How do we know what animals think or feel? I say be kind to animals just in case it matters to them. The poet William Blake said, “How do you know but that every bird that cleaves the aerial way is not an immense world of delight closed to your senses five?”

Your author believes that it is easy to dismiss animals as not having much of an emotional or intelligent life. After all, they haven’t learned language. But does that mean they can’t think? Not at all. For instance, years ago, I was learning some rollerblading moves. One was a single spin jump. In bare feet at home, I was practicing by jumping in the air, spinning 360 degrees around and landing. My cat watched for a moment, then walked around in a 360 degree circle. Should that be dismissed as somehow incidental?