Every day in countries around the world, animals are fighting for their lives. They are enslaved, beaten, and kept in chains to make them perform for humans' "entertainment"; they are mutilated and confined to tiny cages so that we can kill them and eat them; they are burned, blinded, poisoned, and cut up alive in the name of "science"; they are electrocuted, strangled, and skinned alive so that people can parade around in their coats; and worse. (PETA) Every year, millions of animals are suffering slaughterhouse and painful procedures for the clothing of humans. Animals on fur farms spend their entire lives confined to cramped, filthy wire cages. Fur farmers use the cheapest and cruelest killing methods available, including suffocation, electrocution, gas, and poison. (PETA) Methods used on fur farms are designed to increase profits at the expense of the animals. Most Leather imported to the U.S. comes from India where there are no animal welfare laws or they are not enforced. Every year, hundreds of lambs die before the age of 8 weeks from exposure or starvation, and mature sheep die every year from disease, lack of shelter, and neglect. (PETA) Many animals suffer unhealthy transportation, filthy slaughterhouses and painful skinning procedures to make clothing and etc., many people do not realize the impact fur, wool and leather production has on humans and their health too. It also can be very expensive and harmful to animals and the reproduction of their young. There are different replacements to fur, wool and leather that are safe and beneficial to humans and animals.
Cruelty is one fashion statement we can all do without. – Rue Mclanahan. 85% of fur industry’s fur comes from fur farms and some of them still have colla...
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...ghts Organization | PETA.org. n/d. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. .
"Mulesing by the Wool Industry | PETA.org." People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA): The Animal Rights Organization | PETA.org. n/d. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. .
"Wool, Fur, and Leather: Hazardous to the Environment | PETA.org." People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA): The Animal Rights Organization | PETA.org. n/d. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. .
“Animal Rights Quotes, Sayings about Animal Welfare, Cruelty, Compassion." The Quote Garden - Quotes, Sayings, Quotations, Verses. 14 Dec. 2010. Web. 03 Mar. 2011.
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PETA is arguably the largest animals’ rights organization in the world with more than 5 million members and supporters. They go further to say they are against the use of animals in food, clothing, research, and entertainment industries and claim to spread their message through public education, cruelty investigations, research, animal rescue, legislation, special events, celebrity involvement, and protest campaigns. This is all according to their website of course; however, a deeper look reveals another meaning filled with hypocrisy, deceit, terror, and greed.
Throughout history, societies have been faced with many social issues affecting their citizens. Martin Luther King Jr, a civil rights leader for African Americans, was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement, a movement that fought to undo the injustices African Americans endure by American society in the 1960s. Martin expressed his disgust with the social inequality among citizens when saying “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (PETA). Taking the prominent leader’s words into consideration, we should progress as a society by participating in the animal rights movement that strives to extend the same compassion, felt by Martin Luther King Jr, to all living things (PETA). Popular criticisms report that animals are inferior to humans because they are a source of food, but I will argue that they are victims of social injustice. Validity for my animal rights argument will come from individual and organizational expert accounts and by Bioethicist Peter Singer, Author Francis Fukuyama, New York Time’s Mark Bittman and also Animal Rights organizations, such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and Animal Equality, to help prove my argument. Animals are silent victims who are loudly crying out for someone to stand up for their rights; rights that can no longer be disregarded by being overlooked. It is my belief that animals should be respected, and afforded ethical and human treatment by society instead of being looked at as a source of food. In a society where animals have no voice, it is everyone’s civic duty to participate in the animal rights movement and acknowledge animals as living beings, which...
In today’s day and age, meat is one of the most common portions of a human meal. According to the Census statistics from 2009 and 2010, United States is amongst the leading meat producing as well as meat consuming countries in the world, especially in beef and chicken.1 On the contrary, there is no census on human meat because no one consumes it. Yet, human meat and horsemeat are the same because it is meat from a body that has the capability of suffering as Singer proposed.
It is so easy to become complacent in our sheltered world and to turn the other cheek to the violence and misery that our every life decision can perpetrate, and that the majority of the country (mostly unknowingly) buys into. The fact is that if the horrors of the meat industry were common knowledge, the business would decrease, and drastically at that. So, to keep the knowledge from becoming widespread, meat and animal factory farms are content to work quietly and discreetly in the sparsely-populated back corners of the country where no one can see what is being done without making an active effort. The problem for them is, many people have been making an active effort- as the animal cruelty cause became more mainstream, the US saw a huge increase in the investigative journalism aimed at uncovering the flaws of factory farming. These findings have been explosive, and have led to animal rights legislation , (although sadly, this legislation does not protect all animals). This boom in investigation led most factory farms to close down plants to the outside world, no longer allowing tours or photography and dramatically increasing the security during the hiring process in an attempt to eliminate undercover journalists. Representatives of the factory farm industry claim that they they work out in the middle of nowhere and have increased security for the welfare of the animals; however, this is clearly not the case. They are covering up the overcrowding, the starvation, and the misery that the world is all too happy to ignore, as long as ignoring it means that they can continue on with their lifestyle. The truth is that there is no such thing as a “happy” factory farm animal- even the supposedly “ethically treated” animals, the free ...
The modern fight for animal rights has been geared toward factory farms and the removal of animal testing and ag-gag laws. Protection for test animals and farm animals has become an important focus for many animal rights groups including ASPCA. The end of uncomfortable and inhumane treatment of animals is still a fight thousands are fighting
Animals can be a man's best friend; however, they can also be ones worst enemy after passing certain boundaries. Peter Singer who wrote Animal Liberation gave valid points in my opinion because animals do have a right to live and we should give them their space. Humans take everything for granted and never seem to learn until it too late. Today slaughterhouses are abusing animals in disturbing ways which has to change. I will agree with Singers concepts on animals because they have a right to live a peaceful life like humans; they have a life ahead of them once they are born. Singer argues that animals should have their interests considered throughout their lives. Singer wants to eliminate speciesism from our thoughts which is, a human discriminatory belief that all other animals are not as good as them therefore they do not have rights and we could do what we want to them. We should not be the only types of "animals" in this earth who has a set of rights we should abide.
Like many other industries, the farming industry has evolved into big business, “Animals on factory farms are regarded as commodities to be exploited for profit.” In each industry from clothing to instruments, the bosses want to make a profit. The more they can supply with the least amount of waste, the more profit they make. The same goes for factory farming. However instead of humans being the ones directly affected by big bosses, the animals are. They don’t have a voice, and can’t stand up for what is right or wrong. These animals are manipulated in every way to make a better profit. Factory farms mass produce animals for ...
America focuses heavily on its livestock and crops earning us a major role in global trade as a farming nation. Unfortunately this has led to some poor choices in treatment of our animals. Many farmers who believe in animal rights say that it started back when farmers only tended to fewer animals, “Ownership of farm animals became concentrated in fewer hands, and flocks and herds grew larger. As a result, the individuality of animals was lost to their owners and they began receding from most people's everyday life” (Namit 29). When people lost their connection to the animals that provided their food, the quality of the animal's lives began to dramatically decrease. Consumers constantly pushed farmers to their limits with high quotas. To keep up with demands agriculturalists turned to some unorthodox practices to keep costs low and still maintain their annual quotas; “To raise efficiency and cut costs, farm animals began to be engineered for abnormally rapid weight gain, fed unnatu...
When it comes to wool one imagines idyllic surroundings and sheep who naturally shed their coats or need haircuts to keep cool during hot summer months, and one may believe sheep live this life until the final breath, but ones imagination is far from the truth. Even though wool is a multimillion dollar a year industry, due to the welfare of the animals that unwillingly have to participate this industry should be shut down. Lyn White, campaign director for Animals Australia states “Australian wool producers are striving to produce ultra-fine wool to supply the demand from elite fashion houses both in Australia and overseas. Each year, leading Italian fashion house Ermenegildo Zegna presents the prestigious ultra-fine wool industry trophy -- the Vellus Aureum Trophy -- awarded for the finest micron fleece. This year the trophy was awarded to The Wool Factory from Horsham, Victoria by Count Paulo Zegna and Australia's Gov...
The ugly truth is that animals are dying at the hands of their owners everyday, some in very violent ways that can be avoidable given the right solution. Slaughterhouses, puppy mills, dog fighting, and so on, are just a few examples of how animals are being treated badly by people. Animal cruelty is a form of violence which, un...
Simple household items such as lotions, shampoos and cosmetics aren’t very expensive and are within reach for the public, yet the public is not knowledgeable of the fact that the products that they use everyday are put through a series of tests which involve the use of harmless animals. Several large commercial companies do not make products for animals; they decide that using these harmless creatures for the testing of their products, could be cause to be harmful to animals still go forward with these types of procedures on an everyday basis. Although these animals are unable to defend themselves or signs of any form of consent for the near death procedures, these companies find this as a cheap solution for testing their products before placing them on the market. There are many other alternatives to testing animals such as embryonic stem cell research. Animal experimentation is wrong and it can be avoided but companies which are greedy for money chose not to.
There are many debates around the world about the topic of animal abuse. Animal abuse in the food industry has become a major problem due to the cruel treatment of animals. Most of the world's population might think that animal cruelty is only found in homes and on the street, but they forget about the other forms of animal abuse that affect the food industry. Large contributors to animal abuse are due to fishing methods, animal testing, and slaughterhouses. "Animals have always been a major part of our society in history and they have played huge roles in agriculture" (ASPCA). Factory farming is a system of confining chickens, pigs, and cattle under strictly controlled conditions. Slaughterhouses are places where animals are killed
Fur Farms are buildings that function to hold animals, mostly small species such as foxes and minks, until they are ready to be skinned. From fur farms, the fur is then bought by fashion industries to be used for clothing. “There are fur farms located all over the world, however, 73% of those fur farms happen to be found in certain European countries” (“The Fur Industry”). Back in the stone ages, fur only had one purpose which was to keep warm. There was no fashion involved, just human instinct and survival. Somehow, the idea of wearing fur has turned into a fashion trend and is a very popular way of dressing. Laws against animal fur farming vary within countries. For example, the United States has very few vague laws concerning the process of fur farms, while China has virtually none. “However, some countries have taken the step to completely ban the fur farms such as Croatia and the United Kingdom” (Peterson). The globalization of...
There are common cases of animal abuse in everyday life, such as: hunting, poaching, factory farming, rodeos, and the industries that offer authentic fur, leather, feathers, and wool. The industries that use authentic animal hide have no excuse for not finding a suitable substitute. Honestly, there is no reason why the skin of animal is to be used in clothing other than the fact that is considered “fasion.” There are also cases of animal abuse that are celebrated as a cherished tradition. For example, the sport fox-hunting is very popular; families often train the younger generation in the proper technique of fox-hunting so that the tradition may live on (Nurse, 2013). Although it is an important tradition to some, the torture and death of an animal is nothing to be commended or celebrated. In Margit Livingston’s article "Desecrating the Ark: Animal Abuse and The Law 's Role in Prevention" she goes on to point out how animal abuse is often viewed as an owner’s right of exercising dominion or even entertainment. Furthermore, she states that, “today, only a scant majority of state jurisdictions provide for felony-level penalties for intentional animal abuse.” Because animal abuse has been viewed so lowly throughout history, there are not proper laws in place to prevent such atrocities from occurring. The abuse of innocent creatures is not an “exercise of dominion.” Humans have no right to treat earth’s other inhabitants’ lives as if they are worth less than a human’s life. Proper procedures need to be put into action in order to protect the weak and defenseless from those that are stronger (Livingston,
There was a combination of different literature found that easily pertains to the issue addressed in this paper. This broadly classified literature includes the history and background of PETA’s organization, an analysis of the use of celebrity icons in the anti-fur campaign and the different perspectives and criticism depicted in their messages.