Ethos

News is breaking today that Des Moines County sheriffs in Iowa shot about 10-16 pigs who presumably had escaped a factory farm, swam through a massive flood, and found safety atop sandbag levees. County officials feared that the pigs would cut the levees with their hooves or root there.

I am not one to criticize the actions of county officials who, according to their own best judgment, made a difficult decision in an emergency situation. After all, animals are killed in these situations all the time — including a bear who recently strayed into a populated area in Boston. And as one official points out, pigs are killed in slaughterhouses everyday — particularly in Iowa, where there were 15.5 million pigs on over 10,000 farms in 2002.

But the question must be asked: would we have had the same reaction to these animals if they were dogs instead of pigs? What about wolves instead of pigs?

For example, when family pets are shot, county officials often have a different reaction: offer up a reward for the killer. A $4,000 reward is being offered for a dog who was shot to death in Maryland.

In the case of the flooded pigs, what was the true motivation for shooting them? Was it, as one official argued, fear for people’s property? Or was it simply that we value different animals differently?

Some or all of the above may be true. But I for one believe that we should think very, very critically before we take a life, and minimize harm whenever possible. Moreover, while we may value different animals differently, each is still a sentient being who deserves our utmost respect.

We would ask nothing more for our dog, so why not for our pigs?

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Our Common Concern :: a socially conscious blog

Jared Milrad :: Jun.19.2008 :: Animal Studies, Practical Ethics :: 2 Comments »

Donovan’s younger brother was 13 when he was diagnosed with HIV. He did all he could to save his little brother, even working in HIV/AIDS prevention and supporting his single mom. Yet, after the teenager’s condition deteriorated and forced him to quit school, he lost his health insurance and died just shy of his 24th birthday at the age of 23.

Donovan’s younger brother did not live in some hidden, forgotten corner of the developing world. He lived in the United States of America. And he is one of over 500,000 people who have died from AIDS since the disease was formally recognized by the United States in 1981.

Recent events in my life have reminded me that those who live with HIV/AIDS are all around us, and all too often face societal stigmas that can cost them their home, job or more. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that as of 2003 (the most recent data available), over 1 million people were living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S. alone. Nearly three-quarters of this population are men, nearly half are black, and approximately the same number are men who have sex with men (MSM). Disturbingly, one-fourth do not even know they’re infected.

The National Association of People With AIDS (NAPWA), which told Donovan’s story above, prefers that those living with HIV/AIDS be described as what they are — people, not “patients” or “victims”. NAPWA is the oldest national AIDS organization and “the first network of people living with HIV and AIDS in the world.”

Clearly, we could all do more for our fellow Americans who live with HIV and AIDS. More on the continuing (and often bumpy) search for viable treatments and the importance of accurate reporting.

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Our Common Concern :: a socially conscious blog

Jared Milrad :: Jun.16.2008 :: Practical Ethics, Social Justice :: Comments Off

Camilla H. Fox
Director, Project Coyote
Wildlife Consultant
P.O. Box 5007
Larkspur, CA 94977
cfox@projectcoyote.org

www.ProjectCoyote.org
www.practicalethics.net/blog/camilla-fox

I have the pleasure of introducing yet another remarkable person, who is both a columnist on Ethos and an advisor to Practical Ethics.

For over 15 years, Camilla Fox has worked to protect wildlife and wildlands in the U.S. and internationally.  She has served in leadership positions with the Animal Protection Institute, Fur-Bearer Defenders, and Rainforest Action Network and has spearheaded campaigns aimed at protecting native carnivores and fostering humane and ecologically sound solutions to human-wildlife conflicts.

As the Founding Director of Project Coyote and a wildlife consultant, Camilla assists communities, agencies, wildlife managers, and non-governmental organizations in creating innovative solutions to help people and wildlife coexist. A frequent speaker on these issues, Camilla has authored more than 60 publications and is co-author of Coyotes in Our Midst: Coexisting with an Adaptable and Resilient Carnivore and co-editor and lead author of the book, Cull of the Wild: A Contemporary Analysis of Trapping in the United States. She is also the producer of the companion film, Cull of the Wild: The Truth Behind Trapping. Her work on behalf of wildlife has been featured in several national and international media outlets including the German documentary, Coyote: The Hunted Hunter, and two North American documentaries: American Coyote- Still Wild at Heart, and On Nature’s Terms, as well as the New York Times, the BBC, NPR, Orion, USA Today magazine, and Bay Nature magazine.

Camilla holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies with a focus in Wildlife Conservation, Policy, and Ecology from Prescott College and a Bachelor’s degree from Boston University where she graduated magna cum laude in 1991. She has served as an appointed member on the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture’s National Wildlife Services Advisory Committee and currently serves on several national and local advisory boards. In 2006, Camilla received the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Marin Humane Society and the Christine Stevens Wildlife Award from the Animal Welfare Institute.

Selected publications:

Fox, C.H. and Bekoff, M. In press. Ethical Reflections on Wolf Recovery and Conservation: A Practical Approach for Making Room For Wolves. In M. Musiani, L. Boitani, P. Paquet (editors), The World of Wolves: New Perspectives on Ecology, Behaviour and Policy. University of Calgary Press, Calgary, Alberta.

Fox, C.H. In press. Predator Control & Ethics. In M. Bekoff (editor). Encyclopedia of Animal Rights & Welfare (revised edition). Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, Connecticut.

Fox, C.H. In press. Wildlife Trapping: Behavioral & Welfare Implications. In M. Bekoff (editor). Encyclopedia of Animal Rights & Welfare (revised edition). Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, Connecticut.

Hadidian, J., C.H. Fox, and W.S. Lynn. In press. Ethics and Urban Wildlife. In M. Bekoff (editor). Encyclopedia of Animal Rights & Welfare (revised edition). Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, Connecticut.

Fox, C.H. 2008. Analysis of The Marin County Strategic Plan for Protection of Livestock & Wildlife: An Alternative to Traditional Predator Control. Master’s thesis. Prescott College, Prescott, Arizona. 112 p.

Fox, C.H. 2007. Coyotes, Humans and Coexistence. Pp. 311-313 in: M. Bekoff (editor), Encyclopedia of Human-Animal Relationships: A Global Exploration of Our Connections with Animals. Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, Connecticut.

Fox, C.H. 2007. Trapping Animals. Pp. 984-989 in: M. Bekoff (editor), Encyclopedia of Human-Animal Relationships: A Global Exploration of Our Connections with Animals. Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, Connecticut.

Fox, C. H. 2006. Coyotes and humans: can we coexist? Pp. 287-293 in: R.M. Timm and J. H. O’Brien (eds.), Proceedings, 22nd Vertebrate Pest Conference. Publ. Univ. Calif.-Davis.

Hadidian, J., C.H. Fox, and W.S. Lynn. 2006. The ethics of wildlife control in humanized landscapes. Pp. 500-504 in: R.M. Timm and J. H. O’Brien (eds.), Proceedings, 22nd Vertebrate Pest Conference. Publ. Univ. Calif.-Davis.

Fox, C.H. 2006. Seeking Justice. Animal Issues 37:12-13.

Fox, C.H. 2006. Standardizing Cruelty: The International Trapping Debate. Animal Issues 37:18-21.

Fox, C.H. and C.M. Papouchis. 2005. Coyotes in Our Midst: Coexisting with an Adaptable and Resilient Carnivore. Animal Protection Institute, Sacramento, California

Fox, C.H. July, 2005. Close Encounters of the Coyote Kind. Wildlife Tracks. Humane Society of the United States, Washington, D.C. Available online at:
http://www.hsus.org/web-files/PDF/Tracks-fall-coyotes05.pdf (accessed January 10, 2008).

Fox, C.H. March 2005. Pet Peeved: You’re Working Like a Dog. But How is Your World Schedule Working Out for your Faithful Friend? Experience Life 7:78-80. Lifetime Fitness, Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Available online at: http://www.lifetimefitness.com/magazine/index.cfm?strWebAction=article_detail&intArticleId=355 (accessed January 10, 2008).

Fox, C.H. and C.M. Papouchis (eds.). 2004. Cull of the Wild: A Contemporary Analysis of Wildlife Trapping in the United States. Animal Protection Institute, Sacramento, California.

Fox, C.H. March-April 2004. God’s Dog: Learning to Co-Exist with Coyotes. Wild Mountain Times, Asheville, North Carolina.

Fox, C.H. 2004. Wildlife Trapping, Behavior, and Welfare. Pp. 1170-1176 in: M. Bekoff (ed.), Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior. Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, Connecticut.

Fox, C.H. 2004. Close Encounters of the Coyote Kind. Animal Issues 35:14-17.

Fox, C.H. 2004. Cull of the Wild. Wild Earth 13(4):54-60. Richmond, Vermont: Wildlands Project.

Fox, C.H. 2004. Wildlife Control Out of Control. Animal Issues 35:15-18.

Fox, C.H. 2003. What About Fluffy & Fido? Pp. 52-56 In J. de Graaf (ed.), Take Back Your Time: Fighting Overwork and Time Poverty in America. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., San Francisco, California.

Fox, C.H. 2003. Predators, Politics, and Prejudice. Animal Issues 34:22-29.

Fox, C.H. 2002. National Wildlife Refuges: Sanctuaries or Killing Fields? in: K.W. Stallwood (ed.), A Primer on Animal Rights. Lantern Books, New York, New York.

Fox, C.H. 2001. Taxpayers say no to killing predators. Animal Issues 31:26-27.

Fox, C.H. 2000. Deadly Refuges. Earth Island Journal 15:27. Earth Island Institute, San Francisco, California.

Camilla Fox :: Jun.04.2007 :: Animal Studies, Coyotes, Environmental Studies, Ethics, Politics, Practical Ethics, Wildlife, Wolves :: Comments Off

It has been almost two years since I completed the current design of the website and blog for Practical Ethics. It worked rather well for its time, but a great deal has happened since then — new technologies, a move to the Boston area, and a professorship at Tufts University. So I’ve decided to revamp my cyber-presence to reflect these changes. In the future, you will see a significant evolution in Practical Ethics. The first is the migration of the blog from Blogger to the host service of Practical Ethics. This will mean you no longer have to open a second website to view the blog. Cool, a? The second is the merger of the blog and website into a hybrid ‘blogsite’. Accomplishing all this will take a bit of time, so if I don’t post much over the next month or so, please be patient.

Cheers, Bill

PS. For those of you interested in technical details, I’m using the open-source program WordPress to accomplish the migration and merger. I’m finding it very user friendly and well-documented. Check it out.

William Lynn :: Dec.25.2006 :: Practical Ethics :: Comments Off

Some people mistakenly believe Practical Ethics and the blog are solely about animals and the natural world. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are just as concerned with the questions that bedevil people, as we are in our relationship to the non-human world. So it gives me great pleasure to introduce a friend and colleague who will be posting to the Practical Ethics Blog as an occasional contributor.

Andrew Davison is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Vassar College (New York, USA) and teaches during the summer in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Bogaziçi University (Istanbul, Turkey). He is the author of Secularism and Revivalism in Turkey (Yale, 1998), The Philosophic Foundations of Modern Ideology: Liberalism, Communism, Fascism, Islamism (with David Ingersoll and Richard Matthews, Prentice Hall 2000), the documentary “Leaps of Faith: Views of American Power, the Invasion of Iraq, and Citizenship in a Time of War” (with Benjamin Kalina, 2004), and Corporatist Ideology in Kemalist Turkey (with Taha Parla, Syracuse, 2004).

Andy is one of the foremost scholars on ‘theopolitics’ in the world today. Theopolitics, the intersection of religious and political ideologies, has been studied by the most important of social theorists — e.g. Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, St. Aquinas, RH Tawney, Max Weber, Karl Marx, Mulford Sibley, Charles Taylor, Elaine Pagels, Michel Foucault, Georg Gadamer. With this theoretical bent in mind, he is a leading interpreter of Turkey and the comparative lessons it has for religious-political tensions in contemporary societies. His work focuses on the ideas, lived norms and political-economic contexts that inform the normative politics and policies of culture-groups and nation-states. In this way, he speaks to the larger ethical dynamics that inform the work of everyday life. And of course, practical ethics!

William Lynn :: Jul.11.2005 :: Politics, Practical Ethics :: 3 Comments »

My apologies for the delay in posting blogs. April has been a very busy month, and May looks to be the same. I’ll try getting something of substance out every couple of weeks. So too, my apologies for the technical difficulties some experienced when trying to access the blog, as well as a few missing posts. I think I need a bit more experience editing cascading style sheet!

cheers, Bill

William Lynn :: May.01.2005 :: Practical Ethics :: Comments Off

Hello. And welcome to the Ethos: The Practical Ethics Blog!

A blog is short for ‘weblog’ — an online journal or diary where you share ideas and images with other people. This blog features notifications of press releases, white papers and other relevant information from Practical Ethics, as well as commentary on current events and issues by Bill Lynn and guest writers.

Practical Ethics had been around in various forms since 1997. Dedicated to the well-being of people, animals and nature, it provides values-relevant research, products and services for individuals, as well as the independent, public and private sectors.

I hope you find the information and opinions of this blog helpful as you reflect on what it means to seek the well-being of people, animals and nature. Please do not hesitate to contribute your insights, for together our wisdom is greater than the sum of our individual insights.

So too, pursuing a fruitful conversation takes good will and honest work on the part of all participants. The following netiquette guidelines may be of help to all of us.

* We are only human: be forgiving of other people’s mistakes.
* Be polite and civil always, gracious if you can.
* Know where you are in cyberspace, and act appropriately.
* Respect other people’s privacy, time and bandwidth.
* Share your insights and expertise, and be open to those of others.
* Do not abuse the power and privilege of blogging.
* Do not write in ALL CAPS. Its akin to shouting.
* Do not respond immediately to a posting that upsets you.
* Do not flame others. Instead, help douse flame wars.
(adapted from www.onlinenetiquette.com)

Finally, for notifications of copyright and disclaimer, please see the links on the right-hand side of this page.

cheers, Bill

William Lynn :: Oct.01.2004 :: Practical Ethics :: Comments Off