The great naturalist John Muir, who was born in 1838, was brought up on a farm with domestic animals and later spent a lot of time in the wilderness viewing wild creatures. In his day, some religious leaders insisted that animals had no minds and no souls, and so therefore had no rights. Some people took that to mean that they were essentially machines in fur and feathers. Muir denounced the attitude he found among some people that as so–called “lords of creation,” humans have no responsibility for the other, less–intelligent species on earth. He was one of the first to make the case that animals have individualities, uniquenesses that distinguish them one from another. — The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 5, 496-497.