46
" Rights, and even the right to life, apply only to human action because we alone are moral actors capable of deliberate good and evil, as Mr. Scruton and other debunkers of animal rights never tire of reminding us. They have not paused to consider what follows from this, namely that rights exist, by definition, as a check against human wrongdoing. They attach to all human conduct, wherever human beings are capable of doing wrong. Once it is granted, therefore, that humans can act wrongfully in our power over animals, what grounds are left for denying that animals have a right not to be treated wrongfully at our hands?
If a right is a prohibition on human wrongdoing, and if animals can be the object of wrongful human action, then to precisely that extent animals have rights - not, of course, among one another, but only in their encounters with us. "
― Matthew Scully , Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy
53
" Dr. Grandin herself, even in these otherwise dry and clinical reports, uses the words "stress," "pain," "fear," and "suffering" interchangeably. The creatures she describes are sensitive, sociable, communicative, alert beings who form images in their minds, think in pictures, respond to gentleness, fear harsh treatment, act by conscious intention, anticipate danger, make choices, and dread slaughter so much that their emotional terror can trigger traumatic physiological reactions affecting meat quality. Most notable of all, they display individual differences in temperament and personality. As she describes the pig playing with the toy: "Like a dog. "
― Matthew Scully , Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy
55
" Why are the central nervous systems of mammals so much alike, and wouldn't it stand to reason that they serve precisely the same evolutionary purpose, motivating each creature to flee bodily harm and thereby perpetuate the species? If the purpose of pain is the same for us as for other animals, if the internal mechanisms of pain are the same, if the outward expressions of pain are the same, and if the medical treatments for pain are the same, why wouldn't the physical experience of pain be the same - and for that matter, the psychological experience of it as well? "
― Matthew Scully , Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy
56
" What exactly is the difference between "stress" and "suffering"? From the industry's standpoint, all the difference in the world. "Stress" is a scientific and economic problem. Stress is a defect in the product, a correctable "syndrome." Stress is holding things up at the packing plant. Stress is requiring too much input in the care of the production units. Stress is costing good money, and we've got to make 'em pay.
Talk to these same folks about the pain and suffering and terror and loneliness of the creatures raised in these squalid factories, never seeing the light of day, denied company or recreation, denied the least bit of human warmth for all of Dr. Grandin's touching advice - and no, that just doesn't make sense to them. That's a lot of moralistic, anthropomorphic nonsense. "
― Matthew Scully , Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy
58
" Like other sport hunters, too, Mr. Scruton carries his moral relativism a step further in his constant appeals to experience. To "understand" hunting and the delights of the "substantial minority" of people who enjoy it, we must hunt, submerge ourselves in the raw, choiceless passion of it all. We, too, might then know that sense of "homecoming to our natural state."
Of course, this is an argument equally available to enthusiasts of bull-fighting, cockfighting, bear-baiting, hare coursing, crush videos, or, for that matter, pornography in general. Since when do we have to indulge in vice before we may adjudge it as such? "
― Matthew Scully , Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy
59
" Most vertebrates and all of our fellow mammals have similar chemical and neurological mechanisms that transmit and control pain. Under stress or trauma, they display physiological reactions identical to ours - increased heartbeat and perspiration, higher cortisone levels in the blood, a release of endorphins, serotonin, and other natural opiates. Their bodies respond to anesthesia just as our bodies do, and of course they display vocalizations, defensive behavior, and bodily contortions similar to ours. We may add to this physical evidence the fact that veterinarians today routinely prescribe exactly the same antidepressant drugs to dogs, cats, pigs, horses and other animals, including Prozac, Ritalin, Xanax, and beta-blockers, and these drugs have exactly the same soothing effects on them as on us. "
― Matthew Scully , Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy