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Should whales and dolphins be given ‘human’ rights?
photo by Brian 96 (Flickr CC)
At a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Vancouver, Canada, scientists and philosophers have argued for affording whales and dolphins the same ethical considerations as humans.
Now, you may ask, how good are human rights anyway? Not that great in many places of the world. But, never mind that right now, this is a question of ideology, to be enshrined in law. We’ll worry about who actually follows that law later.
The idea is that, under domestic and international law, the Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans would guarantee rights for dolphins and whales as ‘non human persons’.
From BBC News:
We went from seeing the dolphin/whale brain as being a giant amorphous blob that doesn’t carry a lot of intelligence and complexity to not only being an enormous brain but an enormous brain with an enormous amount of complexity, and a complexity that rivals our own.
–Dr Lori Marino, Psychologist, Emory University, Atlanta, USA
I can imagine that certain interests in Japan and the Faroe Islands would not welcome such a declaration of rights. Nor would aquatic animal parks, which hold cetaceans in cramped, torturous conditions. But the evidence is clear: these are social, intelligent and caring animals with a culture of their own.
Dolphins and orcas, in particular, have exhibited some of the most impressive evidence of complex thought. Wild orcas help fishermen in return for a share of the catch and have been observed feeding an injured member of their group for a year. Captive dolphins can lie as well as tell researchers that they don’t know something.
Read more on this story in the Independent and on BBC News.
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There are some rules in some countries. What they’d like is both national and international laws based on science, rather than business, which is what we see in probably every country on Earth that captures and/or kills dolphins and whales.
Don’t get me wrong sir Graham but I’m sorry it’s my opinion to the question if ‘cetaceans should be given human rights’. to me it’s ok sure why not, but to be honest it’s irrelevant , sure they want to recognize or pay homage to this extra- ordinary creatures and to ensure their rights. but for me why going for another level when there are already rules just need to be complied in order to protect them. Stick with it, empower the rules.
Whether it’s human or animal rights, but not be taken seriously, sure it’s nothing but useless..A right that was put into action is still the best than a mere declaration…..
Well they are not debating the rights of all creatures, just advocating ‘equal rights’ for cetaceans to those of humans. We know that no other animal has that consideration. Most humans don’t either, at least not in practical terms.
I have nothing against in giving them whatever rights they could come up with coz every living thing has its right but it should not be based solely on the intellectual capacity coz it’s like saying, only human with scholastic achievements should be the one recognized. Somehow it connotes discrimination or setting a double standard when it comes to giving rights. dogs, monkeys, pigs, cats,elephants, snakes, birds, seal, or even sharks are just examples of the wide spectrum of trainable animals.
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