animal welfare and nature

Benevolent animal-loving dictator good for animal welfare

The West needs animal loving benevolent dictatorships rather than democracies. Discuss.

I’ll keep this short as it is a little off-track from the normal cat article! And I only want to make one point – a very personal point but one that I’ve been thinking about for a long time and which Rod Liddle writing in The Sunday Times makes today in his inimitable and amusing …

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Patriotic Americans

Why are Americans so patriotic? Does it affect cat ownership?

This is a discussion article. Input from others would be welcome. It is clear to me, living in the UK, that Americans appear to be far more patriotic than the British. Or at least they show it with far more confidence. Look at these two videos of delivery drivers. They scream to me ‘patriotism’. In …

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Peter Singer

People should expand their circle of moral concern to all sentient beings, everywhere

The words in the title are from Peter Singer who wrote the acclaimed book, Animal Liberation, published in 1975. In the book he argued that humankind had a tendency toward speciesism meaning that humans attach far greater importance to themselves than they do to other species of animal. Singer asked that people should ‘expand their …

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The cats and dogs on their way to Kabul airport

True or false? Afghan animal airlift only added to our national shame.

In a letter to The Times, Kate Nicholls of Seaford, East Sussex, UK, stated that she passionately believes that Mr Farthing’s (Nowzad) evacuation of cats and dogs from Kabul was a highly improper act which brings shame on Great Britain. She said that she read the news with “utter disbelief”. She also said that Ben …

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Felicia Wilson and her bobcat kitten - a part of her menagerie of animals

Self-assured Felicia Wilson on TikTok owns a bobcat kitten and she is wrong

I don’t know who Felicia Wilson is. I think she is a social media celebrity rather than having a background skill such as singing or as an actress. That’s my impression but if I’m incorrect then please tell me. She has 1.9 million followers on TikTok. She appears to have a menagerie of animals. In …

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Gary the cat does no appreciate the beauty of the landscape behind him

Domestic cats don’t appreciate beauty. Discuss.

I have said that domestic cats don’t appreciate beauty. The discussion is philosophical. Philosophical discussions don’t result in hard conclusions. I can’t provide a guaranteed answer as to whether domestic cats appreciate beauty or not. I also can’t provide a definitive answer as to why humans appreciate beauty. That, too, is a philosophical question. I’ve …

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Projections of human population growth

Human population growth effects on animals

There is a growing feeling that human population growth is having a very bad effect on animals. Although you have to differentiate between domestic and wild animals. The UK’s favourite broadcaster, said David Attenborough, is an advocate for stabilising the planet’s human population. Negative effects [We should] stabilise the human population as low as we …

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Cat all alone on Istanbul's deserted streets

Picture of community cat on deserted streets of locked down Istanbul

During Turkey’s coronavirus lockdown the streets of Istanbul have been abandoned to their famed community cats. This excellent photograph encapsulates the strange end-of-world appearance of what should be bustling bazaars and sheathing shopping malls. But nada, zilch. It reminds me of central London and a photo I took of Westminster Bridge a short while ago. …

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Puma in Santiago, Chile

Is wildlife going to reclaim those beautiful, quiet deserted city streets in America?

I went to London yesterday. I took a train to the busiest railway station in the UK; Waterloo (see photo below). It was the middle of a working day and the station was eerily deserted. I walked to the middle of London, to Westminster Bridge and looked across to the Houses of Parliament. It was …

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Note: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified.
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