Animals "out there"
So far, focus has been on animals in our homes...in our backyards...in factory farms ... in labs. Now we are talking about animals "out there" in wild places like forests, prairies, oceans, etc.
- How should we treat wildlife, generally? (today)
- What are the endemic --built in--problems of wildlife and what should we do about these problems? (11/11 & 13)
- Is hunting ok? (11/16 & 18)
- Is captivity in zoos and aquaria ok? (11/20)
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How should we treat wildlife, generally?
What if wild animals DON'T HAVE moral standing?
Ecological holism (Aldo Leopold, wildlife managers)
- What has moral significance is the whole ecosystem
- Individual animals have no moral standing
- We should help/hunt depending on what's beneficial for the whole ecosystem
Example: helping/hunting at Hagerman Wildlife Refuge
- hunting seasons (wild boar, white-tailed deer)
- crops planted for migratory birds
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Suppose you think that wild animals DO have moral standing. Should we be...
- Hands off approaches to wildlife
- Hands on approaches to wildlife (interventionist)
Hands off
- No hunting (based on animal rights, not category)
- If we caused problems, we should help
- If problems are endemic, we should respect their "sovereignty"
- D&K don't rule out one-off rescues; still pretty hands off
Example: should we build bridges to help the wildebeests crossing the Mara river?
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Hands on approaches
Martha Nussbaum, Justice for Animals: Our Collective Responsibility
PART 1: What's wrong with hands off?
- Hands off intuition involves "romantic dream" (p. 224) about wilderness as better because free of humanity, urban life, industrialization
"Oh those animals, so far below us, how alive, how robust they are! If only for a brief five-day safari we could share (from a safe distance) their world of violence and scarcity. Of course, we would never dream of living that life, but we feel a frisson by brief contact, a d we feel more alive. (Many people on eco-safari think and talk in exactly this way.) (p. 236)
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| Watching the wildebeeests |
- Actual problems of wild animals...
- starvation
- weather extremes
- fires
- predators
- high infant mortality
- The wild doesn't even exist -- every part of nature impacted by humans to some degree
"However large the tracts of land may be, all land in our world is thoroughly under human control. Thus 'wild animals' in Africa live on animal refuges maintained by the governments of various nations, who control admission to them, defend them from poachers (only sometimes successfully), and support the lives of animals int hem through a range of strategies (including spraying for tsetse tsetse flies and many other matters). There would be no rhinos or elephants left in the world if humans did not intervene" (p. 228)
- Lights in cities affect bird migration
- garbage in oceans and commercial fishing affect sea life
- climate change affects many species
- habitat loss affects all species
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PART 2: How to intervene (examples)
Kyrgyzstan, Ala Archa Park
- Zone 1 -- humans may enter for hiking and picnicking
- Zone 2 -- wild animals, no humans
- Zone 3 -- only breeding animals
New Zealand bird sanctuary
- birds evolved without mid-sized mammals, so are defenseless
- settlers introduced rabbits, squirrels, mice, rabbits
- sanctuary has netting to keep the mammals out, but give birds freedom
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PART 3: What is the ultimate goal? When have we acheived justice for animals?
- rejects the hedonistic Utilitarian's focus on happiness and misery, pleasure and pain
- all animals should have the opportunity to develop all of their fundamental capabilities
- What are the central capabilities (Justice for Animals p. 88, 102, 234-235)
- Life
- Bodily health
- Bodily integrity
- Senses, imagination, and thought
- Emtions
- Practical reason -- making key choices
- Affiliation
- Other species
- Play
- Control over one's environment
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Peter Singer: Hands off or Hands on?