"The director of a zoo is entitled to "put down" a chimpanzee that is surplus to requirements, while any suggestion that he might "put down" a redundant keeper or ticket-seller would be greeted with howls of incredulous outrage. The chimpanzee is the property of the zoo. Humans are nowadays not supposed to be anybody's property, yet the rationale for discriminating against chimpanzees is seldom spelled out, and I doubt if there is a defensible rationale at all. Such is the breathtaking speciesism of our Christian-inspired attitudes, the abortion of a single human zygote (most of them are destined to be spontaneously aborted anyway) can arouse more moral solicitude and righteous indignation than the vivisection of any number of intelligent adult chimpanzees! [...] The only reason we can be comfortable with such a double standard is that the intermediates between humans and chimps are all dead."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker (1996), pp. 262–263
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Animal_rights
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Animal rights
68 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Animal rights →
Related Quotes
"Making lasting gifts for animals in our estate plans is perhaps the single most important thing we can do to ensure a…"
"Humans inflict untold suffering and death on many billions of animals every year, and the overwhelming majority of hu…"
"Certainly in the case of the treatment of animals, the scales are heavily weighted against us. Although it is true th…"
"The day may come when the rest of the animal creation may acquire those rights which never could have been witholden …"
"To my apprehension, every act by which, without prospect of preponderant good, pain is knowingly and willingly produc…"
"If physical force is needed to save an animal from attack, then that force is a legitimate form of what I call "exten…"
"The entire human species gains at the expense of millions of nonhuman animal species and countless billion of animals…"
"The US and other governments are business partners and active participants in the exploitation of animals. The US gov…"
"Many humans look at nature from an aesthetic perspective and think in terms of biodiversity and the health of ecosyst…"
"PETA has a proven track record of success. Each victory PETA wins for the animals is a stepping stone upon which we b…"