David Cassuto
This article discusses some recent scientific findings about the intelligence of dolphins and their ability to communicate and learn. The researchers conclude that “it is morally unacceptable to keep such intelligent animals in amusement parks or to kill them for food or by accident when fishing.”
That’s nice, of course, but one wonders how many more such studies will be required before the obvious becomes too blatant to ignore. Quite a few, apparently, if the comments to the piece are any barometer. My personal favorite:
Intelligent? Pretty much all they [dolphins] do is swim, eat, & talk to each other. Oh, there is one more thing they do…
For those who think of dolphins as oh-so-sweet, innocent cuddly creatures, um, male dolphins often gang-rape females.
Liberals are always trying to minimize the distinctions between man & beast, man & woman, man & God, as well as good & evil.
It’s hard to know where to begin with this one. Certainly, all those liberal zoologists must be feeling pretty silly right about now. Imagine the depravity of a species that gang-rapes. What kind of a sick mind would compare such foul creatures to humans?
Filed under: animal ethics, animal welfare, environmental ethics, marine animals | Tagged: animal abuse, animal advocacy, animal cruelty, animal ethics, animal rights, animal suffering, animal welfare, dolphins, environmental advocacy, environmental ethics, environmentalism, marine mammals |
Animal Blawg 
[…] Also The Times has an article that scientists have declared Dolphins the second most intelligent life, and should be treated as non-human persons. For some initial responses from the AR community, see Mary Martin and David Cassuto. […]
The article mentions Thomas I. White but not his recent book: In Defense of Dolphins: The New Moral Frontier (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2007), in which he makes an ethical argument for treating dolphins as “nonhuman persons” invoking, in part, recent scientific research like that cited in the article..
It seems on many topics, but especially this one, scientific research and rational argument together cannot persuade people to “open their minds” or radically alter their perceptions or change long-standing habits. I suspect we need more sophisticated psychologically- (and rhetorically?)based strategies coupled with the “force of circumstances,” not to mention, a bit more time, before folks will come to appreciate what for some of us, at least, is indeed “the obvious.”
Thanks to your post I do not look like an idiot. I had an argument with my friend and this proves I was right. Thanks!