Save Our Bacon! Say No to Dolphins!
Okay, seriously. I can't believe that this story even exists, but it does. And it is just so outrageously ridiculous that I felt I had to resurrect this blog to rant about it. There's no easy way for me to write this and not have you think I've lost whatever marbles I had left, so I'm just going to post the link (to the BBC website, I may add) and let you find out for yourselves.
Human Rights For Dolphins
So, there you have it. Scientists are now claiming that Dolphins and Killer Whales are self-aware, and that they deserve to be recognized as "persons". There is, apparently, a movement seeking support for a "Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans". Yeah . . .
Before this rant descends into either A) me mocking this concept mercilessly or B) any readers I may have had accuse me of eating dolphins or C) A followed by B, let me state plainly that I do not eat Dolphin meat. I don't like the texture. But more importantly, if this were to gain traction and become an actual thing, where would we draw the line?
The BBC article cites examples in Iceland of fishermen and whales working together. Big deal. Man has, for millennia, used animals to help with tasks. Dogs help round sheep, cats catch mice and other vermin, oxen plow fields, horses substituted for cars for a few hundred years. But nowhere along the line did we stop and say, you know, these beasts need the same rights as we do. Because simply put, they don't.
Human Rights are just that - Human. Though it will be a nice precedent to have established when the machines rise up against us, it takes a lot more to be deserving of the liberties which our society has bestowed upon us than to just be self aware. The dolphins in these studies have been trained to react in certain ways, and admittedly, they have shown great creativity in certain circumstances. The cleaning the pool example above, showed that they are well capable of playing the system when they so desire. The little weasels.
However, it's worth also pointing out that it has been well documented that Crows have been known to make their own tools to retrieve food or use traffic to crack open walnuts, is this not intelligence? More importantly, is this not imagination, something that Dr Robert Winston claimed in his "Walking With Cavemen" series is a key component in what separated Homo Sapiens from all the other creatures of the time and since? Yet where is their Declaration of Rights? Dolphins are no different from any other animal species. They are, however, almost universally loved, and along with panda bears, are one of only a handful of species that animal rights campaigners know can be counted on to instantly garner widespread support with the masses. Just because they're cute.
But I still ask, where do we draw the line? Is the dolphin the one and only stop on this tour? Or are others queueing up to see if they can be next? Will we have to apologise to horses for all those battles their ancestors were ridden into? Do we pay reparations to snakes for all those handbags and boots their brethren were turned into? Should we return the pianos to the elephants, or would that just be bad taste? Will we still be allowed to farm these animals for their meat?
I've blogged before about PETA. I believe them to be akin to a terrorist organisation, and I was also deeply concerned to see that a spurious lawsuit they have filed against Seaworld on behalf of 5 Orca Whales will be given the light of day in court. I have no doubt that this is just another publicity stunt by animal rights activists (I acknowledge that this story is not necessarily PETA) that probably will never be given another thought and that by blogging about it, I am only giving them more publicity. But still, it needs to be said.
Protect your Barbecue. Say no to the Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans.
Human Rights For Dolphins
So, there you have it. Scientists are now claiming that Dolphins and Killer Whales are self-aware, and that they deserve to be recognized as "persons". There is, apparently, a movement seeking support for a "Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans". Yeah . . .
Before this rant descends into either A) me mocking this concept mercilessly or B) any readers I may have had accuse me of eating dolphins or C) A followed by B, let me state plainly that I do not eat Dolphin meat. I don't like the texture. But more importantly, if this were to gain traction and become an actual thing, where would we draw the line?
The BBC article cites examples in Iceland of fishermen and whales working together. Big deal. Man has, for millennia, used animals to help with tasks. Dogs help round sheep, cats catch mice and other vermin, oxen plow fields, horses substituted for cars for a few hundred years. But nowhere along the line did we stop and say, you know, these beasts need the same rights as we do. Because simply put, they don't.
Human Rights are just that - Human. Though it will be a nice precedent to have established when the machines rise up against us, it takes a lot more to be deserving of the liberties which our society has bestowed upon us than to just be self aware. The dolphins in these studies have been trained to react in certain ways, and admittedly, they have shown great creativity in certain circumstances. The cleaning the pool example above, showed that they are well capable of playing the system when they so desire. The little weasels.
However, it's worth also pointing out that it has been well documented that Crows have been known to make their own tools to retrieve food or use traffic to crack open walnuts, is this not intelligence? More importantly, is this not imagination, something that Dr Robert Winston claimed in his "Walking With Cavemen" series is a key component in what separated Homo Sapiens from all the other creatures of the time and since? Yet where is their Declaration of Rights? Dolphins are no different from any other animal species. They are, however, almost universally loved, and along with panda bears, are one of only a handful of species that animal rights campaigners know can be counted on to instantly garner widespread support with the masses. Just because they're cute.
But I still ask, where do we draw the line? Is the dolphin the one and only stop on this tour? Or are others queueing up to see if they can be next? Will we have to apologise to horses for all those battles their ancestors were ridden into? Do we pay reparations to snakes for all those handbags and boots their brethren were turned into? Should we return the pianos to the elephants, or would that just be bad taste? Will we still be allowed to farm these animals for their meat?
I've blogged before about PETA. I believe them to be akin to a terrorist organisation, and I was also deeply concerned to see that a spurious lawsuit they have filed against Seaworld on behalf of 5 Orca Whales will be given the light of day in court. I have no doubt that this is just another publicity stunt by animal rights activists (I acknowledge that this story is not necessarily PETA) that probably will never be given another thought and that by blogging about it, I am only giving them more publicity. But still, it needs to be said.
Protect your Barbecue. Say no to the Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans.
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