At 1/25/09 01:58 PM, bgraybr wrote:
Imagine that cats had no hair and produced a slime to protect their skin, then what would stop you from putting it out on the street?
Nothing, as it would be an inconvenience to me. But that's what animal shelters are for. I would have as much sympathy for it as a fat lazy room mate. If it's been domesticated and doesn't have the skills to live in the wild, then we have a moral obligation to shelter the being until such a time where it can gain those skills or die. If it's wild, then what's the problem?
How do you know they can't suffer? Less complicated=/=no pain.
That's the point; They're so minuscule and simple in design in comparison, they cannot even dream (quite literally) of the mental anguish, lust, pleasure, grieving, that more intelliget animals experience. As I said earlier, what matters is the moral boundaries society has currently carved between companionship, benefit, and loss, and what outweighs the other.
Have you ever fished with worms? The whole time they try to escape, and when you hook them they really squirm.
hurr durr