"All the arguments to prove man's superiority                            cannot shatter this hard fact:                  In suffering, the animals are our equals."                        -- Peter Singer, from Animal Liberation   (c)Anne Bleyman for CPT. Not to be reproduced without permission.                       "The question is not, can they reason? nor,          can they talk? but, can they suffer?" -- Jeremy Bentham         "All living things are relations and all are people." -- Floyd Red Crow       ENDANGERED SPEICES

My old classmate, Anne Bleyman, is president of The Carnivore Preservation Trust.  Here is the information she sent me about her organization: CPT acts as a guardian for certain endangered species, both by providing a safe home for the animals in our care as well as promoting their importance to the public.  We offer unique opportunities to the general public as well as teachers, students and researchers to learn more about several lesser-known but “keystone” species essential to the survival of their natural habitat.  Some of the animals at CPT serve as genetic time capsules for possible future use in in situ conservation programs.  http://www.cptigers.org CPT was founded in 1981 in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Our 55-acre compound is home to over 160 animals from 12 species of threatened carnivores. CPT's special area of expertise is seed dispersers, pollinators, and pest-controlling predators of the tropical forests. We refer to them as keystone species, because they are vital to the survival of their ecosystems. The loss of one of these species would cause an environmental collapse either from the uncontrolled expansion of prey species, or from the loss of a crucial function, such as pollination, performed by the carnivore. CPT has been particularly successful in breeding ocelots, servals, caracals, and binturongs, and houses some of the largest captive populations of these species. Other species in CPT's collection that are not part of the breeding program include tigers, jaguars, leopards,snow leopards, clouded leopards, kinkajous, margays, and civets.

(c)Anne Bleyman for CPT. Not to be reproduced without permission. For some divergent views on various issues with preservation/conservation/animal rights, check out:   http://www.animalrightslaw.org/ The Animal Rights Legal Foundation, Inc   http://www.environmentaldefense.org/home.cfm Environmental Defense   http://www.earthliberationfront.com/ Earth Liberation Front   http://www.durrellwildlife.org/ Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (to see how it's done at one place in Europe)   http://www.aza.org/ American Zoo and Aquarium Association (how decisions are made to breed which species down to the specific animal in captive breeding programs)   http://www.taosanctuaries.org/home.htm The Association of Sanctuaries (rescued animals and the problem with private ownership of exotics)     ANIMAL RIGHTS

If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian. We feel better about ourselves and better about the animals, knowing we're not contributing to their pain. --Paul and Linda McCartney      From Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation:   Fortunately the case for upholding the equality of human beings does not depend on equality of intelligence, moral capacity, strength, or any other matters of fact of this kind. Equality is a moral ideal, not a simple assertion of fact. There is no logically compelling reason for assuming that a factual difference in ability between two people justifies any difference in the amount of consideration we give to satisfying their needs and interests. The principle of equality of human beings is not a description of an alleged actual equality: it is a prescription of how we should treat human beings. It is an implication of this principle of equality that our concern for others ought not to depend on what they are like, or what abilities they possess - although precisely what this concern requires us to do may vary according to the characteristics of those affected by what we do. It is on this basis that the case against racism and the case against sexism must both ultimately rest; and it is in accordance with this principle that speciesism is also to be condemned. If possessing a higher degree of intelligence does not entitle one human being to use another for its own ends, how can it entitle human beings to exploit nonhuman beings?     Excerpts from Christopher Hitchens'article in the 11/02 Atlantic Monthly:   *One of the most idiotic jeers against animal lovers is the one about them preferring animals to people.  As a matter of observation, it will be found that people who “care” -- about rain forests or animals, miscarriages of justice or dictatorships – are very often the same people.  Whereas those who love hamburgers and riskless hunting and mink coats are not in the front ranks of Amnesty International.  Like the quality of mercy, the prompting of compassion is not finite, and can be self- replenishing.   *Much animal experimentation is a wasteful perversion of science.  The elimination of Elephants and whales and tigers and other highly evolved animals would be impoverishing for us, and the disappearance of apes would be something like fratricide.

With a favorite non-human animal, Pacific Pete.

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