Accidental animal crueltyI once invented a brilliant game - I'd sit at the top of the stairs and throw cat biscuits to the bottom. My cat would eat them, then I'd shake the box, and he would run up the stairs for more biscuits. Then - of course - I'd throw a biscuit back down to the bottom. I kept this going for about half an hour, amused at my little game, and all was fine until the cat vomited. I felt absolutely dreadful.
Have you accidentally been cruel to an animal?
This question has been revived from way, way, way back on the b3ta messageboard when it was all fields round here.
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rob, Thu 6 Dec 2007, 11:13)
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I didn't say that there was no case for animal experimentation.I just made a plea for consistency. I have no problem with experiments on animals subject to basic welfare provision.
But I do think that persons count for more, morally, than non-persons. Chimps are persons - they have self-awareness and so on. And if you're willing to experiment on a chimp, you ought also to be willing to experiment on a human - disabled or not doesn't matter for this point. I don't see any moral difference between human and non-human persons - that's all. Making a non-human person suffer to save the life of a human person is no more defensible than making a human person suffer to save the life of a non-human person.
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Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 7 Dec 2007, 11:34,
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