A bill of rights for dolphins: They're so smart we must treat them as 'non human persons'

[G_j]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2104034/A-rights-dolphins-Theyre-smart-treat-non-human-persons-say-scientists.html?ITO=1490

A bill of rights for dolphins: They're so smart we must treat them as 'non human persons' say scientists

By Fiona Macrae
24 February 2012

Dolphins are so intelligent that they should be thought of as ‘non-human persons’ and given their own bill of rights, it is claimed.

A coalition of scientists, philosophers and animal welfare groups have come up with a declaration of dolphin rights which they hope will one day be enshrined in law.

This would stop them being kept in zoos and waterparks, and being attacked by fishermen.

Whales would also be elevated above other animals by the list of rules, leading to whalers being classed as murderers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual conference heard in Vancouver.
Whale watching trips would be subject to regulations which would respect the creatures’ privacy, and developers and oil companies would have to give huge consideration to the effect their projects would have on the animals’ life and culture.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2104034/A-rights-dolphins-Theyre-smart-treat-non-human-persons-say-scientists.html#ixzz1rqJQ0FSV


~~~~~~~~~~~

http://www.thewhalepeople.com/2010/10/endangered-whales-dolphins-wipe-those-smiles-off-your-faces/


... researchers announced the discovery that dolphin DNA and human DNA aren’t that dissimilar! In fact a dolphin’s genetic makeup:

“ …is amazingly similar to humans. They’re closer to us than cows, horses, or pigs, despite the fact that they live in the water.”, as quoted by Seema Kumar of Discovery Channel Online.


“The extent of the genetic similarity came as a real surprise to us,” says David Busbee of Texas A&M University. He hopes his research will reveal how long ago humans and dolphins branched off the evolutionary tree. There’s been some speculation that dolphins and whales, who breathe air, may have returned to the water AFTER first evolving into land animals.


“Dolphins are marine mammals that swim in the ocean and it was astonishing to learn that we had more in common with the dolphin than with land mammals,” says geneticist Horst Hameister.


Busbee says, “If we can show that humans are similar to dolphins, and anything that endangers dolphins is an equal concern for humans, it may be easier to persuade governments to keep oceans clean.”

..more..

[coalition_unwilling]

1. Dolphins are clearly superior to humans in just about every respect

worth mentioning. You never hear of dolphins killing millions of their own species on false pretenses.

[RZM]

5. Actually, dolphins are kind of vicious

Males will sometimes sexually assault other males:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/9172937/Dolphins-resort-to-rape.html

And they sometimes kill porpoises for fun as well:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3323070/Killer-dolphins-baffle-marine-experts.html

[coalition_unwilling]

20. Well, I didn't say dolphins were perfect :) Seriously, though, can

you imagine dolphins ever conducting Operation Shocking and Awful?

[lumberjack_jeff]

2. An oxymoron.

There is no such thing as a nonhuman person.

[Bruce Wayne]

16. the two words are philosophically distinct

One connotes a being of conventional sentience, like God or Mister Spock or those talking household appliances in the Flintstones. The other refers to a particular genus of mammals--homo sapiens most notably--like Yao Ming or Ed Asner.

If there's intelligent like in the universe (and if there's not, Jodi Foster thinks it's a huuuuge waste of space) then it is by definition nonhuman persons. It might concieveably apply to dolphins, too, if there weren't so damned yummy.

[TransitJohn]

19. Yes there is, at least under law. eom

n/t

[janx]

27. Consider the source.

[G_j]

28. says who? nt

[lumberjack_jeff]

29. All nonhuman persons reading this please raise your paw, tentacle, flipper or other appendage. nt

[wandy]

3. They tried to warn us...

For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much - the wheel, New York, wars and so on - whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man - for precisely the same reasons.

The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy

[Egalitarian Thug]

10. My very first thought. Thank you.

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

[LanternWaste]

4. This common sense and progressive proclomation will certainly upset the

This common sense and progressive proclomation will certainly upset the "I'm-at-the-top-of-thefood-chain-so-I-get-to-do-what-I-want-to-the-lower-order" crowd.

[TheKentuckian]

6. Infinitely more persons than legal constructs to avoid personal responsibility

[Uncle Joe]

7. They live in water now but they're descended from land mammals;

that returned to the water.

Thanks for the thread, G_j.

[provis99]

8. so if a dolphin kills a human, can we charge him with murder?

[jsmirman]

13. I'd put them far behind Corporations in that line

as I always say:

"it is insanity that the law treats corporations, which are nothing but vessels of commerce, as human beings, while treating animals, who are sentient creatures, as nothing more than vessels of commerce."

[Egalitarian Thug]

24. To what purpose? (Note: I totally avoided the pun) We just kill them with impunity now. n/t

[quinnox]

9. so we can continue to treat cod, pollock and other lower forms of the sea as our personal

refrigerator and catch them and eat them to our hearts content. I will not stand for this discrimination! {sarcasm}

[Egalitarian Thug]

11. Assuming that we survive long enough to become intelligent ourselves, I suspect

that we will find that most animals are far more intelligent than we like to imagine.

[coalition_unwilling]

21. Ha-ha. Your droll wit is reminiscent of Mark Twain and quite a propos. Thanks - n/t

Last edited Fri Apr 13, 2012, 03:16 AM - Edit history (1)

[Egalitarian Thug]

22. That may well be the greatest on-line compliment ever paid me

(unless you're being sarcastic, in which case that's just cruel), Thank you very much!

[Egalitarian Thug]

23. No. strike that. It is without doubt the greatest. n/t

[G_j]

25. +1000

[jsmirman]

12. There's a very interesting film called "Speciesism"

I was fortunate enough to view a screening of last night.

[link:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-friedrich/speciesism-the-movie-may-_b_1347514.html|
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-friedrich/speciesism-the-movie-may-_b_1347514.html]

It won't be out for another few months, but I'll be sure to let DU know when the movie becomes available to the public. It was more than worth the watch.

[Johnny Rico]

14. I will freely admit to being a speciest.

[jsmirman]

17. Thanks, Johnny Rico, for clearing up that inscrutable mystery

Still, when the film comes out, I'd love for you to watch it and report back about your approval/disapproval of the various industrial practices it covers.

[varelse]

15. K&R

[L0oniX]

18. K & R

[myrna minx]

26. Sounds like Brin's "Uplift" series.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uplift_Universe

[cherokeeprogressive]

30. " animals’ life and culture. " Culture?

Someone's joking right?

[hughee99]

31. So rights are determined based on intelligence?

What's the test, because I'm sure there's an orangutan out there with a big enough vocabulary to say "What the fuck, I want rights too!". Also, does this mean if people are dumb enough, they don't have rights?