Our children already live in a world where there are thousands of times more toy animals than there are animal animals. Animals are no longer objects of firsthand knowledge and acquaintance. . . . They are objects of mythology. And the day is not far off when the fabulous quality of animals in fables — the hare, the wolf, the bear — will extend beyond allegory and take on the dimension of make-believe, like dragons and griffins.
We can’t change the world for animals without changing our ideas about animals. We have to move from the idea that animals are things, tools, machines, commodities, resources here for our use, to the idea that as sentient beings they have their own inherent value and dignity.
