It's getting harder to be a carnivore

New Caledonian crow
(Left-Click to enlarge)

We, as human beings, stand above the rest of the animal kindgom in that we recognize what Ernest Becker calls our "symbolic" self. Still, I think we are animals, and as such should have some empathy with our cousins with whom we share this planet.

Don't get me wrong, I have not given up meat, though I certainly eat much less than I used to. I am finding it increasingly difficult to do so without my conscience twinging a bit. Peter Singer in his "Practical Ethics" (perhaps the best introduction to the field of "ethics") does not state (as some claim) that it is necessarily unethical to eat meat, but he does feel that it is not ethical to abuse animals in the process of raising and slaughtering them. This pretty much eliminates all factory-type animal raising/processing, which is 99+% of what is available in the grocery stores.
If you want to know more about your food, try reading Mark Bittman's Food Matters and/or Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma.

I think we are only recently beginning to learn how complex some animal thoughts can be. I have read that planning ahead is unique to humans. I was always suspicious of this concept. It seemed to me that a dog hiding food (e.g. burying a bone) for later retrieval was as easily explained as planning for the future as by some type of instinctual behavior.

At the recent American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Edward Wasserman from the U of Iowa spoke at a symposium on "Animal Smarts." There is now sophisticated scientific evidence that is quite convincing for animals having the ability for complex planning for the future.

General animal intelligence seems also to be markedly underestimated. New Caledonian crows have been shown to not just use tools, but to make their own by twisting and bending pieces of wire to fish food from places they couldn't reach otherwise. (See above picture.) They will then store and hide excess food for retrieval the next day.

Few of us would abuse our domesticated dog or cat. Why not extend that courtesy to all animals, including those raised for our food?