DEAR READERS: During the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of people have been driven into poverty and hunger while more billionaires have been recorded than ever. Richer nations and private corporations are spending billions not to address the climate, extinction and public health crises, but rather to explore Mars and seed telecommunications satellites around the Earth; to manufacture more weapons of mass destruction; and to create more animal- and human-tested, genetically engineered pharmaceuticals and crops.

A United Environmental Nations is needed to temper, regulate and redirect the hegemony of this rising global biotechnocracy. Our current economic, social and environmental trajectories will make life on Earth ever more of a challenge for future generations. To believe otherwise is to deny the evidentiary science and accept the pseudo-science of biotechnocratic “progress” and its false promises of a better world to come -- one that will, in reality, be totally corrupted by vested interests and ideologies far removed from the concept of One Health. Indeed, we cannot afford not to adopt the mantra and philosophy of “One Health, One People, One Economy and One Earth.”

Millions of people around the world are malnourished while others have very limited access to healthful foods and to nutritional education. Obesity and diabetes are prevalent in the latter communities. Transitioning to low- or zero-carbon emission organic agriculture, which can provide nutritious, principally plant-based diets to us all, is an ethical imperative to reduce the environmental, climate and public health costs of our current fossil fuel- and petrochemical-based agriculture industry.

Many solutions lie in enlightened capitalism and responsible socialism, but not at Nature’s continued expense. Both political spheres are stymied by polarizing, paralyzing political ideologies and vested interests. But in redefining the meaning of progress from the One Health perspective, we may redefine what it means to be human. We can choose to prosper in spite of ourselves before a nihilistic party of bio-fascism takes hold.

Equalitarianism -- respecting human rights and the interests and intrinsic value of other species, whether plant or animal -- coupled with environmental ethics and planetary CPR (conservation, protection and restoration) is the foundation for a viable and just democracy.

(Related resources: See Maria Ivanova‘s article “At 50, the UN Environment Programme must lead again” in the journal Nature, and my book “Bringing Ethics to Life: Global Bioethics for a Humane Society.”)

SOUTH’S DEEP FREEZE TOOK A TOLL ON WILDLIFE

The intense cold snap in the southern U.S. last month had severe repercussions on the region’s wildlife. In Texas, bats came out of hibernation in an attempt to escape the cold, only to starve due to the lack of insects; young birds have been found dead on sidewalks and in yards; and wildlife officials in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas suspect large numbers of fish, deer and antelope succumbed to the cold. More than 10,600 hypothermic sea turtles have been found along the Gulf of Mexico, and scientists are concerned that migrating monarch butterflies will be unable to find milkweed. (Full story: Associated Press, Feb. 24)

DEAR DR. FOX: Once again, I commend you for being the voice for those who do not have one. I realize you have to navigate a tight path in your position, but you’re a much kinder soul than me when it comes to hunters. I wonder if the hunter who wrote to you for an apology would have had even a hint of self-reflection if his family’s “time-honored tradition” was something other than deer hunting -- in other words, something he didn’t thoroughly enjoy.

The rationalization we humans are capable of would almost be comical if it weren’t for the fact that innocent, voiceless lives are taken -- with absolutely zero justification, the overwhelming majority of the time.

I grew up in Oklahoma and have heard just about every story imaginable to justify hunting, except for the real, primary reason: They love the thrill of the kill. The same dispassion these guys displayed as they killed bullfrogs and birds with BB guns when we were younger simply carries over into adulthood. (And yes, sadly, I was part of the bullfrog-hunting group -- until I actually killed one.)

Of course, I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. -- R.P.M., Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

DEAR R.P.M.: Thanks for your kind words of support and personal history regarding hunting. I shot a blackbird with a friend’s BB rifle when I was around 13. It was an incredible (and, thank God, merciful) 20-yard shot, right through its left eye, where I had aimed. My friend was impressed, congratulating me as I held the bird and turned away, choking on my tears. I never shot another creature after that, except as a veterinarian with a captive bolt pistol to euthanize.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)

DEAR DR. FOX: I was so glad to read your article about the cat group that wants to end elective declawing! I have never declawed any of my cats, ever. Even though the cat is put under anesthesia, it is still painful to your precious animal after the procedure is done. So it’s OK if the sides of my expensive couches are a little ripped; at least I know my little fur babies were there! I’ll admit it brings back wonderful memories of my precious 19-year-old tuxedo cat, Lucy P., who was probably the most special and loved cat I ever had.

I also want to thank the AAFP regarding the group’s policy on elective declawing procedures! You have come so far in letting humans know how barbaric this procedure is. -- R.H., West Palm Beach, Florida

DEAR R.H.: Other readers will appreciate your letter applauding the initiative being taken by the American Association of Feline Practitioners to encourage the phasing out of this cruel and unwarranted mutilation. Many will be touched by your perspective that the damage your beloved cats did with their claws to some of your upholstered furniture brings back fond memories. A friend of mine calls this “cat art.”

I should add that in many countries the routine declawing of cats is prohibited.

The Cat Support Network (catsupport.net) lists the following countries as already having banned this cruel procedure: England, Scotland, Wales, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Israel, Slovenia, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand.

Organizations in several U.S. cities are making headway in outlawing the routine declawing of cats. In 2019, New York became the first state in the country to outlaw the practice, along with some Canadian provinces and U.S. cities including Denver, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Surely there is a connection between the continued civil unrest in the U.S. and the uncivil treatment of animals, as I documented in my book “Inhumane Society: The American Way of Exploiting Animals.”

DECLAWING, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND OBESTITY

Obesity is a widespread cat health problem today -- a crisis that causes much suffering and chronic deterioration. Exercise is part of the treatment (and prevention) all experts advise, so I must add an additional observation to the many downsides of declawing cats: Our rescued cat Fanny digs her claws into our carpeted floor and stairs for traction as she jets off like a rocket when chasing our dog, and during her upstairs-downstairs “evening crazies.” Cats’ “crazies” are associated with the innate hunting cycle of being hyper-alert and physically active, seeking, stalking, rushing and pouncing on prey.

Ethologically, a function of having claws -- in addition to dexterity, agility and self-care (grooming/scratching) -- is to be able to take off at higher speed. The claws act like a sprinter’s cleats by providing greater traction and momentum as the body is propelled forward.

Without her claws, Fanny would have less traction and likely be less active, eventually developing weaker muscle tone and becoming lethargic, depressed and more susceptible to obesity if her weight and food intake were not closely monitored. So I am suggesting that declawing is a significant contributing factor in the current feline obesity epidemic. Obesity is not simply due to biologically inappropriate kibble diets and overfeeding, because it is impossible for anatomically compromised declawed cats to be as active, and reach the same physical intensity, as those who have all their claws.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)

DEAR DR. FOX: Your recent column discussing the empathy deficit is so timely and appropriate to the present situation in the U.S. Of course the tip of that iceberg would be the former president, as well as his family.

I’m reminded of one of his sons that went someplace abroad to shoot a rare animal for its head. I read about it in an article that was really about the money it cost for Secret Service agents to accompany him on the hunt. And then you mentioned how the disorder is evident in the corporate world. Well, since when does capitalism have a conscience? -- J.P.T., Ashland, Oregon

DEAR J.P.T.: The empathy deficit disorder, as I see it, is of a pandemic scale that makes the COVID-19 pandemic pale in comparison. COVID-19, of course, is associated with our inhumane treatment and consumption of animals -- but to speak for animal rights and environmental protection is to be marginalized as a “liberal socialist elite” under the newspeak of Trumpian “America First” triumphalism.

Every student, as a prerequisite for graduation from high school, should read George Orwell’s book “1984” and realize that what Orwell envisioned in a future society is happening now with what he called “doublethink” and “newspeak.” Newspeak includes demonization and suppression of the free press (“fake news”), book censorship and burning (“cancel culture”) and the silencing of truth speaking to power.

The Orwellian content of Donald J. Trump’s widely televised speech on Feb. 28 should go down in history as he demonized the free press and spread the fear of socialism and communism taking away individual liberties and the right to bear arms. The ultimate doublethink was Trump’s declaration that “liberal elitists” are not only stopping America from being “great again,” they are also anti-science.

The truth is that his own administration was blatantly anti-science: rife with environmental transgressions, denial of climate change and the rolling back of clean water and air regulations. It embodied an anti-science, pro-pillage, pro-pollute and pro-profit form of industrial capitalism.

America can be great again, but not until the individual liberties Donald Trump repeatedly alluded to in his speech are coupled with individual and corporate responsibility for environmental protection, conservation, restoration, animal rights and related public health: in sum, the common good.

This means unification of two visions: capitalism and socialism. Communitarianism or socialism, rather than totalitarian communism, might be better terms to describe such sustainable natural law and order politically. This is the antithesis of the Darwinian view of hierarchy and competition, which some historians contend supported colonialism, empire and capitalism.

In my opinion, both views are half-right and together make one whole. This is a challenge to every democracy to maintain integration, equalitarianism and balance.

DEAR DR. FOX: Thank you for adding to my lexicon the term “empathy deficit disorder” (EDD)! This line in your recent column was spot-on: “Where is the feeling and responsibility for harmful consequences beyond profit margins and investor satisfaction?”

Unfortunately, that train left the station before trains were invented! Profit is always the motive for commerce. However, personal responsibility to fellow man is the dream of philosophy.

A friend once told me he had an obligation, due to his wealth, to helping the less fortunate. He put his efforts and resources where he could. He was one of those unseen and unheard-of corporate captains who did not behave with EDD. Therefore, my question is: Is EDD learned or is it genetic? -- P.D.C., Asbury Park, Pennsylvania

DEAR P.D.C.: I appreciate your thoughtful question and comments. In my opinion, the EDD is epigenetic, determined by the interactions of genes and environment, the latter being cultural-parental-educational, the former still part of our gene pool. Natural selection for competitiveness and exceptionalism through eons of wars and insurrections may have assured continuance of such genetic propensities which most of us possess.

The collective human desire to live in peace and harmony will never be realized so long as some cannot even abide in peace and harmony with a few wolves, coyotes and other wildlife where they live. They evidently enjoy killing them, even turning the slaughter, which state wildlife managers refer to as sustainable “harvesting,” into a recreational and competitive sport.

To kill to live, as per the wolf and native hunter, is the ethical antithesis of living to kill, as per the sporting trophy hunter. There is no moral equivalence in Nature to justifying killing for sport, recreation or pleasure. The only justification can come from an anthropocentric and increasingly harmful, depraved existence, culturally inherited and even religiously sanctioned.

So we can and must train ourselves to control those impulses that may harm others and ourselves. See the book “Programming the Human Biocomputer” by fellow ethologist and dolphin researcher Dr. John C. Lilly. We can change our minds, but first we must see to our hearts.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)