In a case involving custody of a cat, a New York Court let the kitty help decide who he wanted to live with (after considering the totality of the circumstances). In doing so, the judge refused to provide the time honored rule of personal property involving “things that can be used, handled, or transported” and instead ruled that “it is time to declare that a pet should no longer be considered ‘personal property’ like a…
In the wake of the Parkland school shooting, pundits are looking at the perpetrator’s history of torturing and killing animals, including maiming, crushing, and shooting. But not because they necessarily care about animals. An OpEd in the Washington Post summarizes the true concern: Inevitably, a mass shooting is followed by a public account of the ‘warning signs’ the killer may have evinced in the months and years before the attack… One of the most common,…
An article on NPR says that there is “No ‘Easy Answer’ To Growing Number Of Stray Dogs In The U.S.” Citing Peter Zheutlin, an author of a book on dog rescue, we’re told that “the supply of stray dogs greatly outweighs the demand,” that the number of dogs has “cascaded out of control” including “more than 1 million stray dogs” in Houston alone, that “The no-kill movement has contributed to the population growth, as the…
A veterinarian may face disciplinary action for refusing to kill a dog. She should be hailed as a hero. As wrong as it is to talk of animal companions as “property,” there are times when that legal status confers protection, such as under the Fourth Amendment. Dogs and cats, for example, cannot be seized and killed by animal control without a court or other hearing, because doing so would be a taking of property without…
An Animal Rights Perspective on Living with Dogs & Cats I am pleased to announce that Welcome Home, our new book, is now available on Amazon by clicking here. For the vast majority of people, the bond they share with their dog or cat companion is a familial one, born of love and mutual affection. Indeed, interspecies relationships in the world are not rare and they are relationships that humans generally celebrate as evidence of…
A truly harmonious relationship with them and with the environment of which they are a part is simply not possible so long as we continue to kill them or turn a blind eye to their suffering as a result of something as ultimately irrelevant as their color or how many of them exist.
With animals, we have the possibility of ending their suffering in a way the law, in most places, does not allow for humans. As such, we bear a tremendous responsibility.