Dear Chere, You wrote: > What is DDAL?
DDAL is an Animal Rightist organization. To quite simply state it, the difference in my mind between the Animals Rights and Animal Welfare movements is that one cares for the well being of animals (Animal Welfare) and one literally wants to grant them Animal Rights. This, in the case of every AR organization, would include the right not to be bred. I was surprised this morning by the following article which I have copied out of the attributed source. It is a book review. (I am using it under the Fair Use doctrine in order to educate.) Apparently, law schools are buying into some of this AR propaganda as well. SIGH. (When I went to law school they offered a course on the "Law of Outer Space", and I have yet to meet anyone who practices it. It was basically glorified admiralty law.) You will see also, that this study in law school is funded as it is traditionally funded, by a well known actor; most AR rights have famous personalities on their BOD which give their appeal greater PR value if not greater merit. The below article discusses a typical sort of ploy, making AR sound *almost* reasonable as if true agendas are disclosed too fast the AR movement looks just plain silly. The author of the article cleverly perceives this and notes it in her discussion of what is left out of this book. I think my own discussion of DDAL can be found in the archives. Best, Suze >From the Boston Herald Sunday (online edition) > Needham author draws the line for animal rights: > Seeks legal status for `nonhumans' > > by Stephanie Schorow > Sunday, June 23, 2002 > > Your dog is like part of your family. If he's killed in a car >accident, can you sue > for emotional damages as well as property damage? > > Where do you draw the line? > > You don't believe in eating meat, but do you support using animal >organs to > save human lives? > > Where do you draw the line? > > You abhor the sight of caged primates used for medical research, >but what > about dolphins kept in ocean tanks? > > Where do you draw the line? > > Animal-rights lawyer Steven M. Wise has heard that phrase many >times in his > decades-long quest to win legal recognition for ``nonhuman >animals.'' > > And it inspired the title of his newest book, in which Wise >outlines legal > principles that he believes could be used to grant legal rights to >some > animals, including orangutans, dolphins, elephants, dogs, parrots >and > honeybees. > > Yes, bees. ``Drawing the Line: Science and the Case for Animal >Rights'' > (Perseus, $26) contains an elaborate chart establishing levels of >autonomy for > various species that could ultimately be used to determine their >rights in a > court of law. > > The chart may infuriate animal liberationists, who insist that all >animals have > rights and should be treated equally. Likewise, it may be ridiculed >by those > who find it ludicrous that parrots or insects have any kind of >civil rights at all. > > To Wise, however, the chart is a step in a long, slow process of >winning > ``personhood'' status for animals. It also represents a step in the >evolution of > Wise's activism. > > Two decades ago, the then meat-eating lawyer, a '76 graduate of >Boston > University, happened to read Peter Singer's seminal book ``Animal > Liberation.'' It changed his life: ``I did not know we were abusing >nonhuman > animals in vast numbers,'' Wise recalled. ``It was the greatest, >most massive > injustice I've ever encountered. And it still is the greatest >injustice I've ever > encountered.'' > > Wise became a vegetarian, started reading all he could on animal >rights and argued his first animal-related case, > a veterinary malpractice case. Since 1990, he has taught an >animal-rights class at the Vermont Law School and in > 2000 taught the first animal-rights class at Harvard. > > ``One of the things that I try to emphasize and that is widely >misunderstood is I'm not a philosopher,'' said Wise, a > Needham resident. ``What I am is a lawyer. I'm trying to figure >what sorts of arguments do judges feel comfortable > with, do lawyers feel comfortable with.'' > > So in establishing legal rights for say, an orangutan, he draws on >legal concepts like ``liberty'' or ``bodily integrity'' > or ``the precautionary principle.'' > > But can such concepts apply to animals? Well, he noted, once they >didn't apply to human slaves. Today, children's > rights may be superceded by adults' rights; Wise's chart, for >example, includes Christopher, his 4-year-old son, as > a reference point. > > ``I wanted to break through the wall . . . that separates all >humans from all nonhumans; all humans being legal > persons having legal rights and all nonpersons being things without >any legal rights at all,'' he said. ``I want to > break through that wall so that at least some nonhuman animals are >given at least some basic legal rights.'' > > While Wise insists ``what I believe I tend to keep out of my >books,'' his personal agenda is apparent in his legal > arguments. > > That agenda, however, continues to evolve. > > He described watching chimpanzees in Uganda where ``it became clear >to me that the male chimps routinely > brutalize the female chimpanzees. That I found to be very >disturbing.'' Two years ago, he would have viewed any > human intervention as ``cultural imperialism to a ridiculous >degree.'' Now, however, ``I'm not so sure.'' > > Does Wise seriously think humans should act as domestic violence >police for primates? Maybe. ``I'm not so sure > we should do that in the mountains of Uganda. But how about if (the >chimpanzees) are in a (human-supervised) > sanctuary? It's a complex problem.'' > > His new book builds on arguments posed in his first book, >``Rattling the Cage: Toward Legal Rights for Animals.'' > Wise focuses on individuals, like Alex the parrot and Koko the >signing gorilla, to prove their level of autonomy > conveys basic rights to the species. > > On his chart, animals such as dolphins and gorillas are assigned to >Category 1: ``We are increasingly certain they > are entitled to these rights.'' Less certain are categories 2 and >3: ``We simply don't know enough to know what their > minds are like or if they have minds.'' > > Honeybees' position (between category 2 and 3) surprised even Wise. >``I was startled at how much cognitive > research has been done on honeybees and startled at how complex >their minds are.'' > > So could someone be slapped with a fine for slapping a bee? > > No, he said. ``I don't think bees are entitled to rights.'' But >``you may want to respect them more than you might have > ever thought. They are not like robots with wings.'' > > In 1980, Wise was a lone voice. Now, 25 American law schools offer >courses in animal rights or protection, he > said. A $500,000 donation by TV star Bob Barker has established an >animal law center at Harvard. Two > independent filmmakers have trailed Wise for a documentary called, >``A Legal Person.'' > > If his arguments were ever codified in case law, what would the >world be like? Would animal experiments be > banned, the meat industry curtailed, zoos disappear? > > Some animals would be treated ``the way we treat 3- or 4-year-old >children''; as for the rest, Wise isn't sure. > ``Drawing the Line'' shrewdly does not examine animals like cows >and chickens, which power huge industries. > Banning meat production may be Wise's personal goal, but he's not >arguing that point, at least, not in this book. > > ``What I'm trying to do is get recognition there is incredible >diversity in the animal kingdom,'' he said. ``Just > because you think it's absurd to give a gnat a right, it's not >absurd to give a chimpanzee rights.'' > > That's where Wise draws the line. -- Suze at Llawen Cavaliers "...I have seen that in any great undertaking it is not enough for a man to depend simply upon himself." -Isna Ia-wica "Thought comes before speech" Luther Standing Bear ========================================================= "Magic Commands": to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL to start it up gain click here: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. 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