Reading the article Jesus Christ And Animal Rights by Alfred E. Zammit (January 18) I was amused by the Christian "facts" listed to justify human beings' meat-eating tendencies, but I am not going to enter into this discussion because this is a complex issue and goes far beyond any Christian myths or beliefs.

But the statement "Animals, however 'sentient', are not human beings; and society must uphold this distinction" struck me. Based on scientific facts, humans are another animal species (Animal, 2001, 1st ed). Wikipedia defines humans as "bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species Homo sapiens under the family Hominidae (known as the great apes)".

Excerpts from World Book Encyclopedia tell us that "Human beings belong to the class of animals called mammals. There are about 4,000 species of mammals, including such animals as cats, dogs, elephants, and otters... Human beings, along with apes, monkeys... make up the order of mammals called primates. Scientists classify human beings and apes in the super family Hominoidea".

Being another animal species, human beings have no right to lift themselves above other species. They must treat their cousins in nature with respect and dignity, and stop exploiting the environment on which we all depend. There is no precedent for a sustained assault on biodiversity triggered by a single species - one that now unfortunately dominates life on earth.

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