I agree, at, least partially .. I was reading the book "Through a Window" written by Jane Goodall .. it's about chimps in Africa and she was talking about how chimps and other animals are capable of cruelty just for the sake of it like humans .. but she made an interesting observation .. according to her, animals really are not aware of the impact of their cruelty like humans are ....

Sharmila

-----Original Message-----
From: Brady Hess [mailto:brady@coho.net]
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2000 10:41 PM
To: SII listserv post
Subject: Re: living with animalsHello all,
In regards to this statement;

> "I think I could turn and live with the animals, they are so placid
> and self-contain'd
> I stand and look at them long and long.
>
> They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
> They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
> They do not make me sick discussing their duty to god,
> Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania
> of owning things,
> No one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands
> of years ago,
> No one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth."
>
> Walt Whitman
>
> No disrespect intended, but have you noticed what goes on in the nature programs on OPB and the Discovery channel? > It's always a struggle for existence driven by fear or hunger or both. If you were an antelope, how would you like to run around in fear all your life until you were eaten alive by some starving lion? If you were the lion, how would you like to get kicked in the face by some desperate antelope and die a slow painful death?
These are just several examples of the continuous horror that is depicted in these programs. It is an ugly world not just because of all the death and struggle we see, but also because of our obsession with
glorifying it.
Brady
P.S. Sorry Mr. Whitman