“Animals as Experiencing Entities: Theories and Historical Narratives,” Edited by Dr. Michael Glover and Dr. Les Mitchell (both vegans), Part 1 of 2

The editors of “Animals as Experiencing Entities: Theories and Historical Narratives,” Dr. Michael Glover and Dr. Les Mitchell (both vegans), from South Africa and the United Kingdom, wanted to validate animal-citizens’ experiences and remember what really happened to them. Dr. Glover highlights a chapter from the book that he and Dr. Mitchell found particularly impactful. “I think that the more that we recognize animals’ felt experiences, the more that we can empathize with them. And the more we recognize that, like us, they want to be safe and secure, and to live good lives, and to flourish, and the more curious and attuned we become to these, their social lives and their experiences, and their similarities to us, the more we are able to respect them and treat them well.”

The chapter “Stolen Children of the Endless Night: A Critical Account of the Lives of British Pit Ponies,” by Dr. Mitchell, explores the lives of pit pony-citizens in Britain’s coal mining industry during the 19th and early 20th centuries. “Starting with the events on July of 1838, when there was the Huskar Mine disaster, which killed many children underground. And one of the things that happened with that is that these small horses, ponies, were brought in to do much of the work that they had been doing, dragging bags of coal, or dragging carts of coal in very, very small passageways. They developed bone problems, they developed spinal problems, they developed vitamin A deficiency, which for many of them meant that they went blind underground. The deeper I’ve gone into the investigation, the worse it got. And so perhaps when people can put themselves into the positions of other animals who are being used, they may see things slightly differently.”