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--- jackdaw_jacky_thoughts_about_sentience [2026/04/25 17:06] – administrator
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 ====== Jackdaw Jacky – Thoughts About Sentience ======
-{{ :jacky_04.jpeg?200|}}Jacky is a western jackdaw (Coloeus monedula), also known as Eurasian jackdaw, European jackdaw, or simply jackdaw, and is a passerine bird belonging to the crow family. She is a seven year old imprinted bird, whose care we have taken over about one year ago. Jacky is unfortunately not releasable, as she has spent her whole life with humans. Jacky has been rescued as a fledgling by a well meaning person, who raised and unintentionally imprinted her. It did not take long for Jacky to conquer our hearts. Jacky lives with us, as she is not comfortable with other residential jackdaws, and is sadly not being tolerated by her own kind. Experiencing non-human animals like Jacky can be an eye opener for people, who never had this kind of close relationship with non-human animals like her. And as people, who have already opened their minds and hearts towards the plight of human as well as non-human animals, we are still again and again amazed by what we can learn from our non-human fellows. This insight makes it even more difficult to comprehend and live with the widely accepted normality and legality of discrimination and persecution of human and non-human animals.
+{{ :jacky_04.jpeg?200|}}Jacky is a western jackdaw (Coloeus monedula), also known as Eurasian jackdaw, European jackdaw, or simply jackdaw, and is a passerine bird belonging to the crow family. She is an almost 15 year old imprinted bird, who hatched in 2011, whose care we have taken over in 2019. Jacky is unfortunately not releasable, as she has spent her whole life with humans. Jacky has been rescued as a fledgling by a well meaning person, who raised and unintentionally imprinted her. It did not take long for Jacky to conquer our hearts. Jacky lives with us, as she is not comfortable with other residential jackdaws, and is sadly not being tolerated by her own kind. Experiencing non-human animals like Jacky can be an eye opener for people, who never had this kind of close relationship with non-human animals like her. And as people, who have already opened their minds and hearts towards the plight of human as well as non-human animals, we are still again and again amazed by what we can learn from our non-human fellows. This insight makes it even more difficult to comprehend and live with the widely accepted normality and legality of discrimination and persecution of human and non-human animals.
 Jacky is a sentient being with her own interests, similar to those interests we take as granted for ourselves. Conscious beings like Jacky have the ability to have experiences of all kinds, and to learn from the things that happen to them. This capacity includes a wide variety of perceptions, emotions and thoughts. This ability is what allows us and many animals to perceive harms and benefits. And Jacky is no different. Working and living with animals is a privilege and can give valuable insight into their lives. It does not take long to realise that Jacky has got clearly her very own preferences, ideas and perceptions. Her sleeping quarters, for example, are clearly being regarded by Jacky as her private space. Any changes to the interior of these private quarters do require her explicit agreement, or they will be immediately corrected. Social interactions are very important to Jacky, in the same way as they are important to us. This is reflected in her behaviour and are very clearly shown in a variety of nuanced responses. Jacky will clearly voice and show her likes and dislikes.
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 However, there is no doubt, it is morally not justifiable to protect one individual by harming another. This truth can be inconvenient at times, and advocating against speciesism and anthropocentrism may not increase the follower-ship as quickly as desired. If one were to argue that discriminating against and exploiting non-human animals is justified because they are less intelligent, or because humans are stronger and have more power, then one would have to accept that this can be applied to humans who are less intelligent or less strong as well. This would mean discrimination against the very young and very old, the handicapped and injured members of our human society. Respecting others means caring about how our actions may affect them. Sentience – the capacity to experience suffering and joy – is the only factor relevant to determining whether someone’s life can be made better or worse. Other factors only affect the particular ways an individual can be harmed or benefited, but not the actual capacity to be harmed or benefited.
+  * [[https://vimeo.com/443415015 | Mirror Test, Duncan Marquiss, 2019 (excerpt)]]
+  * [[https://www.vdrome.org/duncan-marquiss/ | Mirror Test, Duncan Marquiss, 2019, introduced by Helen Hildyard]]