much of the time without elephant companionship, until animal activists raised such a wide and loud ruckus that Anchorage reluctantly let her go. Underwritten by a humane and moneyed friend of animals, Maggie was flown to California, where she has settled right in, as reported in reports and videos from PAWS.
The vote-donations from here for “Pachy Princess” won’t go to Annie, Ruby, Gypsy, Lulu, Mara, Rebecca, Wanda or Nicholas (in the running for Mr. TUSKany) – however worthy they all are. Maggie’s the sentimental favorite. In becoming a “rescued elephant” and escaping Alaska, she beat the odds. (As Maggie’s freedom fighters said at the end of each note, “Warm rumbles” or “Trumpets!” )
Besides an introduction to PAWS and news of Maggie, more details on the Ms. TUSKany pageant can be found at the organization website: pawsweb.org .
Vote early and often!
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Humans who attend the event will “sip regional wines, savor Tuscan cuisine and share a squishy moment with the elephants” (a.k.a. “pachyderms” or thick-skinned animals).
If this seems stranger and stranger, that’s because it’s all about an elaborate fund-raiser for PAWS, the Performing Animal Welfare Society, in California. Among the residents at one of its three sanctuaries are nine elephants, including Maggie, formerly of the Anchorage, Alaska zoo.
You read it right: an elephant – whose habitat is tropical – lived for years in Alaska, in a cage with a concrete floor, and for much of the time without elephant companionship, until animal activists raised such a wide and loud ruckus that Anchorage reluctantly let her go. Underwritten by a humane and moneyed friend of animals, Maggie was flown to California, where she has settled right in, as reported in reports and videos from PAWS.
The vote-donations from here for “Pachy Princess” won’t go to Annie, Ruby, Gypsy, Lulu, Mara, Rebecca, Wanda or Nicholas (in the running for Mr. TUSKany) – however worthy they all are. Maggie’s the sentimental favorite. In becoming a “rescued elephant” and escaping Alaska, she beat the odds. (As Maggie’s freedom fighters said at the end of each note, “Warm rumbles” or “Trumpets!” )
Besides an introduction to PAWS and news of Maggie, more details on the Ms. TUSKany pageant can be found at the organization website: pawsweb.org .
Vote early and often!
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Sunday, August 16, 2009
Unpayable debt
What can you say about a professional athlete who viciously kills dogs for sport and profit? whose animal-abuse rap sheet must be miles long? who is evidently incapable of compassion and probably incapable of remorse as well? who has “paid his debt to society,” though he never can do so to the animals he calculatedly and cold-bloodedly murdered?
You can say “Michael Vick,” and if you’re the Philadelphia Eagles, you sign him. Evil, compounded by greed, giving the lie to all the sanctimonious statements about how Vick should be banned from pro football. In fact, he should be banned from humanity, which is related to “humane.”
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You can say “Michael Vick,” and if you’re the Philadelphia Eagles, you sign him. Evil, compounded by greed, giving the lie to all the sanctimonious statements about how Vick should be banned from pro football. In fact, he should be banned from humanity, which is related to “humane.”
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Saturday, August 15, 2009
None for me, thanks
"Chicken formula," "Salmon formula," "Beef formula," "Kitten formula." What?! Does this can of Wellness cat food really contain "Kitten"? Oh my god. It's hard to believe that a major pet food company (Mother Hubbard) let this huge goof slip by and the cans described above turn up on supermarket shelves.
It's a classic example of non-parallel construction, as I tried to explain by phone to a customer service rep. I think she got it. At least she promised to tell others there, in the marketing dept. I can only hope she explained it clearly. The proof will be in future cans of Wellness cat food. Wish I could bet with someone on whether a correction will be made.
And, no, Harry and Billy don't eat canned food. I was just "shelf-shopping."
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***** a message to those visiting this blog: *****
Hi, folks. I've managed to lose a few of your comments lately, for which I'm sorry. In the process of trying to master the ins and outs of blogging, I've goofed a few times, as some of you already know. Please accept my apology, then keep reading and commenting. Thank you!
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It's a classic example of non-parallel construction, as I tried to explain by phone to a customer service rep. I think she got it. At least she promised to tell others there, in the marketing dept. I can only hope she explained it clearly. The proof will be in future cans of Wellness cat food. Wish I could bet with someone on whether a correction will be made.
And, no, Harry and Billy don't eat canned food. I was just "shelf-shopping."
#
....................................
***** a message to those visiting this blog: *****
Hi, folks. I've managed to lose a few of your comments lately, for which I'm sorry. In the process of trying to master the ins and outs of blogging, I've goofed a few times, as some of you already know. Please accept my apology, then keep reading and commenting. Thank you!
#
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