打開動物世界的潘朵拉寶盒 | Open the Pandora's Box in the Animal World
今年開始，在東華大學敖屋福利社擔任志工，餵食校園狗群，才開始認真關注起動物議題，而非只是以往的「毛茸茸好可愛我要摸摸」。校內三十多隻的狗狗，全是從外面不知何處流浪來的，身附有各式各樣的狀況：追車、撲人，更不用說疾病。每一次在處理狗與人互動的問題時，都耗弱自己的心神。也令我開始思考著：動物於我或我們人類而言是什麼？是外來者嗎，抑或我們才是那個入侵牠們原有世界卻鳩佔鵲巢的霸道之人？
▌從動物之眼見人類——誰陪伴了誰？
我們與狗打交道的方式顯而易見，牠們是我們「忠誠的朋友」與「最好的陪伴者」，狗的故事總是獨特感人。
東華有多隻狗因著追車咬人問題而被鍊住、安置在平常學生不會經過的區域，但在這麼多人犬衝突之中，卻鮮少看見有人檢討過自己是否讓他們不自在；好似將牠們隔離之後，問題就解決了。牠們被人類壓縮成同個形狀，安靜、順服、忠實；不乖巧的狗兒便不是「狗」了，需要離開人類場域。每次在接到通報而決定將哪隻狗鍊起之時，都像在判刑，以文字將狗輾平。將角色反轉，對狗而言，我們究竟是牠們的誰？
在同伴動物的章節中，作者認為狗逐漸成為家庭的一份子，是人將其「創造成」狗的模樣。而荷曼斯的《狗：狗與人之間的社會學》也指出「所有純種犬基本上都是人們基於主觀好物形塑出的『產品』，例如德國狼犬被改為後驅角度的體型，造成後腿關節的問題…而對於各種畸形體態的執著，不只使得純種狗的基因失序，也造成他們終生不可逆轉的眾多遺傳疾病。」
牠們身處在人類社會，但卻又被抽離於此，狗的，或說動物的生命價值被放在人類之下。「人類如何對待動物，是在慾望、倫理、文化、宗教、法律的種種衝突中進行選擇的結果。但如果我們願意在每一次選擇的過程中，永遠不放棄思考與感受，生命才能得到真正的慎重已對與尊重。」同理並思索動物的感受，或許才是真正著在愛牠們、陪伴牠們，同時也被陪伴著，而不是單方面的，以愛為名之傷害。
▌羞恥並免於遺忘——在吃之前與之後
前幾日晚餐吃了蒲燒魚腹餐，我的最愛。但在用刀子切個著盤內料理完成的美味魚肉時，我總想起去年上一門飲食與文學課程被詢問的問題：「魚類在意識完全清楚的情況下被扔進冰塊裡，忍受長達十四分鐘的痛苦，緩慢地死去。這一切對我們來說是否重要，重要程度足以改變我們的飲食方式？」在經濟動物篇裡，作者點名了一個顯然但我常不願面對的事實，「我們所吃的食物，都是來自活生生的生命。」
從動物到食物之間殘忍的奇幻旅程，常被我們否認、疏遠，動物的遭遇被合理化為必要之惡，或是用距離標籤予以美化。似乎只要閉口不談，食物就只會是「食物」；甚至看到食品廣告大方的用一隻動物來宣稱「吃我！吃我！」對多數人而言，不把動物視為活物，並認為它們很快樂，就可以避免道德兩難的困境。但就像保羅麥卡尼說的，如果屠宰場把圍牆都換成玻璃，以後就再也沒有人想吃肉了。
真相是一顆很難摘下，也很難拋出的蘋果。而只有我們持續嘗試著如何接近「飲食倫理」，面對並思索它，才能往比較好的方向前進。作者也勉勵我們，在這過程中，各樣想法與現實勢必會繼續衝撞到我們的道德觀，但是，別選擇別過頭去。
▌世界上最危險的動物
在野生動物篇開頭，作者便指出動物園是多數都市人接近與「接觸」野生動物的第一扇窗。奇妙的是，動物園的動物並不野生，並且，觀諸當代世界各地的動物園，虐待事件並不少見。我們究竟想從動物園中看見什麼？作者舉了雪莉・特克在《在一起孤獨》書中的例子，許多兒童表示：「以烏龜會做的事情而言，不需要在這裡養活的烏龜。」甚至女孩覺得用機器動物就好了。我們看見牠們，想從牠們眼中認知到牠們是「活生生的動物」。
但如果堅持「親近才能理解」，或許太過簡化了我們在動物園中所想像的人與動物「親密接觸」，背後要付出的代價。紐約的布朗克斯動物園有一展區，標明了「THE MOST DANGEROUS ANIMAL IN THE WORLD（世界上最危險的動物）」往前一探，裡頭放了一面鏡子。這是多麼痛切地提醒。而唯有不斷的去同等、理解，我們與動物的距離才能從那貼近的疏遠中，繼續往前一些些。
Apart from "patting the fluffy," I started to pay attention to animal issues after being the volunteer of NDHU Aowoo welfare club and feeding dogs in campus. All the 30+ dogs, from unknown places, encounter different circumstances: chasing cars, jumping up on people, not to mention suffering from diseases. It makes me exhausted whenever dealing with the problems between humans and dogs. The situation also leads me consider what animals represent to me or to us as humans. Are they outcomers? Or, on the contrary, are we the invaders entering their world aggressively and would never leave?
▌Looking (at Humans) from Animals' Sight—Who and Whom Are Accompanied?
The way we get along with dogs is so plain, and we commonly see them as our "loyal friends" and "best company." Stories of dogs are always unique and touching.
In NDHU, several dogs are leashed in a desolate area as a result of chasing cars or biting people. However, few discussions of whether they are well settled have been formed as if the isolation means the solution. Those dogs are molded into one specific shape by humans: quiet, obedient, and loyal. Bad dogs are not "dogs" anymore and demanded to leave humans' domain. Whenever I got the notice and chose to leash a dog, I seemed to crush the dog as a penalty. For dogs, if reversing the roles, who do we humans represent?
In chapter "Companion Animals" , the author states dogs is gradually becoming a member in families, " the conventional image of a dog based on the image human beings want the dog to assume.. In What's a Dog For?: The Surprising History, Science, Philosophy, and Politics of Man's Best Friend, John Homans also points out, "all purebred dogs are 'products' which people create in their subjective preference such as German Shepherds are adjusted to a body shape of rear angulation which causes hind leg problems. . . The insistence of abnormal body shapes causes not only genetic disorder of purebred dogs, but their irreversible inheritable diseases."
They, dogs, are included in human's society but also excluded at the same time. In other words, the life value of dogs is inferior to humans'. "How humans treat animals depends on the choices we make in the conflicts of desire, ethics, cultures, religions and laws. Still, if we are willing to keep thinking and feeling during every process of making choice, life can earn decent treatment and real respect." Rather than hurting them with one-way love, having empathy with animals may be the real love and company for them, and, in the meantime, we are accompanied.
▌Shamed and Unforgettable—Before We Eat and After
The other day, I ate fish Kabayak set, my favorite, for dinner. However, I came up with the question asked in the gourmet and literature course while slicing the well-cooked tasty fish, "Fish were thrown into ice in a total conscious state, enduring the pain for 14 minutes long, dying slowing. Is this important to us? And is it important enough to change our eating habit?" In chapter "Economic Animals," the author points out a simple fact to which is hard to face up, "The food we eat was all living lives."
The cruel fantasy journey from animals to food is commonly denied and alienated by us humans, and these circumstances of animals are rationalized as necessary evil or glorified by virtue of the distance. It seems that as long as we keep silence, the food could be only "food." For most people, even when watching a food commercial of an animal saying "Eat me! Eat me!", seeing animals as non-lives and considering they are happy can avoid the moral dilemma. Yet, as what Paul McCartney said, if we change the walls of slaughterhouses into glass, no one will want to eat meat anymore.
Truth is a both unapproachable and undeliverable apple. Only if we consistently try to get close to, face and think deeply of "food ethics," we will advance toward a better direction. The author also encouraged us that though different thoughts and reality will certainly keep colliding our moral values, don't close your eyes.
▌Most Dangerous Animal in the World
At the beginning of chapter "Wild Animals," the author addresses that the zoo is the first window of most urbanites to "contact" with wild animals. Curiously enough, animals in the zoo are not wild; at the same time, abuse incidents aren't rare in contemporary zoos throughout the world. What do we want to see exactly in the zoo? The author takes an example from Sherry Turkle's Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other: many children expressed, "considering behaviors of turtles, we don't need to keep living turtles here." A girl even thought that machine animals are enough. In fact, we look at animals into their eyes for the sake of ensuring that they are exactly alive.
But, if we insist that being close is the only way to understand, it may oversimplify the cost behind the intimate contact between humans and animals in the zoo by our imagination. In Bronx Zoo, NYC, there is a section signed, "THE MOST DANGEROUS ANIMALS IN THE WORLD." After we step in, nothing but a mirror stands. What an alarming and painful reminder it is! Only when we consistently equalize and comprehend the circumstances, the relation between animals and us can truly make progress from the short-distance alienation.
黃保強／攝影 || Photograph: Pao-Chiang Huang
幕後花絮：我所認識的黃宗潔老師 || Behind the Scene: Getting Along with Prof. Huang
▌溫和的語氣，堅定的心
剛認識老師是在大二，修老師的飲食與文學課堂。在討論到飲食倫理與動物間的關聯時，老師閃爍的眼神吸引了我的目光，才知道原來老師喜歡動物、非常關注相關議題。
猶記得那堂課有個文本是索妮亞・法樂琪的《傷心農場》，一名屠宰場工作人員以歡樂的語氣將整個飼養、宰殺的環境與過程細細說出，輕鬆地落下沈重之語。看完文本之後，每位同學都說：「我再也不想吃動物了。」
但老師冷靜地站在台上，並不指責我們，亦無安撫；而是淡淡地請我們思索並討論並思索自己對於飲食與動物的道德界線為何？看似冷漠，但卻意外地令人安穩。就算我們給出任何答案也似乎都不會被老師否定掉，不管是最極端的哪個點，老師給了我們所有得選擇權與可能性，好像能在世界某個角落找到得以容納自己的位置。那一天起，我開始敬佩老師與她帶給人的平靜氛圍，且與老師頻繁交流起來。
▌不穩定的病情，穩定的支持力
在與老師來往的互動中，圍繞著許多動物話題，其中令我們關係拉近的契機是，小狼的事情。
小狼，是東華大學校園內的一隻狗狗，牠在4年多前來到學校，卻因追車、護食、咬傷人等等原因而需要安置。跟小狼接觸之後就會發現，小狼的個性很難捉摸，可能上一秒才很開心地摸摸，下一秒就變了臉色；或是極為敏感於聲音，對著大型車輛瘋狂吠叫、追趕；甚至有時會有挫折性攻擊的行為。在經過幾學期的訓練課之後，發現小狼其實是有精神方面的疾病的，加上開放性校園的生活環境不適合，才會導致牠常常處在焦慮的狀態之下。
為了籌措醫藥費用，我幫小狼製作了明信片，也向宗潔老師提到這件事情，而老師二話不說，就買了好幾十張明信片，贊助我們經費。聊起為什麼這麼想幫助小狼呢？其實是因為相像。因為我也跟小狼一樣敏感、容易焦慮，理解服藥的辛苦與那漫漫長路。老師就這樣靜靜地理解我與小狼的處境，並給我打氣、支持與陪伴，祝福我早日康復。
▌喜歡，值得被好好對待
「偷偷告訴妳，其實我也最喜歡小狼這型的狗呢。」聽老師這麼說，不禁撲哧笑出。提到自己對於小狼的慕戀，老師同理著說，小狼與其他事物不能同等相比，「喜歡」該值得被好好對待。
我想，喜歡宗潔老師也是這麼回事吧。這份喜歡不能被其他事物同等計算，不能被拿來當工具換取或利用，這份喜歡與敬佩的特別在於她是宗潔老師，不是其他人，是這樣令人舒適、自在的一位師長。
▌Elegant tone, firm mind
I first met Prof. Huang in her Gourmet Food and Literature course in my sophomore year. In a discussion of the relation between food ethics and animals, Prof. Huang's misty eyes drew my attention, and I realized that she loves animals and cares about related issues very much.
In that course, I remember a text from Sonia Faruqi's Project Animal Farm: An Accidental Journey into the Secret World of Farming and the Truth About Our Food. A butcher described the whole environment and process of feeding and slaughtering with a joyful tone. Heavy words were delivered lightly. After reading it, everyone said, "I don't want to eat meat anymore!"
On the contrary, Prof. Huang was calm on the stage, making no effort comfort us. She subtly made us think about and discuss our own moral limits of food and animals. She looked indifferent but inadvertently, somehow, comforting as well. It seemed that none of our answers would be negated no matter how extreme they were. She offered complete freedom to choose and think as we would to find our own positions wherever in the world they may be. From that day, I gained more respect for her and the firm atmosphere she created, and started to have more interaction with her.
▌Unstable illness, stable support
During the time we communicated, Prof. Huang and I discussed lots of animal issues, and the key point that brought us close together was Lang.
Lang, a dog in the NDHU campus, came to school 4 years ago, but it was leashed in a specific place due to his behaviors, such as cars-chasing, eating aggressively, and biting. After I got along with Lang, I found that it was hard to predict. When happily being petted one moment, but it sometimes changed its mind the next moment. Similarly, it was extremely sensitive to sounds and crazily chased and barked at large trucks. It even attacked others as the result of frustration. After several semesters of training, Lang was believed to suffer from a mental disease. Plus, for Lang, the environment of an open campus was not suitable to live in, and caused frequent anxiety.
To afford the medical expenses, I made postcards for Lang and conveyed the message to Prof. Huang. She bought dozens of the cards as support without a word. Why was I willing to help this much? In fact, it was my resemblance to Lang. I was also sensitive, frequently anxious, and understood the long-term pain of taking medicine. Prof. Huang silently realized the circumstances of both Lang and me, and at the same time encouraged me, supported me, and kept me company, hoping I would get well soon.
▌Love deserves better treatment
"Let me tell you secretly, Lang is also my favorite type." Hearing what Prof. Huang said, I couldn't help bursting into laughter. She had empathy for my love of Lang and said that nothing could compare to Lang, since "love" deserved better treatment.
My love for Prof. Huang is the same. It cannot be compared to other things, nor can it be exchanged or used as a tool. The love and admiration are more special because she is not anyone else; she is Prof. Huang, the teacher who comforts us and makes us feel at ease.
Li ChiHsien / Photograph