Why do animals matter to us?

By Anthony D'Angelo III

This title, taken from chapter 7 of communicating nature poses a very important question. Why do animals matter to us? Is it some innate connection with “animality” that draws us to them? How can some people destroy animals without a care, while others spend their entire lives protecting them? Do animals connect human beings more with nature? Do animals have the same natural rights, feelings, emotions as humans? These questions were all raised throughout our readings and viewings this week. The answers may be different for some. The important part is that we ask these questions in the first place.

“Am I Blue?” By Alice walker was a nice read, filled with moral and ethical issues that are personified through the story of the horse, Blue. I had to read it a few times to really grasp how I wanted to interpret the story. One of the first things that stood out to me was the subject of inequality. Throughout the story, there are multiple references to slavery, racism, injustices for the Native Americans, a hint of Eco-feminism, animal cruelty, etc. However one of the underlying themes of inequality that I derived from the story early on was inequality amongst sexual orientation. She refers to the person she was staying with as her “companion” and “partner.” yet never reveals his/her gender. A little bit of research from an article titled “Alice Walker on motherhood and estrangement from her only child” revealed that Alice does not identify with one sexual orientation, but considers herself “curious.” I couldn’t help but believe that including her partner/companion in THIS story was deliberate. I’m not exactly sure why, but I know it wasn’t by accident. Maybe she wants to make the parallel between animal cruelty and human cruelty. She does describe the horse with human emotions such as bored, angry, hateful and hurt. Maybe this story about Blue the horse isn’t just looking to expose animal cruelty. The more obvious theme of this story was indeed animal inequality; humans losing their childhood connections with animals, and thus, losing any sense of moral or ethical concern for animals.

“No, I was shocked that I had forgotten that human animals and nonhuman animals can communicate quite well; if we are brought up around animals as children we take this for granted. By the time we are adults we no longer remember.”

But maybe, it’s using animal cruelty as a metaphor or symbol for human cruelty in general. I think there are lot of ethical issues being brought up in this short story, some obvious, some not so obvious.    

Admittedly, I’m not a huge fan of poetry. But what I like about our class is that we use multiple sources of media and literature to discuss important themes concerning Environmentalism. In this case, I thought the poem “Meeting Wolf” by Mary Oliver was beautiful and appropriate, and really gave us a chance to interpret freely without the constrictions of visual aid or lengthy, wordy description.

Line three, stanza one: “inside his golden eyes” instantly brought me to back to another environmental work: Aldo Leopold’s “Thinking like a mountain.”

“We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes.”

There is something amongst the environmental community that is symbolized in the eyes of wolves.  Maybe wolves are a great symbol of freedom and nature. Maybe the eyes of the wolf personify the struggle of the natural world vs humans. Whatever it is, I’ve come to realize that the wolf is a very important symbol.  

I found yet another connection to Leopold and this poem. The third stanza states:

“And this is what I think: I have given him intrusion.”

Similarly, Leopold writes:

“I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes—something known only to her and to the mountain.”

Maybe the wolf is symbolic of the mystique of nature. Maybe the secrets of the wild are hidden within the eyes of the wolf.  Humans cannot comprehend the connection between non-human animals and nature. Humans will and cannot see through the eyes of the wolf.

Linda Hogan’s “wolves” expands upon this connection with humans and wolves. At one point, she makes reference to how the Anishnabe people believe that we descended from wolves, long ago. Darwin would disagree, but the spiritual connection is touching and I believe more symbolic of this idea of wolves, nature, and our connection to both.

“No matter the reason we say we are here, all of us are intent on seeing the wolves, or hearing them wail the song our Ancestors new the words to.”

“How I became an Elephant” and “The Cove” were incredibly eye opening films about the exploitation and mistreatment of animals, particularly elephants and dolphins. I noticed many similarities within these two films. The filming style is smooth and informative, yet purposely disturbing. The videos seem to combine documentary like interviews, first person perspective shots, and cinema-like filming.  The films focus in on two main protagonists and their battles to save animals: Juliette West and Ric O’Barry . Both are inspiring characters that the directors use as a source of inspiration to personify and figurehead real life movements for animal equality. And both of these films have sub messages or themes that extend beyond the surface.

Ric O’Barry is an incredible character who tells a fascinating story about how he basically created the demand for dolphins, and how he plans to destroy the industry he helped build. The film also exposes the selling of dolphin meat laced with mercury, and the subsequent government cover up.  I thought “the Cove” was a very powerful movie. I liked the use of home-video style scenes, and the ironic marketing films used by sea world and what we perceive as positive interactions with dolphins. Irony seems to be a huge theme in this film. The irony of the Japanese town with all the dolphin signs. The irony of Ric O’Barry being the flipper trainer. The irony of being able to eat dolphin meat while watching dolphin shows. Trying to keep a low profile in japan while at the same time making a film to exploit dolphin mistreatment to the world. I think that irony is a great tool that is well utilized in this film.

On the surface, Juliette is a totally different character than Ric. However, her convictions and her story are motivational in the same way. Her story has the sub-plot of becoming a woman, and learning what she wants to stand for as a strong young lady. The film also incorporated this theme of eastern ideologies mixing with western ideologies, for a common cause. I think that the innocence of Juliette aids in her quest to draw the audience to her cause.

These films really wanted to upset people, and for me, it worked. The voice-over explanation of how sound stresses out dolphins, while showing the dolphins being rounded up and selected for either sale or slaughter, was incredibly sad. The scene where the one dolphin was swimming towards the crew, while bleeding and dying, was really upsetting. The abundance of blood and gore from the elephants and dolphins was intentional and well-used. Watching the elephants being beat and chained really made me empathize with these creatures in a way I haven’t since I was child. I think that is where the theme of “Am I Blue”, this idea of a natural childhood connection with animals, resonated with me. Also, the deep sea diver from “the cove”, Mandy, made a point that I really connected with strongly. I recently went snorkeling in Aruba, and swimming amongst the hundreds of fish was a life changing experience. The entire dive was silent, and I felt a connection with wildlife that I hadn’t ever really felt before. I really loved and appreciated the scene with her swimming and petting the dolphins.  

My article relates to a point that I made earlier in the blog about Alice Walker and using the story of blue to personify other human issues through the tale of animal cruelty. This article, “Animal cruelty and domestic abuse,” makes the connection between cruelty towards animals and cruelty towards humans.