MAMMAL MEANS CARING

It's a pity not all the members of our species can act on the basic mammalian initiative shown by a stray dog in Kenya: "A newborn baby abandoned in a Kenyan forest was saved by a stray dog who apparently carried her across a busy road and through a barbed wire fence to a shed where the infant was discovered nestled with a litter of puppies, witnesses said Monday." While the meat-eating world depends on clear-line distinctions between humans and animals, the ability to care for others is built into the mammal brain, and the similarity is brought out by this "happy ending" quote from the hospital where the child wound up: "She is now fine. She is warm. She is in a separate room ... with a lady who is also nursing a baby admitted in hospital for treatment. The lady is looking after her as if she is her own child."