In his book Animal Welfare: A Cool Eye Towards Eden, the well-known welfare scientist John Webster criticises the contribution of moral philosophy to the question of the treatment of animals and their welfare. Webster writes: “The moral philosophy approach to animal welfare – i.e. based upon our thoughts and values, not theirs – tends to […]
Continue ReadingOver the last few years there have been two explosive Four Corners reports about animal abuse associated with Australian animal industries. The first, as you will recall, was the expose on live animal export. In that report, the public learnt that many Australian animals exported to overseas destinations were subject routinely to the most shocking […]
Continue ReadingWould you consider leaving behind your home, moving overseas, and dedicating your life to the welfare of suffering animals? I wondered whether I would do this when I met the founder of Animals Asia, Jill Robinson, at the Minding Animals Conference in New Delhi. Actually, I wondered less about whether I could leave the comforts […]
Continue ReadingDr Noel was in a spot of bother. On the consulting table was a 3 year old black, heavily pregnant German Shepherd bitch. Her puppies had died inside her and she had a purulent vaginal discharge. Despite being flat and weak, the dog’s character was revealed in her effort to wag her tail at the […]
Continue ReadingMelbourne’s Spring racing has again raised the question of the use of whips as performance aids in thoroughbreds. Jockey Zac Purton was fined $3000 over his “excessive” whipping of Caulfield Cup winner Admire Rakti. For the same ride, Purton collected $87,500 prize money. Let’s begin an ethical investigation of this issue by imagining the following […]
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