Representing Animals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE9l94b3x9U

After 22 years of raising chickens for Perdue, one brave factory farmer Craig Watts was at his breaking point and did something no one has done before.  This video raises a bunch of issues we discussed in both in class and in our readings. This video does a oddly good job of giving the animals personal identities through close up shots, which shift into larger shots of the inhumane living conditions. These stylistic qualities give the video a sense of melancholy and sadness, aid the viewer to sympathize with the animals and their abusive situations.

I attended a talk this semester called “Coats and Collars: Fashions for Animals in the Early Modern Period” that was held at Lafayette College. The talk was given by Dr. John Black Friedman who works at the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at The Ohio State University.

Dr. Friedman began to discuss the prominence of animal accessories at modern pet shops such as rhinestone collars and doggie sweaters. He stated that the reason we dress up our dogs in such a way is to assert their identity. We like to individualize our dogs. I thought this was interesting because the dog himself does not feel a need to assert his own identity. Instead, it is the owner who is projecting his or her own needs to be recognized as an individual onto the dog.

It is not just today that we feel a need to dress up our pets in order to show their identity, which is a projected version of our own identity. For example, dogs in the medieval period often wore the family coat of arms shown on their collar. We have evidence of this from various tapestries made during this era that showcased royal dogs. Some dogs also wore heavy gold collars to assert their owner’s wealth.

This class helped me realize that using dogs in order to assert your own wealth and/or identity means that you are viewing your pet instrumentally and not intrinsically.

References:

Friedman, John Black. “Coats and Collars: Fashions for Animals in the Early Modern Period.” Lafayette College. Skillman Library. 10 November 2014. Guest Lecture.

Today I stumbled upon one of Science Daily’s latest articles which discusses new research that has been recently published about how goats show positive emotions. Apparently, when a goat is happy it points its ears forward, keeps its tail up, and produces more stable calls.

So why does this matter?

We often talk about what stresses and animal out but the ultimate goal of animal welfare is not just to eliminate stressors, but to actually keep animals happy. By knowing what signs to look for in a happy animal, we can promote agricultural behaviors that promote positive emotions within an animal. Also, learning more about animals’ emotions helps us to appreciate them as sentient beings.

This image appeared in my Facebook feed this morning, and it struck me as one we might talk about.  What do you see in this representation on an animal?  What cultural commonplaces about animals? About human-animal relationships?  About dogs in particular?

I just read this interesting article on NPR about how dogs do pay attention to the meaning of words.

“…the findings show something surprising: “That dogs are able to differentiate between meaningful and meaningless sound sequences.”

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/11/28/367092004/how-dogs-understand-what-we-say

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/rutgers-student-killed-bear-hiking-woods-cops-article-1.1948391

Hi everyone! This link came up on my facebook news feed and I thought that people might find it interesting. A college senior in New Jersey was killed by a bear while hiking. Apparently, this is the first fatal bear attack in the state since 1852! This article reminded me a lot of Treadwell’s death because the person involved willingly went into an area that is known to be filled with bears. Also, authorities immediately killed the bear that they believe is responsible for the boy’s death. Although the article states that the authorities are unsure about what caused this bear attack, it is certainly possible that the bear was provoked. According to other sources, the boy had several pictures of the bear on his camera. This means that he did not immediately take action to get away from the bear, so it is possible that the bear felt threatened by the humans. I was wondering what other people think about the decision by the authorities to immediately kill the bear?

P.S. Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

This morning I came across an article on a comedy site I like to read that seemed relevant to the course, so I decided to share it here.  One of the major elements of the course has been the (mis)interpretation of animal behaviors by humans, and this article addresses some of the ways we misinterpret the behaviors of our canine companions.  While it’s a comedy article, it’s grounded in real scientific study and has some very relevant points about human-animal interactions.  The fact that it’s presented in a comedic fashion doesn’t hurt either.

*Potentially offensive language warning, there are some obscenities used in the article although none are particularly pointed

Here’s a link to the article.