Lessons Learned from Hitler's Army of Talking Dogs

One of the movements that scares me the most is the radical environmentalism that views humanity as a blight on the planet and that openly and not so openly desires the elinimation of mankind to better the rest of the earth.  I believe the idea that we should prize animals and nature over human life is more prevalent than the average person realizes.  It is a dangerous precedent to value human lives less than that of others in the animal kingdom.  There was another culture that did just that.  It was Nazi Germany.  I was reminded of the animal loving Nazi's when I read this article about Hitler's attempt to create an army of talking dogs: 

Dr Bondeson, an author of a number of history books, claims the Nazis viewed dogs as being almost as intelligent as humans and believed that only physical limitations prevented them from interacting as equals.

"In the 1920s, Germany had numerous 'new animal psychologists' who believed dogs were nearly as intelligent as humans, and capable of abstract thinking and communication," Dr Bondeson told The London Times.

"When the Nazi Party took over, one might have thought they would be building concentration camps to lock these fanatics up, but instead they were actually very interested in their ideas.

According to Dr. Bondeson, after the Jews were taken away to concentration camps, the concern was for the pets left behind:

"Part of the Nazi philosophy was that there was a strong bond between humans and nature - they believed a good Nazi should be an animal friend.

"Indeed, when they started interning Jews, the newspapers were flooded with outraged letters from Germans wondering what had happened to the pets they left behind. They seemed to think nothing of human rights, but lots about animal rights."

There is nothing wrong with protecting the environment and the animals that share the planet.  There is something wrong with assuming that our lives are less worthy than the life that surrounds us.