Animal Suffering

Abstract

The chapter argues that the Corona Crisis has some deeper root issues which are related to disturbed balances in the relationship between humankind and the realm of animals, especially wildlife animals. It is the intrusive style of human industrialized agriculture and animal breeding in combination with a heavily meat-oriented culture of nutrition that has multiplied the opportunities which exist for pathogens to pass over from wildlife to domestic animals and to humans. The message Corona-Crisis is sending us needs to be heard, as it certainly is not just a one-time event, but one series of indicators in a long series of several spill overs of pathogens from wildlife to human species which point to an essential need for a new integral concept of bringing together health policies, environmental policies, nutrition policies and animal ethics. The chapter goes on to recollect some crucial strands of Biblical teachings on the relationship between animals and humankind, which only recently found new interest in ecumenical environmental ethics.