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- Herausgeber: Diversa Ediciones
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
The most common way we come to know animals is usually by rote learning the specific features that certain kind of animals have according to a textbooks. We learn that they are mammals, birds or fish; but at school we rarely mention that they have a personality of their own and even less do we analyze whether we treat them well or badly. Have you ever wondered how animals actually feel? Have you thought about how they are treated in our society? The Voice of Animals promotes reflection through critical thinking on different issues related to animal ethics. By raising questions it paves the way to analyze the most common themes that emerge in adolescence regarding the lives of animals, both free and captive.
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The most common way we come to know animals is usually by rote learning the specific features that certain kind of animals have according to a textbooks. We learn that they are mammals, birds or fish; but at school we rarely mention that they have a personality of their own and even less do we analyze whether we treat them well or badly.
Have you ever wondered how animals actually feel? Have you thought about how they are treated in our society?
The Voice of Animals promotes reflection through critical thinking on different issues related to animal ethics. By raising questions it paves the way to analyze the most common themes that emerge in adolescence regarding the lives of animals, both free and captive.
The Voice of Animals
Pilar Badía & Diego J. Hernández
www.diversaediciones.com
The Voice of Animals
© 2021, Pilar Badía & Diego J. Hernández
© 2021 illustrations, Sara Ramínez Sáez
Cover image: © Sara Ramírez Sáez (shine.es)
© 2021, Diversa Ediciones
EDIPRO, S.C.P.
Carretera de Rocafort 113
43427 Conesa
ISBN ebook: 978-84-18087-20-2
ISBN paper: 978-84-18087-19-6
Design: Dondesea, servicios editoriales
All rights reserved.
www.diversaediciones.com
Index
Introduction
OTHER ANIMALS
Ethics
Dolphins
Empathy
What are animals like?
Dogs
Animal abuse
Beautiful or ugly
Rational vs. irrational animals
Rats
A picture of childhood
Zoos
Do we want to know how animals live?
Primates
What are other animals telling us?
Fish
Who deserves respect?
We feel
Plants
Speciesism
Pigs
Animal intelligence
Other intelligences
Human dignity
Foxes
Nature
Are animals fair?
Are we equal?
Invertebrates
They want to live
HELPING ANIMALS
Should we do something?
Are animals important?
Ethical consumption
Protecting the planet
Wild animals
Sparrows
Animal shelters
Animal sanctuaries
Chickens
Commitment to animals
Acknowledgments
Authors
Introduction
During adolescence, our bodies aren’t the only things that change; the most important changes take place in our minds. As our critical thinking skills begin to develop, we start questioning ideas that, until that point, we would have accepted without a second thought.
Sometimes our newfound skepticism centers on superficial things, like complaints we might have when an adult tries to restrict our use of cell phones. Sometimes, however, we reflect on deeper subjects, like the injustices that occur in our society.
At school, critical thinking is considered a fundamental part of human development, and it marks the transition from childhood to adulthood. For this reason, many schools encourage classroom discussion and reflection about important topics such as racism, homophobia, and sexism.
But how often do we talk about the treatment of animals? Do animals deserve the treatment that we give them?
OTHER ANIMALS
Ethics
Ethics are personal reflections about how we should act, and why. One of the first things explained to us in childhood is that when we take an action, we must think about how that action will affect others, not just ourselves. In fact, before we even learn to speak, we are taught that we shouldn’t steal others’ toys, and that we should share our own. In other words, we are taught not to harm others, and to help others whenever we can. Overall, we are encouraged to behave ethically and to be good people.
For this reason, we understand intuitively why, for example, somebody who likes to listen to loud music at the crack of dawn is not acting ethically, because their actions are not letting their neighbors sleep. Just because we enjoy doing something doesn’t make it the right thing to do.
However, when our actions harm animals, we hang onto the idea that these actions are simply a matter of personal taste. But what if the things we like are causing animals to suffer? Shouldn’t we take their suffering into account?
Dolphins
Many of us have enjoyed watching as dolphins twist and jump, or orcas toss trainers through the air, with our families. These shows give us the impression that these animals are happy where they are, but there are many things we don’t understand about their lives.
Dolphins living in the ocean, for example, live in big groups and travel thousands of miles in a year. They are capable of thinking about their own thoughts, and they communicate with each other using a complex system of sounds and clicks that humans still haven’t been able to decipher. They form strong friendships, and they even call each other by unique names. When a baby dolphin (called a calf) is born, the whole group comes to meet her. If a calf dies, her mother will carry the body for days, continually pushing the body to the surface in the hopes that the baby may start breathing again.
Orcas, often incorrectly called “killer whales,” are actually the largest members of the dolphin family. Like other dolphins, orcas are curious and playful animals who form strong bonds with other members of their group. The internet is full of videos of people swimming peacefully next to free orcas in open water. In captivity, however, orcas have caused the deaths of several trainers.
A study of the wellbeing of orcas in captivity affirms that “Orcas are large, deep-diving cetaceans who are known for their global distribution, wide-ranging behavior, intelligence, and social complexity. They possess one of the largest and most complex brains in the mammalian kingdom. However, they are the third most common species of cetaceans kept in aquariums and marine theme parks. Most spend many years, and sometimes decades, in captivity. At the time of writing, 60 individuals are held in concrete tanks globally.”1
Empathy
Feeling happiness when we see that another person is happy, or sadness if we see that they are suffering, are signs of empathy. In order to have empathy, we must be able to understand how other people are feeling.
As we grow up, our empathy toward other people develops little by little. However, the opposite often happens with animals. In fact, many adults view compassion for, or interest in, animals as a childish attitude.
