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PRINT INTERVIEWS
Media reports where I have been quoted and published articles that I have authored. Take your time having a look around. If you'd like to hear my view on an issue affecting animals, I'd love to hear from you.
Should animal rights trump human interests?
ABC ONLINE
14 May 2016
From vegetarians and activists to farmers and medical researchers, most agree animal welfare is important. But are current regulations enough? Or should animals be given formal, legal rights? If so, what exactly would that look like?
These were some of the questions raised at an Intelligence Squared debate in Sydney earlier this month. It brought together six participants—including a shark attack survivor, an ethicist and a grazier—to argue for and against the statement: 'animal rights should trump human interests'.
Here are some highlights of the discussion:
Animal rights not human rights, and the importance of emotion
ON LINE OPINION
14 May 2016
Recently I had the privilege of speaking at an IQ2 Debate in Sydney, hosted by The Ethics Centre, on the proposition that animal rights should trump human interests.
As a staunch believer in animal rights, I spoke for the motion. With pre-debate votes showing support for the motion, I was disturbed when the post-debate votes showed a substantial swing against the motion. (Interestingly the online vote at the time of writing is 90% for the motion and 10% against).
Perhaps one of the reasons for the swing was confusion about the rights model animal rights advocates are seeking for animals.
Animal rights: an IQ debate
ABC RADIO NATIONAL
11 May 2016
Lawyers, ethicists, medical researchers, animals rights advocates and the cattle industry all agree that the welfare of animals is important and should be safeguarded but when it comes to granting animals moral, legal and formal rights there’s strong and passionate disagreement.
Highlights of Animal rights should trump human interests: an intelligence squared debate presented by The Ethics Centre.
IQ2 Debate: Animal rights should trump human interests
THE BIG SMOKE
02 May 2016
Ruth Hatten argues that animal rights should trump human interests, as a prelude to The Ethics Centre’s IQ2 debate tonight.
In 2000, an Indian High Court asked, if humans are entitled to fundamental rights, why not animals? The court considered the plight of circus animals and found that those animals were “beings entitled to a dignified existence and humane treatment sans cruelty and torture.”
Under law, animals and humans are regarded differently. Animals are considered property. Much like chairs, tables, cars, books, houses or computers, they are inanimate objects, seen as having no sense of feeling.
Animals feel. Of course they do. They are sentient beings capable of being aware of sensations and emotions and capable of feeling pain and suffering.
Yet Australian law does not recognise animals’ ability to feel; at least not in a way that satisfactorily recognises it and thus protects them from harm.
Should animal rights trump human interests?
THE WIRE
02 May 2016
Imagine a world where people who eat meat are seen as extremists, and animals have the same rights and freedoms as humans. It would be a complete shift in the way people live their lives, but an achievable and necessary one according to animal advocates. They want the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to be extended to animals, giving all sentient beings the right to safety, life, freedom and food. The Wire Radio spoke with speakers attending the IQ2 debate hosted by The Ethics Centre to find out whether we should stop prioritising our interests over animals.
Chimpanzees' legal champion spreads his message in Australia
CHANGING TIMES
05 May 2015
Two chimpanzees, Hercules and Leo, who are being used for biomedical research at Stony Brook University on Long Island, New York, hit the headlines in April this year when Manhattan Supreme Court justice Barbara Jaffe granted them a writ of habeas corpus.
...
The driving force behind this legal turning point is lawyer, animal rights campaigner, author, and university professor Steven Wise, who is currently on a speaking tour of Australia.
The tour has been organised by Voiceless, an independent and not-for-profit think-tank that works to alleviate the suffering caused by factory farming and the commercial hunting of kangaroos.