This is referred to as the “Guardian Campaign”, which is a “Vivid example of the growing tendency to blur the boundaries between us and our pets” (Katz 74). A core tenet of animal rights philosophy is that no species on this planet is better than another; therefore, humans have no right to dominate over, use, breed, or eat nonhuman species. Another example of what animal rights activist are fighting for, are their protests on using animals for entertainment. While some animal entertainment businesses do not have the animal's best interest in mind, the majority follow all regulations and take care of their animals very well (Stenholm 90). Over one hundred and thirty years of racing at Churchill downs (the site of the Kentucky Derby) and they …show more content…
Our country could not have been built up to where it is without the use of animals. It is necessary to use them. “Of course it is proper not to cause unneeded pain to animals, but that is far different than “inventing Bill of Rights for them at our expense” (Locke 132). Easing animal suffering in any way possibly is inarguably worthwhile, but turning them into humans is another matter (Katz 74). While an animal can feel pain (which is why unnecessary pain is undeserved), they are not sapient beings (rational organisms) (Locke 132). Because they are not rational, they are not involved in the moral community, and thus “should not be included on the same moral platform as humans (Locke 133). While every animal has a degree of intelligence, no non-human animal has been observed to have the high levels that humans can obtain (Locke 134).The founder of PETA (People for the ethical treatment of Animals) made this famous statement “A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy (Stiver 58)”. Putting a rat, pig, and boy on the same level is a bit of an outrage. The meaning is that all are mammals and can feel pain. However, if all were put on the same playing field, that would justify saving a rat from a burning building over a human child… a thought that is entirely absurd. Animal rights activist want good treatment of all animals, but in the extreme. The human race needs to focus on human rights before we even try to start
Jeremy Rifkin is an American writer, public speaker, and activist who wrote a meaningfully dense article for the Los Angeles Times titled "A Change Of Heart About Animals." His article defends animal rights and disputes many myths regarding animals. Rifkin argues that animals do have a sense of individualism, experience emotions akin to humans, learn from past experiences, display self-awareness, and that “They are more like us than we imagined” (Rifkin). After reading the article, I can personally say that I agree with Rifkin on supporting animal rights. Animals are creatures who should not be abused just to end up on our dinner plates, which is why the treatment of animals needs to improve. In order to properly respect animals, we need to
Keeping animals locked in cages, bored and cramped up in such a small space is an awful sight to show the children. It creates an image in the little minds of children that animals are to be treated like they don’t matter. They say Zoos are a place where children can learn about the wild, exotic animals, but in reality it doesn't teach them anything only that they are meant to be caged up, which is wrong. Also, it is really painful to see the animals bored and lonely, so why should people keep letting them do this to these beautiful creatures. Animal captivity for entertainment should end to let them go to their rightful home.
Animal rights have been a controversial issue for decades and remain controversial today. Product testing on animals is considered wrong by many and is against animal rights, products can be made without testing on animals. Animals in zoos are looked after greatly and treated with respect, keeping them in zoos in not against animal rights. Many activists for animal rights have pets because some consider having pets as not against animal rights, the families that have pets give them homes and treat them as part of their family. Product testing is against animal rights; however, keeping pets and having zoos are not against animal rights.
Most would not put animals in the same category as humans so giving them the same rights seems quite ridiculous; since humans are supposed to be seen as the alpha species. What is a more realistic term is to consider them our property, because we continue to use animal testing and think it is okay to harm these animals. In the end, animal testing and research is cruel and should be done away with. It is a proven fact that animals feel pain just like humans do. No animal deserves to have his or her life purpose be to give his or her life unknowingly for science. We must to put an end to this cruelty and torture because just like humans, animals are living beings. No matter how it is perceived, it is cruel and unusual punishment.
For thousands of years scientist have been performing vivisections on animals to find information on new chemicals, drugs, and vaccines. Vivisection is when scientist perform dissections among living animals mostly for the purpose of educating and retrieving information. Experimenting on animals has become the tool that has helped us comprehend the body functions of an animal and how a disease transforms the bodily functions, but over the years it’s caused animal rights activists to question the usefulness and the sincerity of using animals for this purpose. Although animal research has been helpful in the past, it is morally wrong in the sense that experimenting on animals is not the only way to collect information. There are other alternatives
Would you like to try a dog limb with the salad? These are the exact word that I heard from the Korean air hostess when I was first traveling to the USA. I still remember she passed me a wrong serving plate. This incident really affects me a lot because I had never seen meat before in my life. It makes me think about how the meat industry is widely spread and how it is regulated by the governmental agencies. Factory farming is a system of rearing livestock using intensive methods by which poultry, pigs, or cattle are confined indoors under strictly controlled conditions. Today, factory farming dominates the U.S food production to fulfill the excessive demand of the peoples. Most of the factory farms are run by the giant corporations and their
... animal rights view, the animals, like humans have rights in the “utility- trumping sense”. The utility-trumping sense have vital interest that we must not override, even in an effort to maximize the utility for society. (Animal Rights, 20)
When I was little my teachers would ask me “Cora, What do you want to be when you grow up”? In reality, I couldn’t make up my mind on what I wanted to be ‘when I grew up’. When I was around seven, I went from wanting to be a Veterinarian to being an Astronaut, then back to a Veterinarian again. Around age 10, I wanted to be a dentist, even though I hate mouths. Then I wanted to be a Veterinarian again. Junior Year of high school came and when we started to research colleges and careers I heard that Premed programs were so hard to get into, and I wasn’t fooling anyone with my grades. I did some research on Veterinarians and I discovered that the Veterinarians don’t really handle the animals like I thought they did. Then I learned about Veterinary Technicians, they do so much with the animals. I
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...
Human beings have been shown to be the cruelest animals on the planet. While other animals will kill for defense or food, humans are the only ones that inflict unnecessary cruelty onto others like they do through experimentation. Fortunately, some people throughout the years have shown sympathy towards the various animals that are tested on day after day and work to stop the atrocities committed by man. Animal rights activists and their cause can be traced back to their origins in the antivivisection campaigns of the 1900s. Both individuals and groups of people work to abrogate the abuse of animals, usually through protests. The most prominent organization that advocates for animal rights is PETA or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who have fought many battles in the war against animal cruelty. Two of PETA’s victories were in their campaigns, where they worked with several other organizations, against Gillette and Colgate for their experimentation on and mistreatment of animals. Their victory against Gillette came with, “the multinational company announcing a moratorium in December 1996 on animal testing of its ...
over 1,800 cases of animal cruelty in the past year because of the lack of animals having rights revealed in the media, with 64.5% involving dogs, 18% involving cats and the other 25% involving other animals. They should have rights because they have feelings, they are valuable, and they mean a lot to some families to the point where they’re considered to be a part of the family. Most importantly, humans are also animals, So think about how you would feel if someone had full control over you or someone you loved and did things to you that you didn’t enjoy or like. You have to think about their world from their standpoint. Yes, they are animals but they should not be less valued just because they are different from humans.
On that account, we should not take animal’s rights as
Animals will have rights when they have the means to enforce them. They don't have the ability to reason as humans do. The human race has such a vast understanding of the necessities for all of the different species of animals to exist. Humans are far superior to any other animal because they are so advanced in technology. One advantage of advanced technology is, humans can store information as reference material. With all of this reference material humans can look back at previous mistakes so they don't do the same thing again. With this knowledge, humans can see and predict outcomes before a choice is made. Humans have the knowledge to enforce their rights, something no other animal has.
One of the greatest arguments against non human animals having rights is that they cannot speak for themselves, they cannot think and they are less human and so they can be created as such. There are flaws on this argument. Humans have an obligation to the society in a certain manor and this determines how they behave. From a young age, people are taught how to behave and act in a certain way and animal neglect and cruelty goes against the basic principles we are taught as children. Secondly, In addition, opponents argue that rights only belong to moral agents and that animals like moral urgency. This is absurd because some animals for example primates actually think very well and this should not be used against animals being given rights. Animals may not be having self awareness and are not able to communicate well but at least they inherently have rights just because they do exist as living things and they are able to feel pain and other emotions. Their ability to suffer and feel pain gives them a right not to be subj...
It is not difficult to see that humans are humans and animals are animals. There are no relevant differences that justify differences in treatment. Animal rights opponents have consistently failed to support the differences in treatment of humans versus animals with relevant differences in capacities. Yes, an animal is an animal, but it can still suffer terribly from our brutality and lack of compassion.