Million Dollar Parrot
The Kakapo is a flightless parrot on the verge of extinction. The Parrot is considered the world’s heaviest parrot as it can weigh up to 8lbs. Though they have a lifespan of up to 90 years, their numbers have dropped to as low as 149. Not only is the flightless bird facing foreign predators, but it is also a barrier to its own reproduction given that most of the living parrots are male and the females tend to mate only if the food supply is sufficient to support the young birds. To make things worse, the bird only eats “Rimu” fruit which has become extremely scarce. With such a low population, many scientist believe that it is only a matter of time before the bird goes extinct. However, efforts are being made to increase…show more content… The reason being that Kant claims that animals have no inherent value and humans have absolutely no direct duty towards them; there is only indirect duties given that our treatment of them has an impact on the interests of other humans. Animals are neither rational nor self-conscious and must there for be thought of as means to an end. That end is man.” He later restates his point later by writing: “The only duty towards animals can be thought of as indirect duties towards humans”. In other words, a Utilitarian would argue that preserving species is only important when humans will be benefited. For example, we may be interested in saving plants that can be used for medications, or animals that can be used for food. Our interest wouldn’t be in the animal itself but rather in what the animal has to offer to…show more content… We must treat animas kindly not because they of the rights they have, but they do have some sort of value to people who have rights. An example is, that ripping the head off a kitten is just as bad as ripping the head off a teddy bear: the wrongness isn’t from the harm to the kitten, but because it harms a person who cares about the kitten. It is safe to assume that Kant would argue that harming animals is not wrong in itself, but it’s wrong because it might promote violence towards other humans since the response to pain for all beings is similar. This reason is equally contingent and indirect, even though it may set the standards for animal treatment, its only done for our own interest: abusing animals is wrong because it might hurt us. In the case of the Kakapo, by not helping the bird we would only hurt ourselves as it would set a precedent that it’s okay to let species die off including