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Marc Bekoff

Marc Bekoff Books

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“...rewilding is all about being nice, kind, compassionate, empathic, and harnessing our inborn goodness and optimism. We must all work together at this. It's about time we focus on the good side of human and animal nature. ... nature offers many lessons for kinder society. Blood shouldn't sell.”

AnimalCompassionKindnessSocietyOptimism
Book:Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed: The Fascinating Science of Animal Intelligence, Emotions, Friendship, and Conservation
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“When we say to someone, "Oh you're behaving like an animal," it's actually a compliment rather than an insult. We need to work for a science of peace and build a culture of empathy, and emphasize the positive, pro-social side of the character of other animals and ourselves. It's truly who we and other animals are.”

SciencePeacePositiveEmpathyAnimals
Book:Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed: The Fascinating Science of Animal Intelligence, Emotions, Friendship, and Conservation
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“We generally accept that it's natural for carnivorous wild animals to kill other animals in order to live. But people don't often think (or even know) about the extraordinary and unnatural suffering that humans inflict on the animals that we freely harvest for food, with the help of modern high technology and the animal food sciences.”

FoodVeganAnimal RightsSpeciesism
Book:Animals Matter: A Biologist Explains Why We Should Treat Animals with Compassion and Respect
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“When animals express their feelings they pour out like water from a spout. Animals' emotions are raw, unfiltered, and uncontrolled. Their joy is the purest and most contagious of joys and their grief the deepest and most devastating. Their passions bring us to our knees in delight and sorrow.”

FeelingsMotivationalJoyPassionWaterAnimalGriefEmotionSorrowDelightKneesPetContagious
Book:The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy — and Why They Matter
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“Lacking a shared language, emotions are perhaps our most effective means of cross-species communication. We can share our emotions, we can understand the language of feelings, and that's why we form deep and enduring social bonds with many other beings. Emotions are the glue that binds.”

MeanFeelingsFormLanguageSocialEmotionShareCommunicationCrossesSpeciesEndureLackingGlueSocial Bonds
Book:The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy — and Why They Matter
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“Let us remember that animals are not mere resources for human consumption. They are splendid beings in their own right, who have evolved alongside us as co-inheritors of all the beauty and abundance of life on this planet”

HumansRememberAnimalPlanetsResourcesMereAbundanceConsumptionSplendid
Book:Animals Matter: A Biologist Explains Why We Should Treat Animals with Compassion and Respect
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“Many animals experience pain, anxiety and suffering, physically and psychologically, when they are held in captivity or subjected to starvation, social isolation, physical restraint, or painful situations from which they cannot escape. Even if it is not the same experience of pain, anxiety, or suffering undergone by humans- or even other animals, including members of the same species- an individual's pain, suffering, and anxiety matter.”

IfsHumansMatterPainSufferingIndividualSocialAnimalSituationMembersAnxietySpeciesIncludingPainfulIsolationRestraintStarvationCaptivityPain SufferingPainful SituationsSocial Isolation
Book:Animals Matter: A Biologist Explains Why We Should Treat Animals with Compassion and Respect
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“A reduction of meat consumption by only 10% would result in about 12 million more tons of grain for human consumption. This additional grain could feed all of the humans across the world who starve to death each year- about 60 million people!”

PeopleWorldYearsHumansResultsMillionsMeatGrainConsumptionReductionMeat Consumption
Book:Animals Matter: A Biologist Explains Why We Should Treat Animals with Compassion and Respect
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“Hunting and fishing involve killing animals with devices (such as guns) for which the animals have not evolved natural defenses. No animal on earth has adequate defense against a human armed with a gun, a bow and arrow, a trap that can maim, a snare that can strangle, or a fishing lure designed for the sole purpose of fooling fish into thinking they have found something to eat”

ThinkingHumansEarthPurposeFoundNaturalAnimalGunKillingFishesDefenseFishingDevicesHuntingBowsSoleTrapsAdequateArrowsLureSnaresHunting And FishingBows And ArrowsKilling Animals
Author:Marc Bekoff
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“Dominion does not mean domination. We hold dominion over animals only because of our powerful and ubiquitous intellect. Not because we are morally superior. Not because we have a "right" to exploit those who cannot defend themselves. Let us use our brain to move toward compassion and away from cruelty, to feel empathy rather than cold indifference, to feel animals' pain in our hearts.”

FeelsHeartMeanDoeUsePainMovingAnimalPowerfulBrainCompassionColdEmpathyIntellectSuperiorsCrueltyIndifferenceDominationExploitsDominion
Book:Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed: The Fascinating Science of Animal Intelligence, Emotions, Friendship, and Conservation
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“Human beings are a part of the animal kingdom, not apart from it. The separation of "us" and "them" creates a false picture and is responsible for much suffering. It is part of the in-group/out-group mentality that leads to human oppression of the weak by the strong as in ethic, religious, political, and social conflicts.”

HumansPoliticalSufferingStrongSocialReligiousHuman BeingsAnimalGroupsConflictEthicsWeakResponsibleSeparationKingdomsOppressionMentalityAnimal Kingdom
Book:Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed: The Fascinating Science of Animal Intelligence, Emotions, Friendship, and Conservation
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“Make ethical choices in what we buy, do, and watch. In a consumer-driven society our individual choices, used collectively for the good of animals and nature, can change the world faster than laws.”

WorldLawUsedChoicesIndividualAnimalWatchesDrivenFasterConsumersChanging The WorldEthicalIndividual Choice
Book:Animals Matter: A Biologist Explains Why We Should Treat Animals with Compassion and Respect
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“Without close and reciprocal relationships with other animal beings, we're alienated from the rich, diverse, and magnificent world in which we live.”

WorldAnimalRichDiverseMagnificentReciprocalRelationships With Others
Book:The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy — and Why They Matter
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“Animals are not resources or property with whom we can do what we please, their lives matter very much, and they should be firmly entrenched in our moral community. Accepting the notion of ‘animal guardian’ to replace ‘pet owner’ will go a long way towards making the lives of our companions much better and richer.”

WayShouldLongMatterCan DoCommunityAnimalAcceptingMoralPleaseResourcesPropertyNotionPetOwnersCompanionLong WayGuardian
Author:Marc Bekoff
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“Compassion begets compassion, cruelty begets cruelty. What we give we will ultimately receive. Nonhumans help make us human. They teach us respect, compassion, and unconditional love. When we mistreat animals, we mistreat ourselves. When we destroy animal spirits and souls, we destroy our own spirits and souls.”

GivingHumansSoulHelpingSpiritAnimalCompassionTeachCrueltyUnconditional LoveUnconditionalBegetsMistreatSpirit And SoulAnimal Spirits
Author:Marc Bekoff
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