The Emotional Lives of Animals

Humans ARE animals = need for the term

“nonhuman animals”. Animals are sentient = a someone rather

than a something. Sentience: self-awareness, experience

emotions and sensations eg pain, suffering, pleasure.

All sentient beings are individuals eg there’s not a “dog personality”.

Sentience

Source: Mark Bekoff ‘Scientists Finally Conclude Nonhuman Animals Are Conscious Beings’ in Psychology Today.

Sentience is often recognised in cats and

dogs.

Cats and dogs

• Tool use : Eg chimpanzees, even crows (video).• Self awareness: Mirror self recognition eg magpies. • Grief: Therapy sessions eg baboons grooming after deaths.• Pleasure seekers, not just pain avoiders: Orangutans are

“adrenaline junkies”. They participate in “snag riding” – deliberately swinging on weak branches that may collapse.

• Fairness: Dogs won’t offer their paw if another dog is getting a treat for it and they aren’t.

• Graciousness: Being good/nice/co-operative is important for all social animals, not just humans eg elephants rescue antelope.

• Sentience: The “bedrock of ethics” = all sentient beings should be part of the “moral community”.

Not distinctly human

Source: Interview with Jonathan Balcombe, who is a scientist studying animal behaviour.

What about sentience in farm animals?

‘The one thing that I have learned through getting to know all the animals that have passed through the gates of Edgar’s Mission is that they ALL are individuals with unique personalities and traits that go way beyond those dictated by their species’ (Pam Ahern – Co-founder, Edgar’s Mission Farm Sanctuary).

Edgar’s Mission Farm Sanctuary in Victoria.

Sheep

Have a strong sense of individuality.

Can recognise the faces of at least 10 people and 50 other sheep for at least two years.

React to facial expressions (preferring a smile than a grimace, just like humans).

Source: Scientists at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge.

Wool

For more information on wool, see: http://yourveganfallacyis.com/en/wool-is-not-unethical/resources

Chickens

Intelligent animals. Ability to tell people

apart. A greater sense of

spatial awareness than young children.

Source: scientific study on animal behaviour, reported in the Guardian.

Egg Industry

Source: RSPCA ‘What happens with male chicks in the egg industry?’

Cows

Show excitement when they’ve learnt something new.

Form lifelong relationships.

Source: Donald Broom, a professor at the University of Cambridge.

Cow’s Milk

Videos: “Sophie’s choice”

25.00-26.00 of ‘Carnism’.

Reunited.

Source: RSPCA ‘What happens to Bobby Calves?’

Pigs

Smarter than dogs eg computer tests.

Video: pigs at Edgar’s Mission.

Source: John Webster, a professor at the University of Bristol in England.

Respecting Sentience

Video: Stephen Colbert with Claire Daines on Temple Grandin.

Further Information

For more information on…

Emotional lives of animals: Jonathan Balcombe. Visit a farm animal

sanctuary. Animal rights:

www.ara.org.au Veganism:

www.veganperth.org.au Vegan starter packs.

More from me… Email: Nick@ara.org.au www.ProgressivePodcastAustralia.co

m RTR92.1FM Indymedia:

http://rtrfm.com.au/shows/indymedia/ Every Monday 7-8pm.