Respect for animals a mark of humanity

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Mirko Bagaric: Respect for animals a mark of humanity (29dec05)

THE moral black spot that we have towards animals is so gaping that it will

shame us in the eyes of future generations. That's the message we should take

from the Greenpeace activists that are harassing the Japanese whaling fleet as

it goes about its brutal task of fulfilling its self-awarded licence quota of

killing 935 minke and 10 fin whales this summer.

 

The Japanese don't have a monopoly when it comes to dishing out doses of human

savagery towards animals. All countries engage in the practice in obscenely high

levels.

 

The killing of whales is a particularly distressing example of animal cruelty.

Whales scream in terror as they are being massacred in a killing process that

often lasts for several hours. Unlike humans, they are not blessed with a

consciousness shut-off valve that kicks in when they are subjected to

unthinkable levels of pain. Their suffering continues as their flesh is

repeatedly harpooned and ripped apart.

 

The rivers of blood now filling the Antarctic ocean should jar our moral psyche

into overdrive to reassess the manner in which we treat animals. Looking back on

history, many of us are bewildered at the barbarity displayed by previous

generations towards the interests of certain agents. More enlightened future

generations will regard the callous disregard with which we treat animals as on

a par to the repugnant ways that our forefathers treated groups such as women

and people with dark skin.

 

We eat millions of animals annually, despite the fact that animal products are

not essential (and in some cases are detrimental) to our dietary needs. In the

process, we often farm and kill animals in cruel ways. We have no qualms about

inflicting the cruel death of gentle creatures in order that we can salivate on

the transient delight of a yummy burger, even though we would salivate no less

on a vegetarian meal.

 

We also intentionally inflict pain on animals in scientific experiments that

have less than remote chances of success and use their skins to keep us warm and

enhance our looks, despite the fact that we have an over-supply of synthetic

material which can satisfy these needs.

 

Rarely is the benefits and burdens scale so grossly distorted.

 

Time for the carnage to stop.

 

There is no wriggle room on the animal-cruelty front. It is unquestionably

morally repugnant. Animals can't speak in ways that we understand. Their

intellect is not high and they don't have an awareness of themselves as

continuing entities over time.

 

Yet they are entitled to be treated with concern and regard because they posses

the most important attribute that qualifies an entity for moral standing: the

capacity to feel pain and hence suffer. Once the moral standing of animals has

been elevated to a point where it is accepted that it is impermissible to treat

them cruelly, the next stage involves a recognition of the fact that it is wrong

to kill animals (even using painless techniques), or otherwise mistreat them,

for the purpose of consumption. Until we reach that level of moral

understanding, our behaviour towards animals will continue to be the shame of

our generation.

 

Mahatma Gandhi correctly noted that " the greatness of a nation and its moral

progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated " . It's not only the

Japanese who stand condemned at this point in history.

 

 

a.. Professor Mirko Bagaric is head of Deakin Law School. This is an extract

from his paper No absence of Malice Towards the Gallus - Animal Cruelty the

Shame of a Generation in the environmental and planning law journal Generation

(with Keith Akers).