First we need a working definition of sentient. Hell, I just read that mollusks and arthropods are considered sentient by some as well as fish and mammals.
One of our esteemed members recently stated that elephants and cetacians are likely sentient.
So back to the definition: Self aware, of course. But what does that mean? How is it measured? Aware that decisions today will affect your life tomorrow? Aware that decisions today will affect the life of your progeny?
The ability to abandon a learned but non-productive behavior? My cow will stop coming to the barn when I call her if I quit feeding her treats there.
I have heard that "knowledge of approaching time of death" is indicative of sentience. There is evidence that elephants recognize the approach of death and migrate to a location reserved for that.
Most humans recognize that to kill a sentient being, other than in defense of self or others is murder.
Which critters must we remove from the menu?
People who choose to brew up their own storms bitch loudest about the rain.
Dogs... Have a soul and mind. I dont care what the Bible says contrary about it either. Most of the Bible and all it's spinoff series have been edited, cut, copied, pasted to suit those who wanted it that way for their own means and needs for 2k+ yrs anyways.
I view elephants like AR-15s. Anti-gun people paint the AR in a bad light with monikers like dangerous, assault, automatic, high capacity and try to convince gun owners that is all they want to ban, when in fact they want total gun confiscation.
Anti-hunters use elephant and other large animals in much the same manner. Anti-hunters use terms like endangered, sentient, iconic to end elephant hunting when their ultimate goal is to end all hunting.
I much prefer my labs to most people. They are intelligent (for a dog), gentle, and loyal. They are not sentient like a human. I would put a bullet in either one of them if they ever bit one of the grandchildren, they are only animals.
In my eyes, the main problem lies in addressing the statement of "Man is the peak of creation" the wrong way. People were really hung up on this until research showed that some animals have behavioural patterns very similar to those of humans, so the logical conclusion to them was that every animal is as divine, as special and as great as they had always thought humans were. See the whole "Animals are our brothers and sisters" sentiment. The way I see it, it is far more realistic to view humanity as "just as low down" as some animals (with limitations of course) and simply come off the pedestal we had previously built for ourselves. tl;dr not "animals are just as great as humans", but "humans are just as normal as animals", so I eat what I want as long as I am not wasteful.
The "elephant graveyard" thing was also debunked if I remember correctly.
"Camping places fix themselves in your mind as if you had spent long periods of your life in them. You will remember a curve of your wagon track in the grass of the plain like the features of a friend." Isak Dinesen
The older I get, the more I value animals, and the less I value humans.
I used to have an issue with this notion, and then November 3rd happened and some "humans" were gleeful over the fraud. I am now more selective about the humans I value and appreciate my dog even more than before.
There is a lot of documentation of elephants having behaviors that indicate that they search for meaning. Many of the greater whales do this too. Would I hunt an elephant? Hell yeah! I don't think that they have the level of consciousness that we have. A old bull elephant becomes a problem for everybody involved like of like an old bull bison. I would go out hunting whales in the traditional Inupiat style in a heart beat. There are deeper things involved in our interspecies relationships that can not be easily explained. I also, and don't call me racist, think that the present living African and Asian Elephants were not as self-aware as the Wooly Mammoth that existed earlier. There is evidence that some of them lived to be more than 200 years old. I consider hunting to be a religious experience and the universal balance of our position on earth is connected to it. That is not to say that I don't feel regret and respect for the animals that I kill. I know that I respect many of the animals around me more than a lot of people.
IS- Thank you for calling me esteemed. It is the nicest compliment that I have received since being on here in 2006. Most of the time like other Conservative, Christian patriots, everybody ignores me.
