But You Can Eat Cats

In Don’t Eat Dogs, published last night, I quoted Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry’s defense of eating dogs if you are in a culture in which dogs are eaten. In making the argument, he wrote “all of God’s good Creation bears his image, and is therefore worthy of respect. And this is particularly true of the higher animals who, by virtue of man-fellowship, have acquired man-like qualities.”

That’s a line I quoted. After that he says,

This is not an incidental point, by the way. Lots of people point out as a defense for them that dogs and cats exhibit very human-like qualities of deep affection and fidelity, and intelligence, and this is true, but historically the case is that this is true because dogs and cats have evolved “unnaturally” into “cultured” animals thanks to their proximity with humanity over many millennia.

This “culturation” makes eating them even worse, in the societies in which they have evolved into cultured animal. That’s a good point.

But, you know, cats? Showing deep affection and fidelity? Cats? They’re the psychopaths of the animal kingdom. The effective psychopath is the one who makes everyone else think he’s a good guy because he knows how to play them. You could without irony name your cat “Ted Bundy.”

And intelligence? Only in the sense that all the powers of their tiny little brains is directed toward satisfying their self-interest.

He’s a smart guy, Pascal-Emmanuel, but this is just crazy talk.