h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Some people argue that we aren't sentimental enough about most animals. Sure, we make exceptions for domesticated animals that have been bred for cuteness. But the huge majority of the time, we place our own selfish desires ahead of other species' basic living needs.

We force, through corporate activities, whole species to become extinct so we can have our luxury sofas, TV sets, and so forth. Even with animals we purport to love, we sometimes allow overpopulation to create unlivable conditions for animals living on the street. Animals that have many charictaristics in common with humans, instead of garnering respect, become test subjects for make-up and other products that are deemed too potentially dangerous to test on human subjects.

And after all, the difference between a pet and our dinner is relatively small. In some Eastern parts of the world, it isn't unusual to eat dog meat. In India, eating a cow would be unthinkable. And anyone who has seen chicks or lambs can attest to the fact that many animals we eat are incredibly cute, at least while young. While we often go out of our way to pretend there are major differences between livestock and pets, we're really only fooling ourselves.

I feel it's a toss up as to which animals have it worse. Pets are perpetually bred into relatively dumb infantile forms that suit the human need to feel nurturing and superior. In some cases, our careful breeding has caused rare defects like blindness or diabetes to become altogether common. And because we typically feed our pets whatever we humans find untenable to consume ourselves, many animals have digestive problems they would never experience in the wild.

Livestock suffer unnaturally short lives and are subject at times to harsh assembly line conditions that leave little room for compassion. Each vegetarian who swears off meat is counteracted by the many humans around them who happily accept mild to severe obesity stemming in part from increased portion sizes in fast food and restaurant meals. Like pets, many livestock species would likely die out in short order without human coddling. But also as with pets, we can blame this largely on our breeding systems that have caused the animals' natural defenses and strengths to waste away.

And the rest of the animals are subject to ever changing world conditions that might result in unexpected famine, the rapid loss of livable areas, overhunting, deadly pollution, the introduction of predators from distant environments, and so on. Any poor animal deemed near extinction is furthermore carted into zoos where plasticene trees and glass walls replace nature's freedom -- and gawking onlookers can pat themselves on the back for contributing to the sideshow.

One thing's for sure. If some other species dominated the planet and we were handed the sort of conditions we give to other animals, we wouldn't appreciate it one bit. And we would also likely feel outraged that our masters would condescend to ask themselves whether they are being 'too sentimental' towards us. Ha!

"We force, through corporate activities, whole species to become extinct so we can have our luxury sofas, TV sets, and so forth."

Which species? Only major species I can think of becoming extinct is the passenger pigeon. If you mean the hundreds of species supposedly becoming extinct each day in the Amazon, as I see it, by and large we in the west have little to do with that. As for the main species we keep for food, we have goats, sheep, pigs, chickens, ducks, geese and cows, (have I missed one?) well seven species from a whole planet isn't to bad is it?

Those animals that are 'useful' to corporations are, in fact, those which are *least* likely to become extinct, for the simple reason that through simple, selfish greed, the corporation does not *want* them to die out.

Think of the cow; one of the most demanded animals on this planet. Is it on the endangered species list? Not by a long way!

The best way to protect a species is (paradoxically) to create a massive human demand for it, tied to huge amounts of money.

Loss of habitat is the major reason for extinction. In most cases, the habitats disappeared because the environment was changed by humans. We put fences up, move buildings and cars in, cut trees down, and so forth.

It may be nice to think that we have nothing to do with species loss in the Amazon, but people in developed countries can at least be faulted for failing to take action. While most people within the countries in question can't afford to shell money into deforestation prevention efforts, we can.The people cutting down the trees are motivated by economics, and I'm sure they would leave the forests there if it were to their economic advantage to do so.

I apologize. That was me, posting egregiously as a group entity,

I and my friends regularly go out hunting Televisions.
The trick is to suprise it from up-wind, and when it tries to run away tread on the power lead. It is a natural sport, and to ban it would destroy an entire countryside tradition, not to mention causing countless people to lose their jobs.
Don't forget that they are pests, and it is the only way to realistically control numbers.


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One major reason for deforestation is the need of the poor countries that are lucky enough to have a forest, to make interest payments on loans from banks such as the IMF. First world countries have all sorts of neat little tricks for seeming to be helping third world countries whilst actually bleeding them white, black mailing them, bribing them, encouraging high levels of corruption and ensuring that they will stay poor and divided. One popular ploy is to pretend that the poor country desperately needs a dam and tell them they can have this big juicy loan to build it but only if they employ the rich countries' companies to build it. Lots of palms get greased, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, the environment gets degraded, the rich countries get to look generous and the poor countries get to look profligate. It all works like magic. So what if a few species get driven into extinction? Who even knew they were there? Apathetic bl**dy species could've read the notices - they were filed .... somewhere.