strictlyunnecessary.Interestinglyenough,thisistrueevenof
the conclusion that we ought to become vegetarians, a
conclusion that in thepopular mindis generallybased on
some kind of absolute prohibition on killing.
Thereadermayalreadyhavethoughtofsomeobjectionsto
thepositionIhavetakeninthischapter.What,forinstance,
doI proposeto doaboutanimalswhomaycauseharmto
humanbeings?Shouldwetry to stopanimals fromkilling
each other? How do
weknowthatplantscannotfeelpain,andiftheycan,mustwe
starve?ToavoidinterruptingtheflowofthemainargumentI
have chosen to discuss these and other objections in a
separatechapter,andreaderswhoareimpatienttohavetheir
objections answered may look ahead to Chapter 6.
Thenexttwochaptersexploretwoexamplesofspeciesismin
practice. I have limited myselfto two examples so that I
would have space for a reasonably thorough discussion,
althoughthislimitmeansthatthebookcontainsnodiscussion
atallofotherpracticesthatexistonlybecausewedonottake
seriously the interests of other animals—practices like
hunting,whetherforsportorforfurs;farmingminks,foxes,
andotheranimalsfortheirfur;capturingwildanimals(often
aftershootingtheirmothers)andimprisoningtheminsmall
cagesfor humans to stareat; tormentinganimals to make
themlearntricksforcircusesandtormentingthemto make
thementertaintheaudiencesatrodeos;slaughteringwhales
with explosive harpoons, under the guise of scientific
research;drowningover100,000dolphinsannuallyinnetsset
bytunafishingboats;shootingthreemillionkangaroosevery
yearintheAustralianoutbacktoturnthemintoskinsandpet
food;andgenerallyignoringtheinterestsofwildanimalsas