Baby seals, vaccine refuseniks and the trouble with empathy

Dec 15, 2016

A female grey seal nuzzles her newborn calf on the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast, near Seahouses, northern England November 17, 2013. The Farne Islands, which lie off the coast of northeast England, are home to a huge array of wildlife. The islands are owned and protected by the British conservation charity, the National Trust, which says they host some 23 species of seabird, as well as a substantial colony of grey seals, who come to have their pups there in the autumn. Every five years the National Trust carries out a census of the islands' population of puffins, and this year's survey showed there were almost 40,000 nesting pairs on the islands - an 8 percent rise from 2008. Picture taken November 17, 2013. REUTERS/Nigel Roddis (BRITAIN - Tags: ANIMALS ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY)ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 30 OF 35 FOR PACKAGE 'FARNE ISLANDS - SEALS, PUFFINS AND SHAGS'TO FIND ALL IMAGES SEARCH 'FARNE ISLANDS' - RTX164N5

Peter Singer evaluates the need for empathy and the potential downfalls. Image: REUTERS/Nigel Roddis (BRITAIN - Tags: ANIMALS ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY)ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 30 OF 35 FOR PACKAGE 'FARNE ISLANDS - SEALS, PUFFINS AND SHAGS'TO FIND ALL IMAGES SEARCH 'FARNE ISLANDS' - RTX164N5

Peter Singer

Professor, Princeton University

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