A farm sanctuary is a sight to behold
I volunteer at a farm sanctuary, where our rescued animals get to live exactly as author Martha Nussbaum would like them to, in what she calls the Capabilities Approach (“People for the enlightened treatment of animals,” Ideas, Jan. 1). They have “the freedom to live in a way that is deeply connected to the creature’s capabilities and functions,” as Evan Selinger describes the approach in his interview with Nussbaum. And they live “an active life characteristic of [their] species.”
A farm sanctuary is a beautiful sight to behold, and there are many scattered throughout Massachusetts and New England.
Dan Rudolph
Hingham
But what about the mice in my basement?
Evan Selinger’s interview with Martha Nussbaum (“People for the enlightened treatment of animals”) spells out three approaches to the ethical treatment of animals: what Nussbaum calls the “So-Like-Us Approach” (certain animals should be treated well because they resemble us), the Utilitarian Approach (pain should be minimized), and her preferred “Capabilities Approach” (each animal should be free to live a life characteristic of the species). As Nussbaum puts it, “All animals count, and all deserve to live as the animals they are.”
This sounds attractive in principle, but what about the mice in my basement? What about the raccoon that destroys my bird feeder? What about the deer that invade my garden? As far as I am concerned, if those animals are to live a life characteristic of their species, they had better do it somewhere else.
William Vaughan Jr.
Chebeague Island, Maine