A muskrat has undermined a levee on the Mississippi River, leading to the threatened destruction of homes. From the story:
A heroic effort by hundreds of townspeople, volunteers and National Guardsmen to hold back the Mississippi River failed yesterday—undone by a burrowing muskrat. The furry rodent dug a hole through the earthen levee in the eastern Missouri community of Winfield, allowing water to penetrate the flood wall, which failed shortly before dawn.
Gasp. Undermining a human levee is as cruel as destroying a beaver’s dam! Put that rodent in jail! This is a profound violation of the muskrat’s duty to treat other members of the community of equals based on mere sentience, equally.
What? Oh, right. The muskrat owed the threatened homeowners nothing. It is not a moral being. It was merely doing what a muskrat does; dig. It was oblivious to the harm it was causing and couldn’t have cared less if the whole town was swept away.
Duties only apply to humans—which is one of the things that makes us exceptional.
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