For the animals

This section focuses on the various ways animals suffer in the service of humans. It will be expanded soon.

Dr. Doolittle's speech

The following comes from Dr. Doolittle's speech in the 1967 version of the film before he's sent off to an insane asylum. (The transcription came from Mary Martin's blog at www.animalperson.net.)


I do not understand the human race.
It has so little love for creatures with a different face.
Treating animals like people is no madness or disgrace.
I do not understand the human race.
I wonder why do we treat animals like animals?
Animals treat us so very well.
The devoted ways they serve us and protect us when we're nervous --
Oh, they really don't deserve us, all we give them is hell!
Tell me how else man repays them, do we ever think to praise them?
No we don't, and this dismays them, you can tell.
We're riddled with ingratitude, we give no love or latitude,
in every way our attitude is, well, like animals.
Why do we treat animals like animals?
How can people be so inhumane?
Cows and chickens work to feed us, dog and horses show they need us
and though cats don't always heed us, their affection is plain.
What do we do?
We neglect them; we do nothing to protect them;
we reject them, don't expect them to complain.
We ignore them or we beat them; when we're hungry, then we eat them.
It's appalling how we treat them, it's insane!
Like animals!
We humiliate and murder and confine them.
We create their wretched status, then we use it to malign them.
I mean, why should we say, "preening like a dog"?
Why should we say, "working like a horse"?
Why should we say, "eating like a hog,"
when what we mean is "eating like a man"?!
Don't we? Of course!
A man of ill repute is called a "weasel" or a "rat,"
a woman you dislike becomes a "vixen" or a "cat."
A family that is blessed with healthy reproductive habits
occasions the remark, "Well you know them, they breed like rabbits"!
"He's as stubborn as a mule!"
"He's as stupid as an ox"
"He's as slimy as a snake!"
"He's as crafty as a fox!"
Remarks like that really get my goat!
Why don't we say, "noble as a frog"?
Or, why can't we say, "wealthy as a hen"?
True, we say, "devoted as a dog."
What we should say is: "chic as a giraffe," "pretty as a pig, eh?"
That'll be the big day, won't it?
But when? But when?!
When will we stop treating them like animals?
Is the human race entirely mad?
Women see a baby goatskin, or a lambskin, or a stoatskin!
And to them it's just a coatskin --
Oh, it's terribly sad!
When you dress in suede or leather, or some fancy fur or feather,
do you stop and wonder whether, for a fad, you have killed some beast or other?
And you're wearing someone's brother,
or perhaps it's someone's mother in which you're clad!
Like animals, like animals, like ... animals.
Well, it's true, we do not live in a zoo.
But man is an animal too.
So why can't you, like me,
like animals ...
animals.

Animals' rich lives

Back in the day, the 17th century to be precise, a fellow named Rene Descartes believed animals had no mental life, no emotions, that they were little different from rocks. He said that when animals cry out in pain, it's like the way a piece of metal might "scream" when a blacksmith is shaping it. Believe it or not, some people today still believe this. Even worse, some people DON'T believe it but they ignore the suffering of animals because it benefits them personally. So they rationalize this disconnect by saying "They're JUST animals." Of course, anyone who understands evolution knows that the emotions, thoughts, suffering, feelings, despair, joy, boredom, anger and, yes, love didn't suddenly appear in humans out of nowhere; they evolved over millions of years and are, necessarily, shared with other animals, to lesser or greater degrees. In this section, we'll be compiling examples of how animals can, do and should lead rich lives -- implying that hurting and killing them for our benefit cannot be justified if one hopes to remain consistent with valuing compassion and respect toward thinking, feeling beings.


P.S. Some people say it's anthropomorphic to ascribe emotions to animals. Really, such people are rationalizing to keep themselves from coming to the conclusion they must if animals feel emotions: Go vegan. 


P.P.S. Lots more content to come. Hopefully soon.

Meat and dairy cruelty

Infliction of harm and killing are an essential part of producing meat and dairy, and none of it is necessary because in the industrialized word there is an embarrassment of food choices for which other thinking, feeling beings did not need to be hurt. Needless suffering happens regardless of how "humanely" the animals are raised. Further, the nonhuman animal exploitation industries often foster cruelty to the animals beyond their "standard industry practices"; they often threat their workers poorly, the workers often torture the animals for fun and to relieve stress, and the workers often take this desensitization to cruelty home to their families. Below we've started chronicling this. Check back for more examples. And please contact us if you run across examples.