Wild Sovereigns and animal denizens

 

Donaldson & Kymlicka Basics

• equal basic rights (right to life and liberty)
• different political categories
• human categories --> animal categories

Last time: citizens

1. domesticated animals: cats, dogs, goats, donkeys, horses, cows, pigs, chickens
2. see last time

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Liminal denizens 

1. Humans: tourists, foreign students, temporary workers, illegal immigrants, opt-out citizens,  like Amish
2. Animals: ducks, geese, rats, mice, squirrels, swallows, chimney swifts, feral cats, etc.
3. Animal denizens seek human settlements, depend on us, but don't share a community with us
4. Two principles that apply to human denizens (p. 14)
• KEEP OUT: legit to have borders and laws about who enters; also legit to discourage entry
• ACCOMMODATE: "sooner or later they acquire the right to stay" (p. 14)
5. Application to liminal animal denizens
• KEEP OUT: we can try to keep them out
• ACCOMMODATE: "we need to regularize their status, and to accept and accommodate to their presence" (p. 14) 

Animal liminal denizen examples

MICE 

• keep out: plug holes in walls to keep mice out, avoid open food, use humane traps and remove
  
• accommodate: "why should we begrudge them some space in the cellar, or the garage or the garden shed? " (p. 15)

 

CANADA GEESE

"we can actively discourage geese from colonizing our parks and fields, although of
course we can’t kill them or otherwise harm them" (p. 15)
• video about methods
• Migratory Bird Treaty Act
• accept that they live in some areas

 

FERAL CATS

• analogy with opt-out communities (the Amish)
• feral cat colony at SMU

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Foreigners in other countries ... wild animal sovereigns 

1. Foreigners in other countries  
• respect for sovereignty (e.g. the UK gentry)
• we don't "manage" people in other countries
• occasional assistance ok
2. Wild animal sovereigns 
• respect for sovereignty
• we shouldn't "manage" wildlife
• occasional assistance ok

 

Wild animal sovereign examples

STOPPING RUTTING ELK - NO!

• we would stop dogs from fighting at a dog park, because they're members of our community
• we should respect elk fighting because that's their way of life          

 

STOPPING PREDATION - NO!

• we stop our cats from killing birds, because the cats are members of our community
• shouldn't stop wild animal predation 

ONE-OFF ASSISTANCE

• Nick and Nora at White Rock Lake -- last summer one of their 3 eaglets fledged and couldn't get back to the nest...the police got involved with protecting them 

REGULAR ASSISTANCE 

• Saving the pufflings...solves a problem that humans create -- light pollution
• Habitat loss also human-caused ... solved with wildlife corridors

Helping the puffins in the Westman Islands, Iceland

EXCESSIVE ASSISTANCE 

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PREVIEW: Shelly Kagan, "For hierarchy in animal ethics"

• D&K: political categories
• Kagan: capacity categories