Even animal rights people shouldn’t get too upset at this, though it’s certainly too bad we hurt the dolphin in the first place. Still, the animal is better off with the artificial tail than without it.
Well, he doesn’t actually practice veterinary medicine; he’s a neuropathologist. I don’t know if he got any credit for his vet school training when he went to med school; I suspect not.
Oh, absolutely. Really, I was just being flip(per). 
I’m not particularly sad or deranged, but I agree mostly with his post (I don’t hate humans so much as I am mostly indifferent to them as a species). Fish, that was a great post, too. The planet should be big enough for all animal species and humans to live on it harmoniously, but we’re too busy crapping up everyone’s nest. Stupid humans.
Hey, check this out - the bull Indian elephant at the Calgary Zoo, Spike, with his life-saving dentures. 
The OP is morally bereft because he did not mention Darfur.
In fact, I am working on a secret Cause that will benefit not just humanity, but all forms of life throughout the universe, and that trumps everyone’s sense of self-righteousness.
Although my plan does not specifically stand to benefit inorganic forms, so there’s a loophole for someone to exploit. 
I admit it was an ill-conceived OP at best. I stayed up 'til three the night before playing poker and drinking much whiskey. It seemed like a good idea too early this morning. Of course most things were pissing me off this morning.
I guess I still had that “lost” whales story in my head. Sometimes it amazes me what lengths people will go to for animals that they won’t for their fellow humans. Anyway, that was the intended point.
One thing about doing things for animals is that animals don’t turn out to be serial killers or date rapists or Pat Robertson.
Of course, animals are ungrateful little wretches.
Well, actually they do… of other animals.
A while back there was a documentary about these hyper-adorable orphaned polar bears that were eventually released into the wild. That they presumably survived (assuming they did) by killing and eating seals wasn’t discussed. Jerry Seinfeld had a bit about whenever one watches a nature show, one roots for the featured animal. One week it’s “Run, gazelle, use your speed!” and the next it’s “Get him, cheetah! Don’t let him use his speed!”
I think that’s more people becoming used to hearing about war and stuff like that where many humans are killed painfully, but animals don’t tend to appear in that narrative, and thus we’re caught somewhat off-guard.
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Because animals are better than people, and are more deserving of help.
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What are YOU doing to help? Other than bitching about people who aren’t doing what you think they should do?
Hate me for saying it, but I’ll miss the guy.
The people doing this are marine scientists and veterinarians. What else should they be doing but helping sea animals? It’s what they do. Don’t get mad at them for not helping people. There are other folks to get pissed off at for that.
Why were you drinking whiskey and playing poker when you could have been helping people? You’re just a selfish asshole.
For me it’s the way animals are basically helpless against whatever humans feel like doing to them or do to them out of our carelessness or greed. I don’t feel the same sympathy for other people because at least at some level, they have some control over what happens to them/what they do to other people.
Just how are they better than people, asshole.
Take a look around your living room at your sixteen cats (average Doper). Now turn a mouse loose in there and watch as they slowly toy with it before killing it for sport. Then watch as they leave his carcass on your floor (because they really weren’t hungry after all) and go off to take their eleventh nap of the day.
Animals are brutal to one another, and if it wasn’t for the fact that you were at the top of the food chain, the ones that were would do what they could to eat you. And they wouldn’t even wait until you were fucking dead to start chewing and swallowing bits of you. You’d still be breathing while they were snacking on your entrails. So I’m beginning to think that some of you are just feeling guilty about being the best, most advanced species on the planet, and that has fucked you up inside.
See, you think you have a friend in animals. You think you have a sacred pact with them and that you share a mutual respect. You call yourself an ally to your finned, feathered and furred neighbors. And I am certain that if you found yourself wandering naked along the Serengeti, and happen to come upon a pride of lions that were feeling a bit peckish or just bored, they’d show you the same fucking courtesy, right?
Or is it possible that some of you are just so completely inept socially or incapable of dealing with the occasional shit sandwich that life throws at you, that you find solace in the company of creatures that rely so heavily on you for their collective survival (pets), that they are forced to tolerate your company? Is it possible that you are projecting feelings or characteristics into the animal collective that simply aren’t there?
I mean, I love my pet. I really do. And Christ, as much as I love Disney films, I sometimes wonder if Walt should have considered another career due to how bad those cartoons fucked a good many of you up.
Hell, at least humans are capable of compassion for other animals.
Could we please stop being so collectively fucking stupid and sad on a message board dedicated to fighting ignorance?
Nice way to demonstrate that vaunted compassion.
If you genuinely think that someone prefers animals because people treat him so badly, isn’t turning around and treating him badly simply reinforcing that point?
It’s a tough old world, babe, and if you aren’t bolted down tight enough you are going to shake, rattle and roll. Every animal you come in contact with inherently understands this.
Don’t consider it as being treated badly. Think of it as someone who is genuinely concerned enough for your mental well-being to give you a good shake and point out your delusion rather than galvanize it by playing along. That’s the compassionate side of me that no animal will ever show you.
Yeah, it’s a tough world. So why the fuck are you whining around about someone not valuing you? Because that’s what it boils down to. You’re pissed off that someone prefers a cat to you, so then you act like a shit and then more people prefer cats to you. The snottier you are about it, the more their choice makes sense.
You need some perspective in this thread, hell, in this message board…
I’m not the one whining. The whining occurs frequently on this board about how all humans are shit and how animals can do no wrong and when the choice is between the life of an animal or a human being, the logical choice is always the animal, " 'Cause an animal never made fun of me!"
And your tapping me with the Freudian wand about how I’m upset because people love their pets rather than me is weaker than a mixed drink in a strip club, because frankly, I don’t like most people either, but I do know where to set my priorities when it comes to the value of life.
If you say so. You are stomping and sneering and crying around. But if you don’t want to call it whining, that’s fine.
Your contempt and anger comes through loud and clear, just like you intended. You should be content with that.