animal rights

Gordon Fitch gcf at panix.com
Thu Mar 2 09:06:55 PST 2000


Apsken at aol.com wrote:
>> Charles Darwin wrote [approximately, from memory], How can God exist,
>>when cats play with [i.e., torture] mice?

Doug Henwood:
> Though the mad poet Christopher Smart says that cats toy with their
> victims because (also approximately, from memory) 1 in 9 escape.

Some time ago I read that the behavior of cats (of all species) about their prey is probably attributable to caution, rather than playfulness, which exhibits itself in other ways. It may also be partly due to ineptitude or curiosity. Cats have to be trained to hunt my their mothers, and it doesn't always take.

I don't know why God would have a problem existing on account of cat behavior, in any case. He, she, or it might not be the kind of God we would _prefer_, but that's another matter.

Gordon



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