DEAR READERS: Although I am not a follower of Catholicism, I join the billions of people mourning the passing of Pope Francis on Easter Monday. He was the embodiment of humility, courage and universal love. He was critical of the Trump administration’s mistreatment of immigrants and its denial of climate change, which is affecting the poor in many countries.

In his encyclical "Laudato Si," Francis railed against “unbridled anthropocentrism,” which is harming all of God’s creation. Ultimately, only that which we hold sacred is secure. He stated that if we are cruel or indifferent to any living creature, we inevitably end up showing similar treatment to one another.

“Every act of cruelty towards any creature is contrary to human dignity,” he wrote. “Everything is related, and we human beings are united as brothers and sisters on a wonderful pilgrimage, woven together by the love God has for each of his creatures and which also unites us in fond affection with brother sun, sister moon, brother river and mother earth.”

While the Catholic faith views human beings as uniquely made in the image and likeness of God, Francis assures us that the “dominion” we were given over creation in the Book of Genesis was not meant to mean destruction -- but rather, stewardship and care.

From a spiritual perspective, every sentient being is a theophany: a manifestation of divinity or of creative power and mystery. As such, each being deserves reverential respect and understanding. I think the door of our collective human consciousness is opening, cognitively and empathically, with this realm of being -- the universal in the particular and the particular in the universal.

Is it any coincidence that the state of the environment -- with dying, drought- and fire-ravaged forests and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels reaching new heights -- mirrors our own condition? Medical and mental health costs are escalating, with health insurance and prescriptions becoming unaffordable for many. Globally, 733 million people are estimated to be hungry. Shamefully, half of all child deaths (ages 5 and under) are linked to malnutrition. This has less to do with overpopulation than with unequal distribution of wealth and resources.

It has been predicted that, out of the chaos and suffering of this Anthropocene era, we will be faced with an evolutionary choice. We must renounce dualistic thoughts and usher in what I call the Empathocene era, and what my friend Father Thomas Berry called the Ecozoic era: being mindful of the sacred ecological connections that sustain us and all life on Earth. The realization that all life is interconnected and interdependent is paramount. For details, see my book “Bringing Life to Ethics: Global Bioethics for a Humane Society.”

May the spirit of Pope Francis live on in the name of compassion and justice for all beings.

PROPOSAL WOULD END CERTAIN HABITAT PROTECTIONS

A rule proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service would remove habitat protections for threatened and endangered species, a move experts say could lead to extinctions. The rule would change the definition of “harm” under the Endangered Species Act so that habitat alteration or destruction would not be considered harmful unless a species was intentionally targeted. (Full story: The Associated Press, April 16)

This ruling highlights the Trump administration’s alignment with vested interests that are ethically illiterate and morally bankrupt. Nature is part of us and we are part of nature.

Government should serve the common good, as ecologist Garrett Hardin reasoned in his seminal 1968 essay, "The Tragedy of the Commons." Harvard University biologist E.O. Wilson, in his book “Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight For Life,” asserts that in order to stave off the mass extinction of species, including our own, we must move swiftly to preserve the biodiversity of fully half the Earth's surface for nature.

Crimes against nature -- such as destroying vital wildlife habitat and eliminating the protection of endangered species -- are coins of the same currency as crimes against humanity. Genocide and ecocide go hand in hand with racism and speciesism under the tyranny of inhumanity. Industrial civilization is facing an existential crisis, calling on all of us in civil society to embrace our ethical responsibilities for nature, animals and each other.

(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 READERS: My book of poetry, "For All Our Relations," has just been published by Austin Macauley Publishers. I think many of you will enjoy it.

The book has two parts. The first part contains a message from the Dalai Lama and an introduction by the late Father Thomas Berry. The poems in this part of the book detail my experiences at the animal refuge operated by my late wife, Deanna Krantz. Through the refuge, she provided free veterinary services to poor villagers and tribal communities, which was vital to their economies and health. She faced corruption and death threats in her work saving elephants and other wildlife.

The second part is a collection of poems written between 1975 and 2024. They come from my heart’s deep core of empathy and reverence for all life in a world in need of compassion for all creatures, great and small.

To read more about the book, and to place orders, go to austinmacauleyusa.com/book/for-all-our-relations. All royalties will be donated to animal and environmental protection groups.

SCIENTISTS 'RESURRECT' EXTINCT WOLF

Colossal Biosciences has genetically engineered wolves to resemble dire wolves, which went extinct more than 10,000 years ago. The pups have long white hair, muscular jaws and are on track to weigh 140 pounds at maturity.

After studying the DNA of two dire wolf fossils, reports the Associated Press, "the scientists took blood cells from a living gray wolf and used CRISPR to genetically modify them in 20 different sites. ... They transferred that genetic material to an egg cell from a domestic dog. When ready, embryos were transferred to surrogates, also domestic dogs, and 62 days later, the genetically engineered pups were born." (What is the fate of those surrogate mother dogs, I wonder?)

I have posted earlier about this company, which I wish would focus on helping existing species that are close to extinction rather than resurrecting facsimiles of the already-gone. As the AP story indicates, "'All you can do now is make something look superficially like something else' -- not fully revive extinct species, said Vincent Lynch, a biologist at the University at Buffalo who was not involved in the research." (Full story: The Associated Press, April 7)

These genetically engineered “dire” wolves will be in dire straits without parents or an integrated family pack to instruct them. They will simply become captive curiosities whose very existence is a sad reflection of heartless human ingenuity.

What is also dire is how we are failing the naturally evolved wolves that roam the wild today. These "de-extinction" headlines come as the House Natural Resources Committee advances the misleadingly named “Pet and Livestock Protection Act” -- a bill that would strip gray wolves of Endangered Species Act protections. Wolves were once nearly wiped out by government-sponsored extermination campaigns; their recovery has been fragile and incomplete. This bill threatens to erase that progress.

When asked about gray wolf populations collapsing, bill sponsor Rep. Lauren Boebert is quoted as saying, “Didn’t we just bring a wolf back that was here 10,000 years ago? So, I mean, if it really gets that bad, you know, we could just bring woolly mammoths back and all this stuff.”

It seems to me that human intelligence is getting ever closer to extinction with such legislators in office!

(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 READERS: The Make America Healthy Again initiative, under the direction of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is purportedly in lockstep with beef and pork industry moguls in advocating for Americans to eat more meat. For details, see this "Processing Meat" column on Vox.com: link.vox.com/view/673f91911d0a87f28f028493ne1t1.bq5/ffe52ae2.

As a former environmental attorney who should know better, Kennedy is unqualified to oversee public health. He and his advisers ignore sound scientific and medical evidence of the environmental, economic and health benefits of plant-based diets. Many peer-reviewed studies confirm the benefits of eating less meat, or none at all.

To quote the abstract from one such study: “Higher intakes of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, unsaturated fats, nuts, legumes and low-fat dairy products were linked to greater odds of healthy aging, whereas higher intakes of trans fats, sodium, sugary beverages and red or processed meats (or both) were inversely associated. Our findings suggest that dietary patterns rich in plant-based foods, with moderate inclusion of healthy animal-based foods, may enhance overall healthy aging, guiding future dietary guidelines.” For details, see the study "Optimal dietary patterns for healthy aging" by Anne-Julie Tessier et al., published in Nature Medicine this year.

One review from 2023 confirms my opinion that mushrooms can be a sustainable alternative to meat. Its findings are summarized as follows: “Edible mushroom proteins usually have a complete essential amino acid profile, meet dietary requirements and provide economic advantages over animal and plant sources. Mushroom proteins may provide health advantages by eliciting antioxidant, antitumor ... and antimicrobial properties over animal proteins. Protein concentrates, hydrolysates and peptides from mushrooms are being used to improve human health. Also, edible mushrooms can be used to fortify traditional food to increase protein value and functional qualities. These characteristics highlight mushroom proteins as inexpensive, high-quality proteins that can be used as a meat alternative, as pharmaceuticals and as treatments to alleviate malnutrition.” For details, see the study "Nutritional Quality and Biological Application of Mushroom Protein as a Novel Protein Alternative" by Francis Ayimbila and Suttipun Keawsompong, published in Current Nutrition Reports in 2023.

There is no need for meat when combining mushrooms, nuts and vegetable oils in our diets. They provide all the nutrients in meat, and more -- and are not correlated with the risk of colorectal cancer!

I have mailed my book "One Health: Veterinary, Ethical and Environmental Perspectives," which includes a chapter on the benefits of plant-based diets for the good of the planet and for our own health, to Kennedy’s office, hoping to better inform and inspire him.

Those who are informed but who have kept silent -- or who have been silenced -- for too long are now rising to speak truth to power. There is nothing to fear except fear itself, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared in his 1933 inaugural address. Retribution from those who call science and reason “woke” is a badge of honor in these dystopian times of injustice and cultural and spiritual corruption.

EXECUTIVE INSANITY: FDA CUTS SENIOR VETERINARIANS

Professional groups and former staff say that 140 people, including leaders and administrative staff, were fired from the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine in the latest round of cuts in the Department of Health and Human Services. Two senior veterinarians who were fired had been leading the CVM’s avian influenza response, while others were working on antimicrobial resistance and animal feed safety. “The work done by our veterinarian colleagues in these offices is critical to the safe and effective practice of veterinary medicine, and -- ultimately -- the protection of animal and public health,” said AVMA President Sandra Faeh in a statement. (Full story: USA Today, April 2)

See below for another lamentable effect of these shortsighted cuts.

CVM LAYOFFS MAY WEAKEN PET FOOD SAFETY OVERSIGHT

The FDA’s role in regulating the pet food industry, which was valued at $65 billion in 2023, is likely to diminish due to significant layoffs at the agency’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, leaving pet owners open to fad diets, writes Katherine O’Malley in a post on STATnews.com. O'Malley is a senior policy analyst at Boston University School of Public Health.

Although the FDA regulates pet food ingredients and manufacturing conditions, it doesn’t approve individual products or ensure their nutritional quality. Two nongovernmental organizations -- the Association of American Feed Control Officials and the World Small Animal Veterinary Association -- provide guidelines for pet food nutrition and quality, but neither has regulatory authority. (Full story: STATnews.com, April 4)

The book that I wrote with two other veterinarians, "Not Fit for a Dog: The Truth About Manufactured Cat and Dog Foods," is now more relevant than ever! There are some responsible pet food manufacturers, such as Earth Animal and Evolution Diet, which I encourage readers to learn more about.

(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.)