How Sanctuaries Make Right What’s Wrong
In a time of mass extinction that’s been brought about by human exploitation and can no longer be stopped, what should we do?
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Introducing the Whale Sanctuary Project
This blog is taking a break for the next few months so that I can devote my energies to the Whale Sanctuary Project. Here's why.
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Is the Sloth Sanctuary a Zoo?
The Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica was the first of its kind for these wonderfully engaging animals, and it was a model for others that followed. But questions have arisen. And…
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Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary
Tafi Atome looks like a typical forest in Ghana. The monkeys have been revered in this village for two centuries. But being “sacred” is no guarantee of survival.
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The Great Irony of Animal “Rights”
The great irony of the animal rights movement is there is still only one species that has any rights at all: humans. But the Nonhuman Rights Project is setting out to change that.
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Why Mass Extinction Is Part of Human Nature
Why would a supposedly “intelligent” species behave in a way that’s bringing about a mass extinction – one that will likely take us down along with so many other animals?
Thoughts of Death Make You Support the Killing of Animals
A new series of studies shows that when people are reminded of their personal mortality, they tend to become more disposed toward the killing of nonhuman animals.
Is the Stock Market a Global Ponzi Scheme?
Sacred Activism in the Service of Animals
Of Humans and Persons
The Worm at the Core
Psychologist Sheldon Solomon explains Terror Management Theory – the study how we manage the lifelong anxiety that’s born of our terror of death – and how it affects our behavior toward other animals.
Why We Can’t Think Straight About Animals
Psychologist Hal Herzog explores the moral confusions and contradictions in our relationships with our fellow animals (not to mention with each other!).
How We “View” Other Animals
How we “view” other animals (from a position of privilege and exploitation), and how our behavior toward them and toward the planet has led to an irreversible, mass extinction.
Companionship Across the Abyss
Is there a hidden meaning behind the story of Adam and Eve and the Serpent? Jonathan Crane explains what it may be telling us about our relationship to our fellow animals … and how it could have been otherwise.
The State of Planet Earth Today
In his overview of the state of Planet Earth today, Carl Safina begins by asking the seemingly unrelated question: “Does my dog really love me? Or does she just want a treat?”
Thinking about Death Leads People to Support Killing Animals
A new study shows that any small reminder – even quite unconscious – of our inevitable mortality causes us to be more supportive of the killing of nonhuman animals
Love Dogs but Eat Pigs? It’s a Paradox
One of his friends calls herself a vegetarian even though she eats fish and chicken. “Well,” she says, “I don’t eat anything with a face.”
Ringling Folds – Three Cheers, but . . .
Without the elephants, for many people it wasn’t worth the price of a ticket any longer.
What Zoos Tell Us About Ourselves
“When one person is in a cage and someone else is outside the cage, walking up and down and looking at that person, what do you think that suggests about our power relations?”
King Oedipus and the End of the World
What does a piece of Ancient Greek tragedy have to do with our screwed-up relationship to our fellow animals? Quite a lot, in fact!
Cave Paintings and Our Relationship with Other Animals
30,000 years ago, deep in a cave in France, artists painted some of the greatest portrayals of animals ever. In this video we look at what they tell us about our relaitonship to our fellow animals
Why We Tell Ourselves We’re Not Really Animals – Video
Second in a new series: We humans have a constant sense of anxiety over our mortal, animal nature. And we deal with this by telling ourselves that we’re not really animals – despite all the evidence to the contrary.
How We Go About Insisting We’re Not Animals – Video
In this first video of a new series, we look at our deep need as humans to insist that we’re not animals – despite all the evidence to the contrary.
Trumpism, Fascism and the Denial of Death
What does the rise of Donald Trump have to do with the need to believe that “I am not an animal!”? Quite a lot, as it turns out.
An Ape in Heels
A bishop, running for Congress, portrays the First Family as chimpanzees. Offensive and hateful. But it also tells us something about our fear of being great apes ourselves.
And So It Begins . . .
The incoming Trump administration promises to accelerate the disaster that’s now underway for animals and for the planet overall.
The “I Am NOT an Animal!” Symposium
It’s the big question – perhaps the only one that truly matters right now: “Why is it that, despite the continuing work of animal protection, conservation and ecological groups, the situation for most of our fellow animals continues to go from bad to worse?”
Background to the Symposium
By Michael Mountain I’d been working in the field of animal protection for more than 30 years. In a few small areas, like finding homes for…