‘Captive Ambassadors’: The hidden lives of zoo animals
‘Captive Ambassadors’: The hidden lives of zoo animals
The book ‘Captive Ambassadors’ exposes the hidden lived realities for animals in zoos. It challenges the notion of zoo animals as “ambassadors” for their species and argues for a shift in human-animal relations that honors these animals as unique individuals with intrinsic value, transcending the confines of their captive roles. Human-animal encounters are advertised by zoos as educational opportunities; however, they rarely lead to meaningful action to better the welfare of animal individuals. The few animals who are individualized (mainly charismatic mammals) have biographies fabricated to present captive animals as willing conservation ambassadors and saviors of their species. Meanwhile, the […]
‘Out of Sight, Out of Mind’: Wild animals deserve rights, too
‘Out of Sight, Out of Mind’: Wild animals deserve rights, too
A large part of animal advocacy centers around animals raised for human consumption. ‘Animal lovers’, ranging from vegans to pet-lovers, rarely advocate or think much about wild animals. Wild animals that end up in zoos or sanctuaries occasionally capture public interest for brief periods, but the interest is often fleeting. This is indefensible. Wild animals deserve our attention and respect, for the same reasons that we should care about any creature: they are sentient, with recognizable social behaviors and emotions, and just like humans their lives have intrinsic value. But they should not be ignored: our ideology and laws dictate […]
LOOK AND SEE: Reputation doesn’t matter with the animal rights movement; attention does
LOOK AND SEE: Reputation doesn’t matter with the animal rights movement; attention does
PETA is likely the most effective animal rights organization of all time despite its disruptive and often unpopular tactics. The organization created a real movement when nothing existed in the 1970s. Doing unpopular things is often necessary to create change. There are two important explanations. The first is that unpopular activism overcomes social desirability bias (this bias suggests that most people will be inclined towards avoiding unpopular tactics precisely because they are unpopular, regardless of their effectiveness). The second and related explanation is that movements, particularly in their early stages, are mostly about mobilizing activists rather than directly winning over […]
