Joyce E. Salisbury (Wisconsin): Do Animals Go to Heaven? Medieval Philosophers Contemplate Heavenly Human Exceptionalism. Robert J. Delahunty (St. Thomas): Does Animal Welfare Trump Religious Liberty? The Danish Ban on Kosher and Halal Butchering. The Church of Animal Liberation: Bruce Friedrich on animal rights as “religion” under the free exercise clause. From The Scavenger, Alison Waters on killing in the name of conservation; and Susannah Waters goes behind the scenes of the dog meat trade. Independent ranchers and animal rights activists don’t agree about much, except that it’s time to stop using federal tax dollars to support the meat lobby. How much meat is too much? Bee Wilson reviews Farmageddon: The True Cost of Cheap Meat by Philip Lymbery, with Isabel Oakeshott and Planet Carnivore by Alex Renton. Bruce Friedrich on why it’s time to stop the chicken industry from boiling birds alive. Tristan McConnell on 20 numbers to make you appreciate the extent of the world's poaching problem. Should a chimp be able to sue its owner? Steven Wise is arguing for the legal “personhood” of chimps and other animals — and no one is laughing him out of the courtroom. Brandon Keim on how dogs and cats are blurring the lines between pets and people. Dogs (and cats) can love: Neurochemical research has shown that the hormone released when people are in love is released in animals in the same intimate circumstances. Richard Hertzberg interviews Virginia Morell, author of Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures, on the frontiers of animal research. Do animals have a sense of humour? Tickling rats can tell us a lot about the ability of animals to laugh and joke. Animal magnetism: Humans are fascinated by our fellow animals — is that just an evolutionary hangover or something more profound?
