Plaidoyer pour les animaux

Interview of Matthieu Ricard granted inFrench to the Brigitte Bardot Foundation in Paris, France, on November 4, 2014, where he discusses topics from his book “A Plea for the Animals”

Matthieu Ricard, brilliant biologist and prestigious buddhist monk, invites us to extend our benevolence to all sentient beings. In the interest of animals, but also of men. We kill 60 billion terrestrial animals and 1,000 billion marine animals each year for our consumption. A massacre unparalleled in the history of humanity that poses a major ethical challenge and hurts our societies: this overconsumption aggravates hunger in the world, causes ecological imbalances, and it is bad for our health. In addition to food, we also use animals for purely venal reasons (wildlife trafficking), for scientific research or even simply entertainment (bullfights, circuses, zoos).  What if the time had come to consider the aniamls no longer as inferior beings but as our “fellow citizens” on this earth? We live in an interdependent world where the fate of each being, whoever he is, is intimately linked to that of others. It’s not just about people, but animals as well. This interview is a brilliant invitation to change our behaviors towards the animals.