Alan - While I would not equate anything resembling emotional pain to most animals, physical pain and suffering I do. Their nervous systems are developed well enough, and there reactions are little different from most humans.
I fish because I think the pain fish feel is reflexive and they do not react in a way that is consistent with pain in mammals. On the other hand I wouldn't toss a hook into a deer to catch it unless I was in danger of starving. It will feel pain.
Also I’m not sure if you read that article all the way...
Quote:
As we cannot get into the minds of animals, or meaningfully measure emotional pain in animals, perhaps we should accept that animal pain is different from human pain, and is something we will never be able to describe fully. Nevertheless, even if animal pain may be distinct from human pain, is that a reason to consider it less important either biologically or ethically?
|
Doesn’t really back up what you stated.