Topic 16: How Do We Determine Animal Worth PDF

 Topic 16: How Do We Determine What Animals Are Worth? our health, do not seem to be valued much at After completing this topic, you should: all. It seems a little strange that the animals we...

 Topic 16: How Do We Determine What Animals Are Worth? our health, do not seem to be valued much at After completing this topic, you should: all. It seems a little strange that the animals we use as resources, which are often important to understand the concept of currency our survival and health, tend to be devalued, and how value can be assigned to while our pets, who are sometimes little more animals relative to some kind of than trinkets that we keep for fun, tend to be shared standard highly valued. This is not necessarily the case in be familiar with several properties communities where meat is scarce, and where that can determine value the animals that provide it are highly valued. know about Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs be able to describe the difference between extrinsic and intrinsic value be able to provide examples of how value is typically assigned to different animals have reflected on characteristics you think are important in terms of determining the value of different animals We have already considered the fact that In our last few topics, we’ve been considering assignment to different categories seems to be various roles that animals play in our modern rather arbitrary – the same animal species can society, ranging from animals that we consider be highly valued in some places but valueless in genuine family members, through to those that another. Strangely enough, even within a threaten our health or well-being, to those that species there are sometimes huge differences in have been genetically modified in ways that the values we assign. If a dog lover is prepared make them very different from other members to pay over $5000 for a dog but someone else of their species, or even an entirely new species adopts one from an animal shelter for $100, invented by humans. There are many other roles, which one is the bargain? Why? And if all dogs of course. Animals are, for example, used in are not equal in value, is the same true of sport, recreation, and entertainment, and they humans? Is someone with a PhD more valuable play prominent roles in literature and art. than a student? Is a film star worth more than a factory worker? Why is it that most of us do not One of the things you might have noticed is that, feel comfortable assigning value to humans, but depending on the role they perform, animals are do it all the time with animals? valued quite differently. Some animal species are valued very highly, such as those we keep In this topic, we are going to think about why as pets and companions and some of those we we value some animals more than others. We keep in zoos. Other animal species, particularly will begin by exploring the concepts of value those that we use as resources or that threaten and currency, so that we can think about where animals might get their value from.  worth ten dollars, and this enables us to carry it safely around in our pocket and exchange it for a variety of goods and services that really are worth ten dollars. It would make much more sense to use as currency things that really are valuable, like bushels of corn or fish or goats, but these are hard to carry around, so we like to use money instead. Can you imagine what it was like for Indigenous Australians when Europeans turned up offering them little bits of paper or coins in exchange for animals? They must have thought the Europeans were truly odd. They were much happier to trade in important things like sugar or salt or tobacco. The concepts of value and currency The first thing most of us think about when we try to assign value to something is how much money it is worth, but money is really just a form of currency. Dictionary.com defines currency as the metal or paper medium that is presently used as a means of exchange. This definition is very narrow as there are places with perfectly good currencies that are not made out of metal or paper. Australian banknotes, for example, are made from a synthetic polymer. Another definition of currency, provided by Wikipedia, is that it refers to “physical objects Actually, it is important that our currency is generally accepted as a medium of exchange”. worth less than the value we assign to it. Having This is a far better definition. A medium of a form of currency that is worth more is very exchange can be money or it can be something destabilising. In 2008, the Sydney Morning else, but the important point is that it must be Herald reported that millions of Indian coins worth something, and the people who are doing were being smuggled into Bangladesh and the exchanging must agree, more or less, about turned into razor blades, because a single rupee what it is worth. If people can agree on what just coin could be converted into four or more razor one thing is worth, then they can use it to blades and sold for 16 rupees. This created an facilitate the transfer of all manner of goods acute shortage of coins in parts of India and and/or services. It acts as a standard of value or destabilised the currency. What would you do if a storer of value, a kind of anchor against which you could melt down a small coin like an the people involved can set exchange rates and Australian ten cent piece and sell the raw make exchanges for other goods and services. materials for even more money? It would be confusing to have actual currency that is worth Of course, in our modern societies, and even more than it represents in terms of stored value. though electronic transactions and crypto- currencies are becoming more and more How is this discussion of currency relevant to common, currency is usually made up of bits of our study of animals in society? Somehow, we paper, polymer, and metal. Those objects are need to decide what different animals are worth actually worth practically nothing. All they do is – what dollar value we should assign to them. store value. We agree that a ten-dollar note is Here are some questions for you to think about.  more should be worth more money than less. How many dollars would you be prepared to This is a straightforward decision, and it is based exchange for a pig or a hen or a dog? Would on the simple concept of quantity. More of you give up more dollars for one than the other? something is valued more highly than less of Are there some animals that you think are worth something. A larger pig should therefore be more dead than alive – say a dead pig converted worth more money than a smaller pig, and a pig into pork sausages or a dead chicken converted might be worth more than a hen simply because into nuggets? it is larger. Quality Of course, size is not always the deciding factor. Would you rather have a 500-gram burger or a 250-gram pork chop with a bottle of wine? Some people might go for quantity in this scenario, but others are prepared to pay much more money for a fine dining experience. This tells us that quality is sometimes more important than quantity in determining monetary value, although we also then need to consider how quality is defined. Is pork a better quality food than beef? Why do some people Are there some animals that you think are worth pay a great deal of money for certain types of more alive than dead – say a pet dog or horse? beef but not others? Why pay $2000 for a tiny How many dollars would you exchange to keep little lap dog but only $200 for a huge mountain this animal healthy or save their life? dog? Quality is another term that is difficult to define. We will not go into it here, but keep in Are there some animals that you think are worth mind that Dictionary.com defines quality as an more out of your environment than in it? Think item’s “character with respect to fineness, or about this. Would you pay someone to remove grade of excellence”. a pest animal from your house? What does this say about the value of the animal? These are difficult questions, but they lie at the heart of our current topic. We need to determine the monetary ‘value’ of different animals and different animal products, just as we need to determine the value of everything else. Let’s explore this concept further then, to put together a working explanation of animal value. What sort of things are likely to affect what we think an animal is worth? Quantity Rarity Assume you have $5 to spend on lunch. What Another factor that determines monetary value would you want to exchange it for? Ignoring the is how rare something is. All sorts of things are health implications for a moment, would a large considered valuable simply because they are burger be better value than a small burger? rare or unique. We like to be the only one in Most people think they are getting better value possession of a given item or to be the only one with the larger burger – all else being equal, able to afford a particular service – it makes us feel special or successful to own a huge diamond or a 1958 Ford custom 300 town But why would some people rather buy a rare sedan, even if these items do not serve a useful Dalmatian than a diamond, while others prefer function. The same goes for some animals. When diamonds? The difference in preference is alpacas were first introduced into North America caused by a difference in perceived value: some and Australia, they were very expensive because people value dogs more highly than diamonds, they were rare in these countries. Their value and vice versa. But why? declined rapidly as more and more were bred. Context Note that the monetary value of rarity depends The characteristics of quantity, quality and rarity on the principle of supply and demand. If all depend on a fourth issue, that of context. And nobody had wanted to own alpacas, they would here we come back to our old friend, social not have been expensive even when they were constructionism. We value things according to rare. The same goes for many other examples. our own needs and desires, and these often For instance, in many countries across the world reflect the time and place in which we live. there is much more housing available in major Stocks and bonds are an excellent example of cities than in rural areas. Since many, many more this. Pieces of paper that were worth up to $50 people want to live in cities, city housing prices last year are now sometimes worth $5 or remain far higher than rural housing prices. The perhaps nothing at all. Others that were worth supply of city houses is higher, but demand is practically nothing last year are now worth much higher again. more. Another good example is bottled drinking water. Can you imagine trying to sell bottled drinking water in large cities in years gone by? You probably would have been laughed out of the room. Nowadays, however, bottled water is sold for as much as Coke and more than milk, even though all are freely available. And what about the price of toilet paper during Melbourne’s COVID-related lockdowns? How much would you be prepared to pay for those precious little white squares of paper, if you thought you weren’t going to be able to access them for a few weeks? It all depends on context. This is why commercial interests sometimes try to restrict supply of their products, to keep prices artificially high. We see this sometimes in animals. When the film One Hundred and One Dalmatians was released, demand for Dalmatians skyrocketed and prices were high. Many people then started breeding these dogs and prices went down, as did quality. Some clever breeders, however, concentrated on breeding good quality dogs AND only sold them after they were spayed or neutered. By restricting supply and maintaining quality, these breeders kept demand for their dogs high and Intrinsic value could continue to ask for high prices, even when Many people argue that there are some things Dalmatian prices overall had fallen. that you cannot put a price on; things that are intrinsically valuable for their own sake rather than because they fulfil a specific need or could be exchanged for something else. In contrast, something that has only extrinsic or instrumental value may not have value in and of itself and is worth only what it can be exchanged for. Money is a good example of something that has a great deal of extrinsic value but no intrinsic value (unless you’ve run out of toilet roll and really need some paper). Can you think of something that has intrinsic value? This is more difficult, but most people agree that life, happiness and good health all have intrinsic value. Other things people might include are pleasure, truth, knowledge, understanding, wisdom, beauty, harmony, and love. All of these things are often considered to be valuable for their own sake, although you can probably see that the list is quite personal. Perhaps you value knowledge over beauty, but someone else could We also generally believe that our bodies have well do the opposite. intrinsic value, but this does not necessarily mean that we value our body parts more than One of the things that we nearly all agree has other things. We might be prepared to surgically intrinsic value is human life. This does not mean remove a breast or a kidney if it meant our lives that human life is more valuable than everything would be longer, or we might sell body parts for else. While intrinsic value is more difficult to rank various reasons. Imagine you were from a than extrinsic value, it is not the case that developing country and had no way to make intrinsic value is infinite and outweighs money except for begging or selling parts of everything. For example, some of us would give yourself. Would you sell one of your kidneys to up our life if it secured the safety of our family a rich person so you could feed your children? or country, even though we highly value our How much would you charge? This is a real own life. Soldiers regularly put their lives on the problem in Iran, where the poorest members of line, and suicide bombers cause problems society are sometimes willing to sell a kidney for because they value their lives less than other a few thousand dollars, according to this news things. Also, even though we think our lives are article. invaluable, life insurance companies put a monetary value on them all the time. You could The reason we need to think about these issues call one today and get a quote on what your life is that there is a great deal of debate about is worth, and might be disappointed. Imagine whether animals have intrinsic value or not. We you had life insurance for your partner worth can easily understand that one pig might be $300,000 payable on death. Would this make more valuable than another because it is larger up for the death of your partner? You may not or of better quality or because we really want to think so, but plenty of people have murdered own a spotted pig, but does it have value, family members to collect insurance payouts. intrinsically, just because it is a living animal? They valued the payout more than the life. What do you think of the idea of animal lives having intrinsic value? Should this be factored into the decisions we make that affect them? If so because they think free range hens have so, how do we weigh this up relative to the other better welfare than caged hens, and because forms of value we have already spoken about? they think good animal welfare is intrinsically These are very important questions, but they are valuable and worth paying that bit extra for. very difficult to answer and they have enormous implications for how we act. At present animals are exchanged freely throughout the world for money or other objects of value and most people think this is perfectly acceptable. But is it? Before you jump to an easy answer, consider the fact that people are bought and sold in some parts of the world even now. A census conducted in the USA in 1860 showed that there were over 4 million people who had been forced into slavery. Do you think plantation owners in the 1800s could imagine a day when these people were considered to be intrinsically Can you imagine even fifty years ago that people valuable because of their humanity, rather than would have paid for animals to have good valuable only because of their labour? welfare? Not likely! Historically, the driving factor in animal production industries has been On what basis do we decide that a burger is about reducing costs, on the basis that the worth a dollar or two, rather than ten or twenty public demanded cheap and easily accessible dollars or two thousand dollars? Would we pay forms of food. But now we have people more if the burger was made from an animal that volunteering to pay extra, because they think we thought had intrinsic value? Could we that the animals have a better life. This actually justify killing such animals at all? The represents a revolution in the way that people following example may help work out the think, and it ties in well with our discussion of instrumental value of different animals. animals in science in a previous topic. People want research done, but only if scientists take Buying eggs steps to protect the welfare of the animals Imagine it is time to buy some eggs for your involved. Similarly, while many people want family. You go to the grocery store and are access to animal products, they are becoming confronted by an array of eggs, differing in increasingly willing to pay for welfare gains. terms of how the hens are kept (free-range vs. barn reared vs. caged), how they are fed (grain vs. organic vs. standard vs. supplemented with Omega 3), the colour of the eggs (white vs. brown) and price. You notice that free range eggs are more expensive and wonder why. Is it because they are rarer or cost more to produce? That might be a partial explanation, but it was estimated in a 2006 report, by Heather Pickett for the Compassion in World Farming Trust, that keeping hens in free-range environments adds very little to the production price, even though it adds quite a bit to shelf price. You wonder whether it might reflect public beliefs about hen A theory you might like to revisit is the theory welfare, which is an intrinsic factor. You know of planned behaviour, which was also that most people who buy free range eggs do mentioned in a previous topic. Why are people who are quite comfortable and well-off prepared very common Indian Myna and the equally to pay more for free range eggs? Why does this common Australian Magpie. Most Australians behaviour make them feel better and boost their are quite fond of Magpies, except perhaps self-esteem? Perhaps because the way these during breeding season when some males eggs are produced is consistent with our become aggressive. Many people feed Magpies shifting attitudes towards animals. We are and they serve as mascots for several sporting starting to value animals more, we believe that teams. Indian Mynas are less popular, however, they are sentient, the people who are important with some people committed to their to us approve of our choices, and we control our eradication. Do you agree that Magpies are purchasing behaviour. More importantly, we more valuable than Mynas? Is it because they think we know that free range hens have better are larger, or rarer, or have more intrinsic value? welfare than caged hens. Whether this is actually true or not is still hotly debated. Not all scientists and producers agree that free-range hens have better welfare than caged hens. They often fight and may experience social stress and have greater susceptibility to disease. Perhaps it is not animal welfare that is really important, but rather public perceptions of animal welfare. This does not mean people should or should not buy free-range eggs, or free-range pork, or free- range anything else. The point to be a critical consumer, asking questions continually about If so, why is this? Does intrinsic value depend what you are being asked to pay for. Find out on which species we like the most, or on which what being free-range means and whether this one bothers us the least? What are the beliefs is a good thing or a bad thing. If you eat animals, that determine our behaviours towards different think about whether their welfare is worth species of birds? anything to you, and if so, how much? Be prepared to decide that something is not worth These are some of the issues that we confront the price being asked, and that you might be when we try to establish how valuable animals better off without it. Learn to be critical of are and where their value comes from. They are everything. complicated issues that raise many more questions than answers. Maybe every single animal on earth has equal intrinsic value simply by virtue of the fact that it is alive. This is what Albert Schweitzer (1933) believed, one of the greatest thinkers of all time. He basically believed that all life is sacred, and became famous for trying very hard not to step on ants or cause harm to anything. He wrote that “A man is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred to him, that of plants and animals as that of his fellow men, and when he devotes himself helpfully to all life that is in need of help”. Magpies versus Indian Mynas As a second example, think about two birds you Most of us, of course, are not as charitable as possibly see most days in suburban Victoria, the Schweitzer. We do think that different animals and different animal products are more or less valuable, although it seems that determining the Summary value of something, especially something that To summarise, this fairly difficult and abstract might have some degree of intrinsic value, is a topic has considered the concept of value and relatively complex process. Ultimately, we have how it applies to animals, in particular how we to weigh up the relative worth of all the different go about deciding what different animals and factors discussed in this topic, like quantity and their products are worth. Various factors are quality and rarity, and we have to realise that normally used to determine value, such as doing this objectively is just not possible. We quantity, quality, rarity, and context, as well as cannot help but be influenced by subjective what we call intrinsic value. Context is factors like our beliefs, attitudes and values. particularly important because we assign value These can change as we learn more about the to things based on our own needs and our world and our place in it, so we can never be values, beliefs, and attitudes. Knowing about certain that we are making decisions about these things helps us understand why we might value that we will agree with this time next year. think that a purebred dog is more valuable than As the Scottish philosopher and historian David a crossbred dog, why free-range eggs are more Hume (1739) said, “all ascriptions of value valuable than eggs from caged hens, why a involve projections of one's own sentiments cloned mouse is worth more than an ordinary onto whatever is said to have value”. field mouse, and why an animal in a zoo is worth so more than one in its native environment. Importantly, though, while these human-centred factors help us understand animal values, they seem to miss something: the notion of intrinsic value as it pertains to the animal itself. Many people these days believe that animals have value independently of how useful they are to humans, and also independently of such things as how beautiful we perceive them to be, simply by virtue of the fact that they are alive and experience their lives. This is something we have not really come to terms with yet as a This does not mean that all is lost. The community, but it is definitely worth watching, attribution of value by humans is not totally as it could influence how we assign value in the random. As humans, we tend to value similar future. Is it OK for us to use animals as a form things. In fact, the emerging global economy of currency, to decide that the value of one rests on the assumption that there is a animal life is very low and another very high? Is commonality to the things that humans value, it OK to exterminate some animals because they that we can often assign value on the basis of bother us, while simultaneously spending a quality, quantity and supply relative to demand. fortune to look after others? And is it OK to If this were not the case, we would not be able value animals that give us companionship more to trade more or less successfully. However, if than we value those that give us nourishment we really care about the planet and other and knowledge? Once we accept that the world creatures on it, we may need to learn to distance we live in is partially socially constructed, we can ourselves a little from our own needs and really start to examine the assumptions we make desires to consider what the planet needs in detail, and maybe change our minds about a instead. Maybe one day things will be valued few things in the process. according to what they bring to the well-being of the planet as a whole, rather than on the basis of how well they satisfy human needs.  These are all difficult questions without simple answers. Is animal welfare something you care about? Is it something of value to you? You might want to start thinking about this as you make decisions about how you interact with animals, both alive and dead. References and supplementary resources Hume, D. (1739). A treatise of human nature. Penguin Classics. Pickett, H. (2006). The way forward for Europe’s egg industry: Keeping the ban on battery cages in 2012. Compassion in World Farming Trust. Schweitzer, A. (1933). Out of my life and thought. Henry Holt.