From Vice, are your pets contributing to global warming? Kiona Smith-Strickland on the one thing that people never understand about cats (and more and more). Want to raise empathetic kids? Get them a dog — Denise Daniels on the unexpected developmental benefits of having a pet. Hal Herzog on why people care more about pets than other humans. The introduction to Companion Animal Ethics by Clare Palmer and Peter Sandoe. Eric T. Olson reviews Persons, Animals, Ourselves by Paul F. Snowdon. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says humans will be robots’ pets. Rob O’Sullivan on the cruel cost of “cute”. Wal-Mart’s push to get its suppliers to give farm animals fewer antibiotics and more room to roam is expected to have a big impact on the food industry, experts say. The introduction to The War Against Animals by Dinesh Wadiwel.
Manuel Worsdorfer (Frankfurt): “Animal Behavioural Economics”: Lessons Learnt From Primate Research. Maurizio Molinari and William Kremer on a woman on a mission to save Italy’s pigs. Dave Davies interviews John Hargrove, author of Beneath the Surface: Killer Whales, Seaworld, and the Truth Beyond Blackfish. Like Jane Goodall, but with elephants: Scott McLemee reviews Elephant Don: The Politics of a Pachyderm Posse by Caitlin O’Connell. Susan Orlean on what makes the “Lion Whisperer” roar: He's famous for getting dangerously close to his fearsome charges, but what can Kevin Richardson teach us about ethical conservation — and ourselves? Dylann Roof is not a “terrorist”, but animal rights activists who free minks from slaughter are.
A study finds the world is in the midst of a mass extinction, and humans are to blame. A horribly bleak study sees “empty landscape” as large herbivores vanish at startling rate. Stewart Brand on how the idea that we are edging up to a mass extinction is not just wrong — it’s a recipe for panic and paralysis. Scientists just found soft tissue inside a dinosaur fossil — here’s why that’s so exciting. Scott McLemee reviews How to Clone a Mammoth: The Science of De-Extinction by Beth Shapiro. Call of the Rewild: Jeremy Yoder on why some people want to bring giant dead things back to life. Can science go back to the future? Cathy Gere on how trying to bring extinct species back to life is the latest symptom of ecological anxiety. Call it the “grolar bear” dilemma: Are hybrids caused by climate change bad for species? Greg Breining on superwolves, new butterflies, and all the hybrid species evolving before our eyes. Can you spot the real animal hybrid? Take a quiz on nature’s mutant offspring.
From Relations: Beyond Anthropocentrism, a special issue on Wild Animal Suffering and Intervention in Nature, including Oscar Horta (Santiago de Compostela): The Problem of Evil in Nature: Evolutionary Bases of the Prevalence of Disvalue; Mikel Torres (EHU): The Case for Intervention in Nature on Behalf of Animals: A Critical Review of the Main Arguments against Intervention; Luciano Carlos Cunha (FUSC): If Natural Entities Have Intrinsic Value, Should We Then Abstain from Helping Animals Who Are Victims of Natural Processes?; Julia Mosquera (Reading): The Harm They Inflict When Values Conflict: Why Diversity Does not Matter; and Catia Faria interviews Jeff McMahan on making a difference on behalf of animals living in the wild. Dylan Matthews interviews Peter Singer, the world’s most famous utilitarian, on whether all carnivorous animals should be killed. Magnus Vinding on speciesism and The Effective Altruism Handbook.
From National Review, Wesley Smith on why Cecil’s killer violated human exceptionalism. Brian Beutler on why Cecil the Lion has nothing to do with your politics. Leah Libresco on how the United States is the biggest importer of trophy lions like Cecil. Phil Edwards on all 512 animals Teddy Roosevelt and his son killed on safari. Gun advocate Ted Nugent: The whole Cecil the Lion story is a “lie” (and more). It’s worse than Walter Palmer and Cecil the Lion: Meg Brown goes inside the sick, bizarre world of trophy hunting (and more). Lochran W. Traill and Norman Owen-Smith on why the debate over Cecil the Lion should be about conservation, not hunting (and more and more and more). Derrick Clifton on what really killed Cecil the Lion (and more). Dylan Matthews on why eating chicken is morally worse than killing Cecil the Lion (and more). Judd Legum on the science of why you are so upset about Cecil the Lion (and more). Angry about Cecil the Lion’s death? Take it out on Republican Congress. Angry about Cecil? Get ready to be angrier. If you are upset about the killing of Cecil the Lion and you are not a vegan, then you are suffering from moral schizophrenia.
Dan Hooley (Toronto) and Nathan Nobis (Morehouse): A Moral Argument for Veganism. A look at the environmental case for eating vegetarian, in one sentence. Sophie Barnes on how veganism is often seen as a vain attempt to dismantle market demand for animal products, one block of tofu at a time — this debate overlooks the radically transformative potential of compassion. Timothy Hsiao (FSU): In Defense of Eating Meat. How people defend eating meat: Meat eaters who justify their eating habits feel less guilty and are more tolerant of social inequality say researchers (and more). From Grist, a special series on meat: What’s smart, what’s right, what’s next. Have we passed “peak vegetarianism”? Julian Baggini on how the vegetarian movement has ground to a halt.
