Standing with the Elephants
After waiting all year for a legal ruling that I anticipated with
more excitement than a kid at Christmas, I was devastated to hear that
the judge presiding over the Ringling Bros. circus case dismissed the
lawsuit [1] because he found that the pl...
Learning from the ants
You have been there, certainly. The freeway traffic is thick but it
is rolling along smooth and fast. Then the brake lights ahead start
glowing and the flow decelerates to a maddening crawl. Eventually, at
some seemingly arbitrary point the proces...
Big Numbers
Big numbers are hard to work with, so let's round them off. The US
debt is 10 trillion dollars (10,000,000,000,000; 1 followed by 13
zeros). The annual US consumption of nonhuman land animals is 10
billion (10,000,000,000; 1 followed by 10 zeros)....
Stray Animals and the Poor
This week, the lieutenant governor of South Carolina, Andre Bauer,
compared children who get subsidized school lunches to animals when he
told a story about his grandmother instructing him not to feed stray
animals. "You know why?" he asked in a s...
Academics, Advocacy and AETA
Scott DeMuth is a graduate student in sociology at the University of
Minnesota. [1] His research focuses on social justice movements, and
in the course of his work he has interviewed representatives of
radical animal rights organizations. He came ...
Honey and Vinegar
Try as I might, I can't find a handy vegan analogy for what I
witnessed over the past two days outside a circus protest, other than
the adage "You catch more flies with honey than vinegar." So with all
due respect to flies, bees, and bona fide soc...
Another view of sealing
Every year pregnant harp seals haul themselves out on the ice flows
off the Newfoundland coast and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Their pups
are born with a soft white coat and big dark eyes. That adorable,
innocent look is perfect for photos of hun...
A Registry for Animal Abusers
Not a week goes by without a story in the news of a case of animal
abuse or neglect somewhere in the country. This week the big story was
in Great Falls Montana, where John Carman appeared in court to face
charges of aggravated animal cruelty, ste...
Annie's Song
It was a dramatic moment in Judge David Swartz's courtroom in Ann
Arbor recently, as the prosecutor handed him several pictures. The
images depicted a young puppy, badly injured and heavily bandaged,
looking up at the camera as if to ask "why?" Th...
Saving Faces
Animal advocacy is often a vicarious pursuit. It is the only social
justice movement in which the activists aren't even of the same
species as those whose welfare they seek to improve. Many of us
personally rescue individual animals occasionally, ...
Hard to Believe
The recent tragedy involving captive orca Tilikum and SeaWorld [1]
employee Dawn Brancheau is cause for more than a brief pause-more than
a couple of days of darkness for SeaWorld's show _Believe_ at Shamu
Stadium. It is a kick-in-the-gut cry to S...
(Un)Affordable Animals
The recent incident involving the captive orca, Tilikum, and a
trainer (see blogs of March 19 [1] and March 25 [2]) raises the
question of agency in nonhuman animals, itself the subject of the most
recent volume of the ASI Human-Animal Studies Boo...
Captive Animals: More Questions
The recent case of a SeaWorld trainer who was killed by Tilikum, a
performing whale kept at SeaWorld in Orlando, has generated intense
debate about whether marine mammals like Tilikum should be kept in
captivity at all. As expected, the animal wel...
You Say Culture, I Say Cruelty
When people think of Hawaii, they think of blue waves, green palm
trees, and...bloody chickens? Apparently not, although the Hawaii
state legislature almost made it so. A proposed resolution [1] - which
thankfully failed [2] in committee - would h...
A Few Words About the Future of Animals
This past weekend over 200 attorneys, law students, academics and
others gathered at Harvard Law School for the 3rd "Future of Animal
Law Conference," sponsored by the Animal Legal Defense Fund [1].
With such a topic, the organizers had to deci...
CAFOs: An Unregulated Assault on the Air & Water
_We are pleased to welcome guest blogger David Cassuto and to post
his essay on the effect of modern industrial agriculture on farmed
animals, as well as on public health and the environment. It's
appropriate to consider these issues as we mark th...
Coping with Fatigue
Another week, more bad news for animals.
After last week's stunning Supreme Court decision to throw out the
1999 law banning crush videos and other videos depicting animal
cruelty (U.S. v. Stevens), animal activists and animal lovers were
stunn...
"Spill, Baby, Spill"
I admit that I'm surprised by my reaction to the unfolding story of
the oil spill in the gulf coast. Because of my work, I am confronted
with almost daily reminders of the havoc our society wreaks on
animals. Difficult, yes, but it's part of my jo...
Avatar's Lesson for Earth Day
_GUEST BLOGGER WILLIAM S. LYNN, PH.D. is a visiting professor of
Environmental Studies at Williams College, where he teaches courses in
environmental studies, ethics, qualitative research and public policy.
He has been selected as a fellow at our ...
How many are coming to dinner?
Suppose more people than you expected show up for dinner? Don't fret,
just throw another steak on the barbie. That helpful thought is
seconded, of course, by the meat industry.
But, what if by the year 2050 another 2.3 billion people also need...
Profts vs. Lives
This week, the Chicago animal rights group Mercy for Animals released
a chilling undercover video [1]showing workers at Conklin Dairy Farms
in Plain City, Ohio kicking, stomping, stabbing and beating dairy cows
and their calves. This video, and th...
The ASI HAS Fellowship Conference
We are happy to announce the final schedule for the 2010 ASI
Human-Animal Studies Fellowship Program Conference, to be held at
Clark University, in Worcester, Massachusetts, from June 28 to July 2,
2010.
The conference is free. We hope to see f...
Good News for (a) Change
Bad news about animals seems to be everywhere, and those of us in the
animal protection movement are particularly aware of and sensitive to
individual cruelty cases and ongoing institutional abuses.
So, for a change, here's some recent good new...
Getting over it
Trauma is part of everyday life in the wild. Typically, an animal
will respond to each situation by either running away, fighting, or
freezing in place.
You might think that experiencing repetitive life threatening
engagements would permanen...
Catastrophe in the Gulf
I am sure that the incident involving the Deepwater Horizon oil rig
and well in the Gulf even now after two months spewing forth its
deadly liquid gold is on the mind of every reader of this blog. Of
course, it should be on everyone else's as well...
Intellectual and Policy Frontiers
The 4th annual ASI Human-Animal Studies summer fellowship is now
history. We will be sharing news of this and plans for future
fellowships and related projects in this blog in the future. Here I
want to give you a front-seat at the final week of t...
The Pet Store Ban Controversy
Here are some headlines from this week's news sites: "San Francisco's
War on Pets" (AOL News); "Put Down the Hamster and Slowly Walk Away"
(NPR); "Squashing Children's Dreams: San Francisco Considers a Ban on
Pets" (Examiner.com).
It would appe...
Lifespans
I've been thinking lately about animals who are long-lived. This may
have been prompted by the 100th birthday celebration of a friend
several weeks ago. That same weekend, the radio show "Living on Earth"
had a segment on geoduck (pronounced "gooe...
Sowing Seeds
OK, it's shameless braggadocio, but enter "human animal studies" into
a Google search box and ASI's Fellowship Program will top the list of
references. ASI didn't pay for this placement. In large part, it
results from the number of credible websit...
Mama Grizzlies
We humans can't seem to make up our minds about other animals. We
frequently ascribe different qualities to the same species depending
on which characterization maintains our superiority and justifies our
actions.
For example, just this week th...
Parasailing Donkey: An Ongoing Indignity
Until a couple of weeks ago, I thought donkey basketball was the
worst indignity visited upon this gentle species in the guise of sport
and entertainment for us humans. Then came the report from Russia
about the parasailing donkey. And, as I have ...
Getting In Touch with Food
I was listening to the NPR cooking show "The Splendid Table" [1] on
the car radio the other day and heard an interview that for me
typified the shortcomings of what might otherwise be considered
"enlightened" eating these days.
In it, well-know...
When People Become Animals
Perhaps a "coming out" party for humans will soon be appropriate, as
we emerge from feeling separate and superior to other animals.
First we learned that genetically all animals are quite similar. In
fact, over 90 percent of our genes are iden...
Will the Real Truth Please Stand up?
Professor of psychology Marc Hauser, who studies animal cognition and
has written popular works including _Moral Minds: How Nature Designed
a Universal Sense of Right and Wrong_ (2006), will be on leave for the
coming academic year. This morning's...
New Semester Brings Promise
Yesterday was the first day of classes at my college, Central New
Mexico Community College. For me, this was a more exciting day than
usual because I am now teaching, only for the second time at this
school, a sociology course I created called Ani...
"The Animals' Agenda" Agenda
The magazines take up quite a bit of room on a bookshelf in my office
but I keep them there as a constant reminder that a valuable resource
to the animal advocacy community needs to be inventoried, digitalized,
and indexed.
The Animals and Soc...
Read All About It
It used to be that most of the headlines you read about animals while
standing in the supermarket checkout had to do with Bigfoot or
two-headed calves. But lately I’ve noticed some surprisingly
sophisticated news in mainstream magazines, and it...
Investment Advice
Here is an easy way to help our non-human animal relatives. Push your
company, university, or favorite charities to invest their reserve
funds in cruelty free and socially responsible securities. That would
erode support for factory farms, manufac...
Getting Animals out of the War Zone
In my Animals many of those dogs were no doubt eaten. After years of
public outrage, in 2000 legislation was passed to allow retired
military dogs to return home, where they either live with the soldiers
with whom they served, or can be adopted in...
Specious Species
In our most recent Research Nutshell (Where to Draw the Line? [1]),
Jill Church and I discuss the “perennial question in ethical theory
as well as in policy and practice: which species of animals deserve
our consideration?” For followers of Si...
The Conklin Dairy Cruelty Case: A Perspective
Most readers by now know about the horrific case of abuse on a dairy
farm in Ohio that was captured on tape by an undercover investigator
working for Mercy for Animals [1]. The video [2] depicts gratuitous
violence toward cows and calves. It is gr...
The Voice of Complicity
News coverage of this year’s dolphin roundup and slaughter in
Taiji, Japan [1] will reinvigorate the debate over the horrors so
vividly depicted in last year’s Academy Award-winning film “The
Cove.” [2] A report this week describes entire ...
The Dilemma of Technology and Animals: The welfare/rights problem revisited
In our efforts to protect animals, technology is a double-edged
sword. “Nuclear bomb” is more apt, for technology is probably the
most important factor in the big picture going forward as we seek
major shifts in the ways we treat other animals...
Animal Sacrifice
In the United States, October is known for Halloween. Millions of
kids and adults will dress up as their favorite monster or celebrity
and go to parties and trick or treat.
But in India, Bangladesh and Nepal, October is known for festivals
inv...
Harry Potter Meets Biodiversity
An alarming number of animal species today are on the brink of
extinction, or face threats to their existence. Last month, the
international (_caveat_: the US is the only major country not a
signatory) Convention on Biodiversity [1], an organizati...
Confronting Cruel Kids
When we read or hear about local cases of animal cruelty, sometimes
the only thing more shocking than what is done to the animals is the
age of the individuals doing the harm. Too often, those responsible
for beating, torturing or setting animals ...
Pig Talk
You bet pigs can talk. To each other. To us.
Do we listen? Most don't. Sandra Edwards does.
It's much more than an "oink oink here, and an oink oink there" to
Dr. Edwards. As a professor of agriculture at Newcastle University,
she studies wh...
The Campaign against Animal Fighting: What about the Victims?
GUEST BLOG: Don Cleary is Treasurer of the Animal Farm Foundation and
a member of ASI’s Advisory Council
When Michael Vick was arrested three years ago, millions of our
fellow citizens recognized what those of us in the animal movement
have a...
Crushing Cruelty, Seen and Unseen
There is welcome news about two recently passed bills in the U.S.
Congress, one regarding “crush” videos and the other regarding
food safety. The former regards one of the most egregious forms of
animal cruelty out there, the killing of small ...
Michael Vick: An American Story
Discussion of the advisability of allowing Michael Vick to become
the guardian of a companion animal in the near term future raises a
number of issues about which reasonable people disagree (Pacelle [1];
Mountain [2]).
One issue is therapeut...
