Melbourne’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 […]
Vet ethics: Animal protection in Singapore and Malaysia
Those who have travelled through neighbouring countries like Singapore and Malaysia may have paused more than once to consider the status of animal protection in those nations. Perhaps such a thought has arisen while wandering in a market place, or in view of grazing cattle, or when learning about the […]
Fish intelligence, sentience and ethics
Fish are one of the most highly utilised vertebrate taxa by humans; they are harvested from wild stocks as part of global fishing industries, grown under intensive aquaculture conditions, are the most common pet and are widely used for scientific research. But fish are seldom afforded the same level of […]
Vet Ethics: Feminism and the ethic of caring
Many people may not know that “feminist ethics” joined the modern ethical conversation about animals as far back as the late 1970s. Ethics inspired by feminism is in part a reaction against forms of moral thinking that have a character determined largely by men. A “masculine” ethical modus operandi stresses […]