Last Saturday (5/8/1999), a march for animal rights was held in downtown Asheville. The walk and fund-raiser, called "Hit the Pavement ... Not Your Pets", was hosted by Buncombe County Friends for Animals. They made the point that people who abuse animals are also likely to abuse other people. This in itself is an excellent justification for ending animal abuse. However, it is not the only one.
Our species calls itself by the Latin name Homo sapiens, which means "man the wise". We believe ourselves to have been created in God's image. We believe God gave us dominion over the Earth, and all of the creatures in it. In effect, the animals are ours to do with as we wish. Our only obligation is to "be fruitful and multiply".
How do we know there are not other species who believe the same thing? We arrogantly assume we are the only ones, but we really don't know. Many other species have developed capabilities that far exceed our own, yet we still consider ourselves to be superior to them. Might they feel the same way about us?
To take but one example: we humans presume that our intelligence makes us unique among animals. We use language as both the evidence and the expression of that intelligence. But anyone who has ever listened to a scolding crow, or a twittering dolphin, or the song of a humpback whale knows intuitively that these creatures are saying something. Their language, and that of many other species as well, could be at least as highly developed as our own.
How do we know? Can we understand what they are saying? If we're as
intelligent as we claim to be, why not?
Some religious organizations are beginning to realize that humanity
has a kinship with and a responsibility toward his fellow species. We are
only one of millions of species created by God, and we are as dependent
on all of them as they are on us.
One such organization is UFETA, Unitarian Universalists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. To quote from their brochure: "The seventh principle of Unitarian Universalism calls us to 'respect the interdependent web of existence of which we are a part.' We of UFETA ... understand that we human beings are only a single strand in the intricate web of life. Like wolves and whales and hummingbirds, we are fragile and perishable, and each species depends alike on the earth for our survival."
Rev. Gary Kowalski, President of UFETA's Executive Committee, is also the author of a book titled "The Souls of Animals". In the introduction, he writes: "No one can prove that animals have souls. But if we open our hearts to other creatures and allow ourselves to sympathize with their joys and struggles, we find they have the power to touch and transform us."
Racism, sexism, classism, and all the other 'isms' are born and draw strength from fear and ignorance. Likewise, speciesism is indicative of a lack of empathy for our fellow travelers on this earth. It is our speciesism which permits us to label the hunting of animals as 'sport', which allows us to visit untold cruelty on billions of animals in factory farms, which lets us consume their bodies as food. It is our speciesism that causes hundreds of other species to become extinct every single day—never to be seen or heard from again for all time.
If we really were "man the wise", would we not recognize that our own existence depends on the vast diversity of life? As we are learning in the case of honeybees, there are species for which there is no substitute—no 'technological fix'. In time we may yet realize that we are ALL connected in deep and binding ways. But as our numbers steadily grow, those of other species diminish, and eventually dwindle to zero. How many more must die before we understand?
Rev. Kowalski's book begins with a quote from Black Elk, an Oglala Souix holy man. Traditionally, Native Americans saw no difference in the reverence due to animals and humans. They perceived animals as their fellow "people". As Black Elk says so eloquently:
"We should understand that all things are the work of the Great Spirit. We should know the Great Spirit is within all things: the trees, the grasses, the four-legged and winged peoples; and even more important, we should understand that the Great Spirit is above all these things and peoples. When we do understand all this deeply in our hearts, then we will fear, and love, and know the Great Spirit, and then we will be and act and live as the Spirit intends."
