DawnWatch: Miami Herald op-ed on animal emotion — 11/10/06
November 11th, 2006 4:07 pm by Kelly G.———- Forwarded message ———-
From: DawnWatch – news [at] dawnwatch.com
Date: Nov 10, 2006 6:07 PM
Subject: DawnWatch: Miami Herald op-ed on animal emotion — 11/10/06
As a perfect compliment for the Wall Street Journal article on monkey sense of fairness, the Friday, November 10, Miami Herald includes an op-ed by PCRM’s Jonathon Balcombe headed, “Animal Rights. They think, feel pain.” (p29)
It opens:
“Recent news that Happy, a 34-year-old Asian elephant, recognized herself in a giant, shatter-proof mirror at the Bronx Zoo is just the latest in a burgeoning list of eye-opening revelations into the minds and motivations of other beings.
“Recent studies have shown that mice empathize with familiar mice who are suffering, that captive male monkeys will hand over a bottle of fruit juice for a chance to ogle photos of female monkeys’ bottoms and that rats accustomed to being tickled will come running for more, making high-pitched chirps linked to the origins of human laughter.
“Such discoveries are not confined to mammals. Pigeons navigate using human roads, ravens slide or roll down snow banks just for kicks and iguanas will shun boring food to brave the cold for a gourmet treat.
“Fish, too, can no longer be dismissed as mindless, unfeeling things. Three fish biologists recently described fishes as: ’steeped in social intelligence, pursuing Machiavellian strategies of manipulation, punishment, reconciliation and cooperation.’
“The once-long list of uniquely human traits is dwindling almost as fast as you can say ‘human supremacy.’”
You’ll find the whole piece on line here.
Balcombe ends with:
“If animals experience the world essentially as we do, can we really justify harming and killing them for our own interests?”
He opens the door for appreciative letters to the editor answering that question.
The Miami Herald takes letters on line here.
Yours and the animals’,
Karen Dawn
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at www.DawnWatch.com. To discontinue, go to www.DawnWatch.com/nothanks.php. You are encouraged to forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts but please do so unedited — leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)
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Tagged: animals animal+rights action+alerts dawnwatch animal+emotions animal+sentience pcrm
