Post by Star Cluster on May 17, 2010 7:35:04 GMT -5
We had a dog many years ago that had puppies. We gave two away and kept one. The mother and puppy became inseparable.
One day, they were out exploring and had crossed the road in front of our house. As they were coming back, the puppy was jumping across the side ditch and jumped into the side of a passing car, breaking its neck. The mother sat in the yard the rest of the day, howling and mourning. And she never ate another bite of food. That mama dog literally grieved herself to death over the loss of that puppy.
Anybody that has ever had pets knows that each one has been unique in various ways. Some show more "smarts" than others within the same species. Of the last two dogs I have had, one was extremely intelligent, the other was about as dumb as could be. And when talking about our pets, we say that they each have their own personality. And the more intelligence a species has, the more personality each individual displays.
So I don't mind the designation of non-human person being placed on some species of animals that show a higher degree of intelligence, especially those that tend to show degrees of self-awareness such as dolphins, elephants, and some of the great apes. The all tend to possess personalities. What they don't have is humanity, although some tend to act more civilized at times.
And we already have laws in effect (or at least some general rules of decency) that protect them and prevent us from hunting them simply because of their intelligence, although we do still capture them and put them on display. But I think that's fine unless they are being mistreated and abused. We do tend to have a soft spot for animals that show intelligence close to our own.
I just don't want to see them designated as some form of lesser human with all the rights and legal standings of humans. I think that would be silly and get into some rather bizarre and inane circumstances. The court system in the US is already fraught with silly cases and are generally over-loaded to begin with. And while I'm sure PETA would love to see this happen, tagging the more intelligent species of animals as non-human persons would even further enhance the conservation effort for those animals.
One day, they were out exploring and had crossed the road in front of our house. As they were coming back, the puppy was jumping across the side ditch and jumped into the side of a passing car, breaking its neck. The mother sat in the yard the rest of the day, howling and mourning. And she never ate another bite of food. That mama dog literally grieved herself to death over the loss of that puppy.
Anybody that has ever had pets knows that each one has been unique in various ways. Some show more "smarts" than others within the same species. Of the last two dogs I have had, one was extremely intelligent, the other was about as dumb as could be. And when talking about our pets, we say that they each have their own personality. And the more intelligence a species has, the more personality each individual displays.
So I don't mind the designation of non-human person being placed on some species of animals that show a higher degree of intelligence, especially those that tend to show degrees of self-awareness such as dolphins, elephants, and some of the great apes. The all tend to possess personalities. What they don't have is humanity, although some tend to act more civilized at times.
And we already have laws in effect (or at least some general rules of decency) that protect them and prevent us from hunting them simply because of their intelligence, although we do still capture them and put them on display. But I think that's fine unless they are being mistreated and abused. We do tend to have a soft spot for animals that show intelligence close to our own.
I just don't want to see them designated as some form of lesser human with all the rights and legal standings of humans. I think that would be silly and get into some rather bizarre and inane circumstances. The court system in the US is already fraught with silly cases and are generally over-loaded to begin with. And while I'm sure PETA would love to see this happen, tagging the more intelligent species of animals as non-human persons would even further enhance the conservation effort for those animals.