Miami Herald: ANIMAL RIGHTS: They think, feel pain

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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/15975425.htm

 

ANIMAL RIGHTS

They think, feel pain

 

BY JONATHAN BALCOMBE

jbalcombe

 

Recent news that Happy, a 34-year-old Asian elephant, recognized

herself in a giant, shatter-proof mirror at the Bronx Zoo is just the

latest in a burgeoning list of eye-opening revelations into the minds

and motivations of other beings.

 

Recent studies have shown that mice empathize with familiar mice who

are suffering, that captive male monkeys will hand over a bottle of

fruit juice for a chance to ogle photos of female monkeys' bottoms

and that rats accustomed to being tickled will come running for more,

making high-pitched chirps linked to the origins of human laughter.

 

Such discoveries are not confined to mammals. Pigeons navigate using

human roads, ravens slide or roll down snow banks just for kicks and

iguanas will shun boring food to brave the cold for a gourmet treat.

 

Fish, too, can no longer be dismissed as mindless, unfeeling things.

Three fish biologists recently described fishes as: ``steeped in

social intelligence, pursuing Machiavellian strategies of

manipulation, punishment, reconciliation and cooperation.''

 

The once-long list of uniquely human traits is dwindling almost as

fast as you can say ''human supremacy.'' Tool use, a former symbol of

our unique ingenuity, is widespread in nature, and several species

manufacture and modify their own tools. Animals also have their own

cultures, and they may show malice, or compassion, for others. They

deceive, tease, pretend and celebrate, and they exhibit a broad range

of emotions including grief, gratitude, jealousy, joy and

embarrassment.

 

We aren't even the best at everything. Our sense of smell pales in

comparison to that of most mammals. Bats interpret echoes with a

precision that our best sonar can't come close to emulating. Some

animals use geomagnetic, electrical, seismic or celestial cues.

Pigeons outscore humans at recognizing objects rotated at different

angles. Chimps were thought to have poor face-recognition skills --

until someone thought to present them with pictures of faces from

their own species instead of human faces.

 

Unfortunately, as our knowledge and understanding of animal awareness

and sentience advances, our treatment of them lags further behind. We

kill tens of billions of animals yearly, and the toll is rising. In

just the time it takes you to read this sentence, a thousand

factory-farmed chickens will have been slaughtered in the United

States. Like most farmed animals today, they are deprived of the

freedom to move about, fresh air to breathe and the sun on their

backs.

 

Another hundred million animals languish in tiny laboratory cages and

suffer in harmful experiments and product tests. Those who don't die

are usually killed. Tens of millions more are killed for fashion,

recreation and entertainment. The numbers strain comprehension. But

science and common sense tell us that every one of these animals is a

thinking, feeling individual.

 

Because animals are sentient -- because they can feel fear and pain,

pleasure and joy -- it follows that to them, their lives have value.

It matters little what their IQ is. Their pain and pleasure are akin

to yours and mine, and their will to live is just as strong.

 

If animals experience the world essentially as we do, can we really

justify harming and killing them for our own interests?

 

 

--

Jonathan Balcombe is an ethologist and Research Scientist with the

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, in Washington, D.C.

and author of Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling

Good.

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