Scientists: Animals As Conscious As Humans

Baby-cow.jpgScience is confirming what common sense has told us all along: animals are as “conscious and aware” as humans. According to Discovery News, an international group of prominent scientists has signed the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness, stating that most animals are conscious in the same way humans are, and that “it’s no longer something that we can ignore.”

“The absence of a neocortex does not appear to preclude an organism from experiencing affective states,” conclude the scientists, and “convergent evidence indicates that non-human animals have the neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and neurophysiological substrates of conscious states along with the capacity to exhibit intentional behaviors.”

Among such conscious and sentient beings are billions of farmed animals who are just as intelligent as the dogs and cats we grew up with. Cows are extremely gentle and kind animals who form strong bonds with one another. Chickens show sophisticated social behavior and can recognize more than a hundred other chickens. In the words of Dr. Donald Broom, Cambridge University professor and former scientific advisor to the Council of Europe, “[Pigs] have the cognitive ability to be quite sophisticated. Even more so than dogs and certainly [more so than] three-year-olds.”

Ultimately, consumers have the power to spare animals from lives of unnecessary fear and suffering by switching to a compassionate vegan diet. Visit ChooseVeg.com to learn more.