AGENDA
- Zoo presentation (SLIDES)
- Temple Grandin on animal pain and fear
Zoo presentation
- Write down one thought or question during the presentation, addressed to ONE presenter.
- My question for the presenters: our last two authors talk a lot about animal moods as well as pain and fear. How would you describe the mood of the animals you observed?
Temple Grandin
- Professor of animal sciences, Colorado State University
- Designer of slaughterhouses
- Person with autism and an expert on autism
The Reading
Temple Grandin, Chapter 5 (Pain and Suffering), Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior
INTRO (1-5)
We're going to continue eating meat so need humane slaughterhouses
- that's why she is exploring pain and emotions in "livestock" (sheep, cows, and other "prey" animals)
- animals tend to "mask pain" but especially prey animals
- vets may not supply painkillers after neutering
DO ANIMALS HURT? (6-8)
- mammals, fish, and birds all feel pain
- Evidence of pain in fish
- nociceptors--specialized neurons that respond when body is damaged
- injury-guarding--avoid using body part that's injured
- take pain-killers--they drink the bad tasting liquid that contains analgesics instead of a tasty alternative
- altered behavior--see Braithewaite study below
HOW MUCH DOES PAIN HURT? (8-11)
Pain vs. Suffering
- sensory pain -- I have a pain in my elbow
- suffering (or affective pain) -- It's really bothering me/it's not really bothering me
Hypothesis: Animals have pain but they suffer less than humans
Leucotomy Argument:
- Leucotomy patients still have pain but suffering less. (Their frontal lobes are disconnected from the rest of the brain.)
- Animals have smaller frontal lobes than humans to begin with. THEREFORE,
- Animal pain involves less suffering.
Autism Argument
FEAR IS WORSE THAN PAIN (14 -19)
Hypothesis: fear is worse than pain in animals but pain is worse than fear in humans.
- Empathic understanding based on her being autistic
- Observations of animals she works with
Is this news you can use? How would you treat your pets differently if you were convinced of this?
FREEDOM FROM FEAR (19-22)
FEARLESS GUPPIES (22-25)
STAYING ALIVE (25-29)
Elliot--the man without emotion, due to brain damage--how is he affected?
USING EMOTIONS TO PREDICT THE FUTURE (29-35)
Animal Minds worksheet