Problems and Solutions in Animal Suffering

"... there is no sharp line between us ... and the rest of the animal kingdom." So Jane Goodall reminds us in her Foreward to Building an Ark: 101 Solutions to Animal Suffering, by Ethan Smith and Guy Dauncey; New Society Publishers, 2007. The authors and publishers have chosen a good subtitle, suggesting as it does that the core problem is not too few rights for animals, but too much suffering. We cannot activate our own compassion which alone will motivate us to end animal suffering until we look at that suffering squarely and acknowledge its horrific proportions.

As for solutions, Smith and Dauncey divide the 101 they propose into groups according to who could best implement them, thus listing solutions for individuals, schools, farmers, business, governments and so on. What's interesting is how solving animals' problems (suffering and abuse) leads naturally to solving the problems that plague humans -- the environmental and health problems for which Dauncey has previously written "solutions" books. Animal welfare were it to be accomplished would be the breakthrough, if we consider soil and water polluted with farm wastes, cancer-causing chemicals in meat, and loss of wildlife habitat which also performs global-cooling effects for us all.

Building an Ark includes amusing cartoons and encouraging messages from the famous, like Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, the Dalai Lama and Alex, an African Grey Parrot. It also points us to hundreds of websites and groups. With so many trying, why haven't we succeeded yet in eradicating animals' suffering? The authors remind us that "we have it within us to be bold, creative and determined and to embrace intelligent solutions for all our problems." Yes, "we" do, but what about the non-"we" -- those who want to hunt, eat veal, flip calves upside down at rodeos, and torture rats in laboratories? For them, sadly, we compassionate people are the problem.

See also: "If You're Interested, Stand Up" and "Bioethics", in animalit.ca -- July