Westley Cooper's Chickenss Case Study

Westley Cooper’s inadequate care of his chickens has led them to suffer. Evidence shows that dozens of chickens were found dead or emaciated because of lack of food and health care. Cooper argues that the law does not allow farm animals (his chickens) to be victims, since they are regarded as property under state law. In the defense of Cooper’s chickens, I will refute the idea that his chickens should be viewed as property and should be given equal consideration because they are sentience beings that do not wish to feel pain or suffering. It is apparent that Westley Cooper views his chickens as a means to an end. Cooper puts his own interests first before his chickens and uses their meat or eggs to make some profit. In addition, Cooper does

We can start with human beings, it is known that humans have the desire not to feel pain because we can express the feeling of pain through our physical or vocal reactions. Animals can also express pain through physical reactions or expressing it vocally, for example, in Earthlings chickens would stubble and limp around the barn because their legs cannot carry their heavy bodies. Pigs would squeal in pain when they are hit and pushed around by farm workers (Manson, 2007). “Emotional responses show that the body is responding to certain external stimuli… [E]vidence of emotions in any creature is also an important step in determining sentience and self- awareness” (Bekoff, 2007, p. 6- 9). All these animals were conscious of pain, even when starving or dying of an illness. In Cooper’s case, the chickens are full aware that they are hungry and are not feeling well. Francione, also describes that even though animals and humans may not have the same physiological characteristics on the outside, their nervous system looks and work very similar to ours (2007, p. 6). “ 'Mirror neurons '… is the name given to a part of the brain that seems to allow us to understand another individual 's behavior by imagining ourselves performing the same behavior and then mentally projecting ourselves into the other individual 's shoes” (Bekoff, 2007, pg. 128- 129). Francione, explains how Descartes would nail a dogs foot on to a table and open it up without caring if the dog was in pain (2007, p. 2). Putting myself in the dog’s position, I can already feel the pain and suffering it’s going through. I can also put myself in Cooper’s chicken’s position, I can parallel their suffering on to mine because I know how it feels to be hungry and dying of