A new low: pigs' hearts for people

One day the absurdity of the almost universal human belief in the slavery of other animals will be palpable.  We shall then have discovered our souls and become worthier of sharing this planet with them. –Martin Luther King Jr.

We postpone the subjects planned for this blog post to bring you the following news, reported in the New York Times and numerous other media sites. 

In a First, Man Receives a Heart From a Genetically Altered Pig

   The breakthrough may lead one day to new supplies of animal organs for transplant into human patients.

The Times’s Jan. 10 headline and blurb (above) say it all: Humans have now invented a new way to use (as in breed, modify, kill) animals to serve our needs.  As if humans had any right to do that.

Dominionism is the worldview or belief held by one species that it has a divine right to use animals and everything else in the living world for its own benefit. – Jim Mason

Already, of course, humans have used animals for innumerable fiendish purposes besides slaughtering and eating them: turning them into beasts of burden worldwide; forcing them to serve and die in humans’ wars; making them into involuntary seeing-eye dogs and emotional-support animals; and so on and on – all robbing animals of their natural lives and causing their dependence on people’s good will or mercy.    

Now, the NYTimes article extols using pigs – pork already being the most widely eaten meat in the world -- for even more medical purposes to benefit humans.

After all, the story explains, “Pigs offer advantages over primates for organ procurements, because they are easier to raise and achieve adult human size in six months.  Pig heart valves are routinely transplanted into humans, and some patients with diabetes have received porcine pancreas cells.  Pig skin has also been used as a temporary graft for burn patients. . . .”  and on and on about the benefits of using a non-human animal for our purposes.     https://tinyurl.com/4u53benj     

Alba, freed from a lab

Dominionism writ large!

It’s an emergency! (or is it?)

Say that your pet needs medical help in a hurry.  You race to the 24/7 pet hospital and check in for emergency care.  Directed to sit in the waiting area, you’re visited by a triage staffer who talks with you, taking notes about your pet’s condition.  

Then you wait.  And wait.  And get antsy.  Then angry.  You have no idea of where on a list of “emergency” patients in line for treatment your pet has been placed.

Occasionally, you ask a passing staffer when the doctor will see your pet.  The answer doesn’t help: s/he is in the lineup, but if a pet in greater need arrives, the doctor will see that animal before your pet. And theoretically, this could keep happening.

Five hours later -- no joke, and it’s been worse at other times – you’re told to take your pet to an exam room, where you wait for the vet to finish with the last patient.  Then, ta-da! it’s your turn. . . a very belated happy ending!  

Recount this story to friends who are astonished, disbelieving, even indignant.  But then remember the last time you went to a (human) hospital ER and how long you waited there.  It’s much the same story!

So where’s the emergency (“requiring immediate action”) in emergency?    

Usually, not there.  Typically in both places, the most that could happen in 5 hours is that the patient might be seen (briefly) before being moved into a temporary cubicle to wait for tests and treatment.

Is there a better word than “emergency” to use in both circumstances described here?  Is there a better way to run a so-called “emergency” facility for pets?

 

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What do you think about animals being sacrificed to serve human needs?  and how about how ER systems work in animal hospitals?  Tell us at 1moreonce.blogspot.com.