Blackbirds
And I don’t mean the reconnaissance plane. As Father McMoor departs, he calls on Mr Crofter to remember his duty, implying his duty to the animals on the island. The question is, “What duty can there be to animals?” Similar to previous dilemmas in which animal rights have featured, I would still argue that whether the animal in question is domesticated or not, we ought to be bound to ensure it’s well treated and doesn’t suffer from our activities; that how we exploit it (if that’s what we’re doing) doesn’t endanger it. In other words, if we’ve intruded into its habitat, we’ve just become responsible for it. That the species in question might actually be wild is neither here nor there. Probably it is wild because a bunch of humans have intruded. We can’t assume that an animal has anywhere else to go because it may be restricted to a very limited niche. Mr Crofter could still have an ecologically sound golf course, perhaps even one that’s a little more interesting for its setting. Certa...