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To add interest I have
interspersed this commentary with thought provoking
quotations from Religious Sacred scripture, philosophers, ethicists,
and other notable thinkers both past and present.
For
ease of reading all quotations appear in a
purple font
March 2010
Four new photographs
Return to Photograph Gallery
: sheep and lambs
Sentient Sheep Page Two
During the
course of a Sunday lunch we happened to look out of the
kitchen window at our young lambs playing happily in the
fields. Glancing at our plates, we suddenly realized
that we were eating the leg of an animal who had until
recently been playing in a field herself. We looked at
each other and said, "Wait a minute, we love these
sheep--they're such gentle creatures. So why are we
eating them?" It was the last time we ever did.
Linda and Paul McCartney
This section
of the gallery is a little different as I have selected
photographs which I hope convey the fact that sheep,
like all animals, are sentient. As with all the pages in
the photograph gallery, along with quotations and short
commentary, there is a selection of wallpaper and
other photographs for you to download. Before
downloading please read
instructions and conditions
of use
if you have not already done so. At the present
time there are two pages of photographs and comments in
this section more, will be added as they become
available.
Firstly what
is sentience?
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Here are some
definitions of
sentience:
The
possession of consciousness or sensory awareness.
Sentience is the ability to feel or perceive
subjectively. The term is used in philosophy
(particularly in the philosophy of animal ethics and in
eastern philosophy) ... A living being which is capable of
experiencing pain and suffering.
Self-aware, choice-making consciousness. It is unethical to
cause a sentient to feel pain needlessly.
More definitions:
Define:sentience - Google Search |
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The life
spark in my eyes is in no way different than the life
spark in the eyes of any other sentient being.
Michael
Stepaniak
Recently
whilst surfing the net I came across a shocking
article in the Times:
Japanese
scientist claims breakthrough with organ grown in sheep
“We
have made some very big advances here. There has
historically been work on the potential of sheep as
producers of human blood, but we are only slowly coming
closer to the point where we can harvest sheep for human
organs,”
Professor Hanazono
quoted in The Times
I am
against animal abuse of any kind and to my way of
thinking there is something quite sickening about this.
In addition
to my shock at such an atrocity against another species
was the fact that among the fifty or so comments on the
forum from where I located the link to the article there was only one
person who thought that this was unethical. Moreover, amidst the silly jokes many of the comments stated that
as sheep were not sentient, using them to grow human
spare parts was therefore acceptable.
Are sheep
sentient? Of course they are, look at these photographs,
if a sheep was not sentient would he or she look back at
you, would your eyes meet, would he or she recognise you
as someone who brought her food last winter and follow you
about as was the case of a sheep recently.
Below you
will find a gallery of photographs of Sheep who are
clearly sentient such as this delightful creature who followed us around hoping for some food. You can
read more about her
here
The soul is
the same in all living creatures, although the body of
each is different.
Hippocrates
Look at the
photographs which follow, these animals are aware and
indeed as curious about us as we are about them. Sheep
show affection for one another and have best friends.
Sheep can be defensive particularly when protecting
their lambs and have been know to challenge dogs, even
sheep dogs as we once witnessed recently when the farmer
had to come to the dog's rescue from a ewe defending her
lamb.
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Rough fell sheep live in some of the bleakest
part of the country in hilly or mountainous
terrain. The two sheep in the photograph graze
in the low fell pastures in Cumbria a few miles
from the town of Kirkby Stephen. We often visit
here and take photographs and with few
exceptions sheep will turn their attention your
way as you photograph them. If you park your car
they may approach with curiosity.
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but the
poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he
had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together
with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own
morsel, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom,
and was unto him as a daughter
The Bible:
Samuel 12.3
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Mothers defend their lambs quite vigorously,
sometimes when taking photos all ewes in the
field will turn our way and approach us with
loud and persistent bleating. Most certainly
they are aware of our existence and consider us
a threat.
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There is no difference between the pain of humans and
the pain of other living beings, since the love and
tenderness of the mother for the young are not produced
by reasoning, but by feeling, and this faculty exists
not only in humans but in most living beings.
Maimonides: Guide for the Perplexed
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Here again sheep are certainly sentient enough
to know how to acquire a tasty snack. This ewe
circled the car peering in hoping for a tasty
treat.
It is really not considered good for sheep to be
fed on bread and similar food as it can give
them diarrhoea. But she is difficult to resist
and at the time we were not aware of this
problem.
Click the graphic to access a larger image
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There is not an animal on the earth, nor a flying
creature on two wings, but they are people like unto
you.
Qur'an,
Al-An`am 6:38
Four New Photographs: Affectionate Sheep
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Affectionate Sheep
Sheep
have friends, they show affection for one another in many
ways such as one sheep laying his head upon the back of
another sheep. We observed these two sheep who were
obviously friends for they kept close company. At one time
as they were sitting side by side in the afternoon sun of
one of the companions laid his head upon the back of his
friend. This is quite a common occurrence.
You can
download this photograph sized as desk top wallpaper
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Sheep often display affection by rubbing heads
as in the case of these two Swaledale Rams who
shared a field with the Blue faced Leicester
rams above
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You will
also find more photographs of these friendly couples at
full size included in our flickr photostream:
sheep rub heads to show affection
on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
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Monogamous ram.
Firstly the red ochre is
applied to the
chest of
a ram so that he will leave a mark on
the ewes who he
breeds
with so
the
farmer
is able
to tell
which
have
bred and
may
bear
lambs in
the
spring.
At the time this photograph was taken none
of the other ewes in the field had this red mark.
The ram it appears has eyes only for this
ewe and like a faithful husband he remained
with her following her everywhere totally
ignoring about a dozen other ewes |
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Here they sit side by side
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I saw a
muskrat come out of a hole in the ice ... While I am
looking at him, I am thinking what he is thinking of me.
He is a different sort of man, that's all.
I saw deep in
the eyes of the animals the human soul look out upon me.
I saw where it was born deep down under feathers and
fur, or condemned for a while to roam four-footed among
the brambles I caught the clinging mute glance of the
prisoner and swore that I would be faithful.
Henry
David Thoreau
More Wallpaper
Shame on such
a morality that is worthy of pariahs, and that fails to
recognize the eternal essence that exists in every
living thing, and shines forth with inscrutable
significance from all eyes that see the sun!
Arthur
Schopenhauer
Important please note:
I am not an
animal expert of any kind just your average person who
loves animals, all animals, and feels deeply about the
plight of many of our fellow creatures. Neither am I a
writer, or any other expert. Therefore please keep in
mind that the information included in this website has
been researched to the best of my ability and any
misinformation is quite by accident but of course
possible.
Copyright, accreditations and
other matters, please read
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