# Animal-rights activists who only care about cute animals **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 16, 2014, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-rights-activists-who-only-care-about-cute-animals/707386 "2014-12-16T12:19:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-rights-activists-who-only-care-about-cute-animals/707386/41 "2014-12-18T01:31:38Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > Sam Gamgee. I think you’re allowed to claim an exception if the spider is trying to kill you while you’re trying to save the world. ETA: Also if it’s eight feet tall. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-rights-activists-who-only-care-about-cute-animals/707386/42 "2014-12-18T02:00:01Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > I want a warty toad stuffie! (That’s a Britishism, right? “Stuffie?” It’s a cute word!) > > Then again, my favorite stuffed animal when I was a little girl was a vulture, so I’m one of the weird ones. On the rare occasions I go to IKEA, I always check their stuffed animals because they have offbeat ones. I kinda regret not buying that bat when I had the chance. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-rights-activists-who-only-care-about-cute-animals/707386/43 "2014-12-18T22:00:36Z")
> [@andros](#): > > In fairness, dogs have been bred as companion animals for 40,000 years, Yes, I think there’s an objective reason to dislike eating dogs : they coevolved with us for a very long time, and it shows in some of their innate behavioral traits. Not so much for cats. I’d also spare great apes. Way too human for my taste. I don’t eat grandad. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2014, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-rights-activists-who-only-care-about-cute-animals/707386/44 "2014-12-19T11:55:19Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Yes, I think there’s an objective reason to dislike eating dogs : they coevolved with us for a very long time, and it shows in some of their innate behavioral traits. > Not so much for cats. > I’d also spare great apes. Way too human for my taste. I don’t eat grandad. In general, we don’t eat animals that naturally mainly eat meat, we eat herbivores and omnivores. I’m sure I remember a thread about this once where someone showed that it was not just because it’s much easier to herd animals that aren’t likely to eat you, but also that they taste better and have the nutrients we eat. Pigs could kill you, for example, but they can live on veggies, so farmed pigs don’t taste like a carnivore. Chickens do eat insects naturally (and other chickens, unnaturally, on some farms) but their main diet is vegetable-based. Dogs are the omnivorous exception in most countries because they’ve been companion animals (as fellow herders) for so long, and horses are the exception in most countries for similar reasons. Both animals are more useful when they’re not meat and we’ve got too used to thinking of them as not meat. Some countries do not have that history so they do eat those animals, of course. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-rights-activists-who-only-care-about-cute-animals/707386/45 "2014-12-20T02:16:13Z")
I’ve not met anyone who is okay with cruelty towards spiders. Sure, we kill them, along with other pest animals, but we also kill gophers and animals that attack our gardens (if we can’t otherwise shew them away.) Pest control is not animal cruelty. I will admit that we do tend to treat some animals better than others, but it’s for the reasons mentioned above. They serve a purpose to man. It’s not about their inherent rights as animals at all. The rare people that I encounter that want all animals to be treated like smaller humans do indeed tell you not to kill insects and spiders. My kindergarten teacher was one of these people, and tried to teach us not to kill bugs. But, I’m sorry, when my house is crawling with them, putting them outside isn’t going to help. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-rights-activists-who-only-care-about-cute-animals/707386/46 "2014-12-20T05:40:51Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > and pigs have more similarity to humans than many animals. Including flavor if you believe those anecdotes from the South Pacific :). Where pigs really fall down as household pets are in areas like thermoregulation. They’re wallowers, which historically at least has kinda ruled them out as efficient occupiers of the same living space as people. Also, you know - BIG. Much bigger and heavier than even the largest dog. Miniature breeds are a very, very recent innovation. You can argue they can make decent pets _today_ with some extra work, but for most of human history they didn’t have the right stuff to become companion animals. Dogs/wolves like humans are endurance hunters and keep up with people on the move and assist as hunters. Cats take up little space and eradicate vermin in farming societies. Neither make for very good meat animals because of their diets, cats much less so as obligate carnivores and small size. Pigs are great garbage disposals but had little else to recommend themselves other than doglike intelligence and deliciousness. They were far better utilized as a meat animal ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-rights-activists-who-only-care-about-cute-animals/707386/47 "2014-12-20T06:36:54Z")
I don’t really understand the need to pit these people even if they exist. They advocate for specific animals. It’s not a flaw in their character that they don’t also advocate for other animals. They advocate for what they want to put time into. Time is a finite resource. Should we also be pitting black civil rights advocates because they concentrate on causes specific to those that effect blacks? How dare they not devote more time to defending the rights of Hispanic people? Sure they share many of the same issues and do collaborate their efforts but I’m not going to fault them for putting more time towards one than the other. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-rights-activists-who-only-care-about-cute-animals/707386/48 "2014-12-21T06:20:16Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Makes one wonder how they ever got protection for the Florida Manatee. Maybe one of the ugliest animals out there. All this attention to animals living less than 2000 feet below the surface. What of the mighty blobfish?! [![](http://positivetv.tv/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/blob_fish_main.jpg) ](http://positivetv.tv/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/blob_fish_main.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-rights-activists-who-only-care-about-cute-animals/707386/49 "2014-12-21T17:39:25Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > It’s a problem that many true animal rights activists have encountered. We spend so much time on the panda, for example, because he’s cute and cuddly, but there are a ton of noncute endangered creatures that no one advocates for (or very few). On the other hand, panda and tigers and dolphins and snow leopards make people write checks to conservation groups which then use that money to help save spiders and fungi and three-spotted sand fleas. ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-rights-activists-who-only-care-about-cute-animals/707386/50 "2014-12-22T20:46:18Z")
But why SHOULD we care about ugly animals? I think spiders are cute and don’t kill them, but I don’t like ticks and would like them all to die. If each tick was replaced with a cute panda, koala, sugar glider, platypus, otter, or other adorable animal, the world would clearly be a better place. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-rights-activists-who-only-care-about-cute-animals/707386/51 "2014-12-22T21:27:17Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > I don’t want to de-rail this thread, but that in itself is illogical reasoning. > > Take pigs. Pigs are far more intelligent than dogs or cats. Every pig has the \*potential \*to provide companionship and comfort to a human being. To a lesser extent, almost every animal - cows, chickens, geese, lambs - could hypothetically become even more beloved than a conventional pet. > > The only thing separating Fluffy or Fido from a hotdog are societal conventions - one is raised in a comfortable environment, coddled and socialized, while the other is raised in a factory farm and eaten. We could eat dogs. We could eat cats. They could serve that purpose; in many cultures, they do. Again, I don’t want to be The Annoying Activist - believe me, I’ve eaten plenty of meat - but pretending you’re taking the logical, rational position by having your culture’s values deeply ingrained in you doesn’t make much sense. I never said I’ve taken the rationalist position. Although, arguing that we don’t kill animals that provide emotional comfort and that we separate ourselves emotionally from what we butcher and eat seems pretty reasonable. I didn’t mean to impart my cultural practices into the discussion. For what it’s worth, if Indians don’t want to eat cows and Americans do, I see no rational justification for not allowing each society to do as it sees fit. All I’m saying is that it is irrational to “love every animal like it was your golden retriever growing up.” That’s just flowery dogshit, so to speak. ---
**Author:** ![get\_lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@get\_lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/get_lives)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-rights-activists-who-only-care-about-cute-animals/707386/52 "2014-12-22T23:11:17Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > Sam Gamgee. Best post ever. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-rights-activists-who-only-care-about-cute-animals/707386/53 "2014-12-24T15:22:20Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Screech, panic, scream, kill the spider. Even if it’s an endangered species of spider. “Endangered spiders” is a thing? Wooo! We’re making progress! ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-rights-activists-who-only-care-about-cute-animals/707386/54 "2014-12-28T10:45:26Z")
Heh. It’s funny what some people think is cute, too. By contrast–while I’m not quite as animal-rights-activist as a Jain or something–I’m very conservationist, to the point of believing in the preservation of parasitic species, even if they parasitize humans. It seems to follow from reasonable moral principles to me. Extinction is bad, don’t destroy what you can’t replace. I get container-ship-loads of scorn from practically all directions. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-rights-activists-who-only-care-about-cute-animals/707386/55 "2014-12-28T12:37:45Z")
Are you providing much-needed habitat for the endangered human pubic louse? ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-rights-activists-who-only-care-about-cute-animals/707386/56 "2014-12-29T01:59:20Z")
Well, for those who question the OP, we in Canada have the European ban on imports of seal products, and the likes of Paul McCartney have criticized the seal hunt in Canada. Meanwhile, how many opponents of seal hunting are critical of the global cow hunt (for want of a better word). I assume some of them eat beef and wear leather products. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-rights-activists-who-only-care-about-cute-animals/707386.md?page=2)