Actually, I have three pet box turtles all of which are the most innocent creatures that I know of. I am a vegetarian and pride myself as the only one in the family. I think it is quite arrogant to say that because we are the so called 'superior species' then we own the world and do with it what we want. I believe that animals have a conscious and free will and intellect. Not many can successfully argue that point. Just read "Animal Minds" by Donald Griffin being one of the first people to prove animal intellect. One example is a gorilla using a sharp stone to break open a coconut in the wild. They are smarter than we think. Smarter than us! We pride ourselves on our great empires and industries, but in the end our ignorance plunders the world of its beauty.
I'm a vegan, the only one in my family. My aunt is vegetarian though. I, too, believe that they are concious and intelligent, however, I do stop at a point. Ants don't have the same level of conciousness that a dolphin does. I have a pet parrot, a Timneh African Grey, to be exact. Her name is "Darwin". She is amazingly intelligent. She soon may be able to count(Even this is young for her, she's not even a year old, and they can live for over 100 years!). You won't get any arguments from me on the point that non-humans are inferior. I believe in the equality of all beings, and I pride myself on never intentionally (directly or indirectly) contributed to the death of anything (other then some vegetable species) in near one year now. You must have misinterpreted my post. In no way do I feel I am superior to non-humans.
Well Doc, maybe that's why we don't eat gorillas.
Unfortuneately, some people poach and eat them.
It seems interesting that we don't eat animals which are considered to be more intelligent than others
Pigs are the seventh or sixth smartest animal in the world...
they may be smart, but they do not have a sense of right and wrong. they only act on instinct.
How can you say this? I have seen the sense of right or wrong within my bird and my dog. Moreso in my bird, who has felt GUILT. Why is it that you can presume to know how and why a being does something? Sure, maybe insects and other "dumb" non-humans act one instinct, but certainly, the "higher" forms do not. It is terribly anthropocentric to believe so.
a lion, after killing the deer for his meal does not go into phsyciatric coucenling
Neither do human hunters. I guess they don't have morality either.
or get tried by other members of his pride/pack.
Probably because, like humans now, the lion doesn't consider deer worthy of status. They do have a form of justice, if, say, a lion kills another, completely unwarrented. That lion is now the target of abuse.
