A2 - Wednesday, August 24, 1983 - North Shore News scheme to capture 100 so-called “killer” whales, I gave a little speech in Seattle last week at a U.S. government hearing. For what it is worth, here is the text: “I would like to offer a warning. Please don't let this hearing degenerate to the level of a mere scientific debate. We are dealing here with what will be viewed a century from now as perhaps the greatest moral reforma- tion. of our time. “We are on the edge of a fabulous discovery, one that is in some ways an ancient truth revisited, but which now appears before us sup-— ported by the strength of modern empiricism. ‘“T remind you that at a meeting of the Dahlem Con- ference in Berlin in 1981, some 50 . evolutionary biologists, neurologists, animal behaviorists, psychologists and philosophers agreed that the distinction between a human and non-human con- sciousness, which has been basic to Western thought since the Greeks and which has been maintained in an absolute and non-negotiable way; is essentially false. “Rather, the conference decided, consciousness must henceforth be viewed as a phenomenon, dif- ferent for different species. In other words, con- sciousness, like intelligence and _ self-awareness, is a multi-levelled conception. “There is obviously a hierarchy of symbols in the language of different species, ranging .vastly in complexity, ranging from what Julian Huxley wryly called the “peptic Nirvana” of the tapeworm to the haun- ting operas, if that’s what they are, of the Humpback Whale. “The question, phrased properly in view of what we have already learned about animal psychology, is not whether non-human creatures possess varying levels of consciousness, but what level? It is not whether they speak a language, but what language? “What are their emotions? And, finally, in whatever bizarre form it manifests itself, what are their thoughts? “If some of the finest of our scientific thinkers are prepared to accept as a new basic prgmise the idea that anthropomorphism can be replaced by legitimate em- pathy and that mind, con- sciousness and intelligence are continuous from species 1M it’s so easy... to species, then surely we have no excuse for not con- sidering very seriously the ethical and moral questions that this new attitude raises. “In the case of cetaceans, the question is urgent. The opportunity, I might add, is nothing short of wonderful. By almost every method of measurement, from brain size to complexity of vocalizations, cetacea come closest to comparing with humanity’s own degree of consciousness, ALOE LOTION ALOE CREAM ALOE FACIAL SCRUBS ALOE LIQUID SOAP ALOE SHAMPOO ALOE CONDITIONER SAVE 50% 100 250 2-250's 100 250 2-250's by Bob Hunter share ri SPEAKING as an independent objector to a ALOE VERA PACKAGE ALOE FACIAL CLEANSER REGULAR COST $39.17 SALE PRICE $19.58 WHEAT GERM OIL CAPSULES REG. SALE 6.20 4.88 13.96 11.88 27.92 19.99 IRON CHELATED 40mg. REG. SALE 6.61 4.88 14.00 8.88 25.20 15.88 sonal @ “8 eo “There can be no more logical starting point for the re-evaluation of our behavior towards the animal kingdom than in the matter of how we treat cetaceans. It seems to me that only two serious justifications have been offered for the capture of any more Orcinus Orca: first and foremost is the cash flow of the aquaria involved; second, the dubious proposi- tion that we could learn anything’ more about them by keeping them imprisoned in what amounts to an acoustical sensory depriva- tion chamber, a traditional methodology which by its very nature rules out any serious deepening of our knowledge about: the’ true INDIVIDUAL PRICE 460ml. 6.61 120mi. 4.39 225m. 7.99 225ml. 7.99 500mi. 3.88 500ml. 3.99 500ml. 4.32 . And the answer, categorical- THREE NATURE WAY range of cetacean awareness. “Should we do it? “At ‘his stage in our. history, -having reached a-~ plateau of hard evidence of a mysterious and awesome awareness of some kind in | cetacea, the onus must be on: the people who seek to im- °. prison these creatures to. show cause why the Con- stitution of the United States of America, the right to life, liberty and happiness, should not tentativély be broadened, at least in spirit, to include the other great species of large-brained mammals on this planet? “To bog ourselves down in an acrimonious debate over the number of Orcas that can balance a beachball on . their noses without affecting the gene pool of a pod in the Gulf of Alaska is a bit like a slave-trader asking, a couple of centuries ago, how many slaves can we take before weakening a given tribe? “That’s not the question. The question is: Do we have a right to take any at all? . * ly, must be no. Thank you.” HERB TEAS 8 GREAT FLAVOURS 59 EACH HERB FORMULAS HAS NATURALX #2 HERBAL SLIM 20% or ALL AMINO ACIDS 2 5 % OFF C-1500 mg. 2-180 ony 02.90 100 250 Open Fri. till 9 pm BIO—15 50mg. CALCIUM PANAIMATE REG. SALE 100 621 4.88 250 18.06 11.88 2-250's 36.12 19.99 LECITHIN 1200mg. 2-250's REG. SALE REG SALE 4.72 2.99 100 469 2.99 10 98 7.48 250 10 64 5.99 2196 13.88 -250's 20 08 10.99 Vancouver Burnaby 100th St. and 1789 Davie 1104 W. Broadway The Bay King George Hwy. at Denman Langley Lougheed Mall Burnaby Delta 20234 Fraser Victoria Middlegate Mall Scott 72 Centra Highway in the Bay 7158 Kingsway 7269-120th St. BEE POLLEN CHEWABLE 600mg. REG SALE 100 5 50 3.88 300 14.85 8.99 SCOUNT STORES Official vitamin consultants to B.C. Lions & Vancouver Whitecaps 2nd & Lonsdale, North Van 988-3454 SUPER PRO PROTEIN 454g. REG. 7.99 sace 9.99 SAFFLOWER OIL CAPSULES ESSICAL FATTY ACID