10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2015

Although lip service was paid to the fact that lions are endangered and a lion was poached, the language of anger was the language of animals rights. The killing of Cecil was equated with murder, a moral crime rather than a symptom of a ecological problem. This is of course an anathema for many in the animal rights camp.

Lions 199

Lions Sierra Leone Hunting Buffalo 199

Animal Person

MAY 26, 2010

I didn't like the idea of the cloud for categories at first, but now I do because it's a great visual tool to determine what someone's focus (including mine) is. That's a far more useful tool than categories (not that they're the same thing). And I still wrestle with opportunities to decrease suffering.

Vegan 100

Vegan Suffering Free Range Animal 100

Animal Person

JUNE 8, 2009

He writes, "The dog remained a vital tool in biomedical research for more than 300 years and was the vehicle for a remarkable run of medical breakthroughs.". It does not make them more or less a "tool." To view someone who spends their life starving, piercing, mutilating, terrifying and killing others as a mentor is shocking.

Animal Welfare 100

Animal Welfare Monkeys Animal Welfare Act Vivisection 100

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 20, 2008

Ethical vegetarianism is the thesis that killing and eating animals is morally wrong whenever equally nutritious plant-based alternatives are available. Virtually everyone agrees that: (1) It is wrong to cause a conscious sentient animal to suffer for no good reason. Animal abuse is a crime in all fifty states, and rightly so.

Vegetarian 40

Vegetarian Lacto-Ovo Meat Ethics 40

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 18, 2006

I had a strong interest in science because of its reliance on reason and skepticism, which struck me as very good tools for truth seeking (which is ultimately what I am interested in). Currently, I do not believe that killing an animal is prima facie morally wrong.

Factory Farm 40

Factory Farm Factory Farming Morals Factory 40

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2013

My post last week where I defended game hunting as a conservation tool has, unaccountably, encountered a certain amount of push back. In the past I have attributed some of this conflict to differences between the conservation mindset and that of animal rights/animal welfare.

Tigers 169

Tigers Hunting Game Iraq 169