SAFE campaign officer Sacha Dowell recently attended the New Zealand Companion Animal Conference. She reports on why it was so successful. Auckland Mayor and SAFE supporter Hon John Banks opened the conference with a passionate speech on the cruelty of battery hen cages and pig crates. Dr Marc Bekoff's two engaging presentations were the highlight of the conference. Dr Bekoff is an animal behaviour scientist who founded, alongside Jane Goodall, Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and has written many books on animal emotions. He spoke about morality and emotions in animals, how evolutionarily speaking, it makes sense that non-human animals have emotions like us because they are our ancestors. There are also scientific studies of the nervous system that show similarities between human and non-human animals in areas linked with empathy and social organisation.
Many examples were given, including studies showing that mice react more strongly to painful stimuli after they observe other mice in pain, and numerous studies on elephants experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder after seeing family members being slaughtered. Another moving story was about Jane Goodall's report on a chimpanzee called Flint, who grieved when his mother died. After eight days, Flint died too.  In his talks, Dr Bekoff did not hesitate to say that he believed the reason people are reluctant to admit that animals have emotions, is because the human race exploits, kills and tortures animals in their millions. He was direct in stating that people should think about who they are having for dinner, and advocated a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle.
Another interesting session at the conference was a debate on whether animals have morality and emotions. Dr Marc Bekoff and Professor Jeffrey Masson argued that animals do in fact have emotions similar to humans and are moral beings, against the word of scientists Professor Natalie Waran and Dr Jodi Salinsky. Dr Bekoff and Professor Masson were deemed the winners of the debate. Other presentations included an overview of the work of the NZ Companion Animal Council (of which SAFE is a member), a talk on dog control by MP Rodney Hide, presentations by vet and animal behaviourist Kersti Seksel about the work of the Australian Companion Animal Council and cat population studies, and a discussion on the Auckland-based Cat Coalition's work to help stray colony cats. All in all it was a fantastic conference with many animal rights as well as animal welfare advocates speaking and attending.
15 October 2009
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