RAISED TO BE KILLED AND EATEN
I don’t usually post about topics that might simply though mention raise people’s hackles and guards. Still, it’s an interesting exercise, I believe, to wonder if domesticated animals and even possibly plants, raised to be killed (okay, “harvested” if that protects the sensibilities) and eaten know that they are being raised for such? Silly idea, or a very unpleasant thought to think about? I might have thought so, too, until I read about Hanabiko “Koko” the sign-language “talking” gorilla.
Born 4 July 1971, she died at the human age of 46 on 19 June 2018. Koko, who had no other formal name, is held by the Gorilla Foundation to have mastered a vocabulary of more than 1,000 signs and the ability to understand 2,000 words of spoken English. It’s also claimed that she taught Michael, an orphan gorilla who many hoped would be Koko’s mate, a working vocabulary of over 600 signs in American Sign Language before his death in 2000. Another gorilla, 36-year-old Ndume, was brought to the sanctuary, after Koko and Michael turned out to be friends rather than mates. Koko eventually got pregnant by Ndume, but miscarried, the two becoming friends after that. It’s said that one of Koko’s deepest regrets was not having a baby. instead, Koko “adopted” two cats treated them as offspring — https://abcnews.go.com/US/koko-famous....
Koko was an exception to my initial question, in that she wasn’t raised as food. But Michael, her gorilla friend, is said to have witnessed the killing of his parents by poachers, and “talked” about it. It’s also said that Koko and Michael both recognized and “talked” about death.
I’ve never know any bovine, chicken or pig, much less elephant, fish, dolphin or whale, to have developed anything like Koko’s ability to communicate with humans. Even more so, we supposedly superior intelligent humans have mastered the “language” of hardly any of the animals of which we’re supposed to be stewards. Still, I can’t help but wonder: Do they know they’re being raised to be killed and eaten by the very creature that will later slaughter, butcher and eat them? It’s even more obtuse regarding plants, but a visit years ago with researcher Mr. Cleve Backster in his “primary plant perception” laboratory convinced me that it was worth attempting to communicate also with plants, including domesticated plants if nothing else, in anticipation of communicating someday in the future with “aliens” — https://www.amazon.com/dp/0966435435. And don’t forget: Plants are the primary source of oxygen and potable water necessary for human life. And one last thought: Maybe it’s not we who domesticated the plants, but plants who lured us into growing plants thus protecting and enhancing their species survival.
Having thus touched as gently as possible the bare surface of an admissibly complex and convoluted question, I leave with these words: “Through the process of communicating we develop affection or hatred towards other people [animals, plants and our world] and positive or negative relationships…” — https://www.pieceintopeace.com/blogs/....
The Edge of Madness
#RaymondGaynor #DanielSJanik #food #animal #plant #communication #empathy #respect #feeling #relationship #awareness #cognition #Koko #Michael #Ndume #gorilla #speak #SignLanguage #death #butcher #CleveBackster #PrimaryPerception #domestication
Born 4 July 1971, she died at the human age of 46 on 19 June 2018. Koko, who had no other formal name, is held by the Gorilla Foundation to have mastered a vocabulary of more than 1,000 signs and the ability to understand 2,000 words of spoken English. It’s also claimed that she taught Michael, an orphan gorilla who many hoped would be Koko’s mate, a working vocabulary of over 600 signs in American Sign Language before his death in 2000. Another gorilla, 36-year-old Ndume, was brought to the sanctuary, after Koko and Michael turned out to be friends rather than mates. Koko eventually got pregnant by Ndume, but miscarried, the two becoming friends after that. It’s said that one of Koko’s deepest regrets was not having a baby. instead, Koko “adopted” two cats treated them as offspring — https://abcnews.go.com/US/koko-famous....
Koko was an exception to my initial question, in that she wasn’t raised as food. But Michael, her gorilla friend, is said to have witnessed the killing of his parents by poachers, and “talked” about it. It’s also said that Koko and Michael both recognized and “talked” about death.
I’ve never know any bovine, chicken or pig, much less elephant, fish, dolphin or whale, to have developed anything like Koko’s ability to communicate with humans. Even more so, we supposedly superior intelligent humans have mastered the “language” of hardly any of the animals of which we’re supposed to be stewards. Still, I can’t help but wonder: Do they know they’re being raised to be killed and eaten by the very creature that will later slaughter, butcher and eat them? It’s even more obtuse regarding plants, but a visit years ago with researcher Mr. Cleve Backster in his “primary plant perception” laboratory convinced me that it was worth attempting to communicate also with plants, including domesticated plants if nothing else, in anticipation of communicating someday in the future with “aliens” — https://www.amazon.com/dp/0966435435. And don’t forget: Plants are the primary source of oxygen and potable water necessary for human life. And one last thought: Maybe it’s not we who domesticated the plants, but plants who lured us into growing plants thus protecting and enhancing their species survival.
Having thus touched as gently as possible the bare surface of an admissibly complex and convoluted question, I leave with these words: “Through the process of communicating we develop affection or hatred towards other people [animals, plants and our world] and positive or negative relationships…” — https://www.pieceintopeace.com/blogs/....
The Edge of Madness
#RaymondGaynor #DanielSJanik #food #animal #plant #communication #empathy #respect #feeling #relationship #awareness #cognition #Koko #Michael #Ndume #gorilla #speak #SignLanguage #death #butcher #CleveBackster #PrimaryPerception #domestication
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