I am the only child in my family, so I often felt some kind of solitude. Finally, instead of a sibling, on my eleventh birthday I received a very special present from my lovely parents. It was a white cat with some black spots on its paws and near the neck. I proudly called him Tom as I was a huge fan of “Tom And Jerry” cartoons which attracted me to the TV every evening. I can’t find a word to describe that happy moments of my childhood spent playing with Tom. I built a small house for him from Lego pieces, forced him to stay in bed to watch cartoons together, and taught him how to play soccer along with some other tricks, and washing Tom in the bath was also a pleasure challenge for me. Now, I’m much older, but exciting love for cats didn’t disappear. Sometimes, walking down the streets in my town, when I saw poor homeless cats, I felt large regret to their hard lives. However, at the same time, I saw much more land animals were killed to become my food later, and my feelings weren’t alike. My love and compassion extended only on cats but not on a cow or a pig mostly because they never were so close to me as the cat was. Sadly, I am not the only representative of such problem when people care exclusively about the animals they love. As I first read the title of the second part of Foer’s book “Eating Animals”, I couldn’t get a point what was waiting for me ahead. However, as I moved further and further, everything got clear. In the part “All or Nothing or Something Else” the author raises a question which can be interpreted as “Why don’t we eat dogs but other animals?”. As I know, Americans are extremely crazy about dogs much greater than all other nationalities around the world. During the centuries, dogs have become much clos... ... middle of paper ... ...e Best We Have to Offer.” National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 13 Oct. 2011. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. Foer, Jonathan Safran. Eating animals. New York: Hachette Book Group, 2010. Print. 19 Oct. 2013 “Hunting – “the Murderous Business”.” IDA. In Defense of Animals, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. Katz, Jon. "Why Do People Love Dogs." Slate. The Slate Group, 12 Feb. 2007. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. New American Standard Bible. Bible Gateway. Web. 20 Oct. 2013 “Pet Industry Market Size & Ownership Statistics.” APPA. American Pet Products Association n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. "Shame." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. “The Hidden Lives of Pigs” PETA. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. Wikipedia contributors. "Hot dog." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2013
When a Minnesota dentist killed a prized African lion named "Cecil" he received an onslaught of criticism and reignited the debate concerning big game hunting. Is big game hunting wrong? Should big game hunting continue? Big game hunting has been a very controversial topic for some time and these types of questions are being asked daily. There are a lot of people for it and a lot of people against it. This issue causes a lot of extreme behaviors and ideas by both sides. Those who oppose it believe it to be morally wrong, unfair to the animals and damaging to the environment. Those individuals for it believe that it is the citizens' rights and a way to be involved in the environment. Hunting is the law and shall not be infringed upon. In defense of the hunters' I believe that there are five main issues of concern.
First Friend: A History of Dogs and Humans, by Katherine Rogers, articulates the history of the relationship between dogs and humans. Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals, by Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce, investigates if and how dogs exhibit morality. In both texts, anecdotes and observations are used to portray instances of dogs displaying cooperation, empathy, altruism, and, by extension, morality. Consequently, it stands to reason that dogs have a capacity for sociality, but how can the sociality of dogs be described? A dog’s capacity for sociality is the ability to form long term relationships with members of the same or other species. Dogs, in particular, dogs who hunt as well as dogs who play, are able to form long term relationships with humans and other dogs through trust, love,
“Let Them Eat Dog” talks about how in many countries it is completely normal to eat the family pet. I personally could not eat my pet. Foer quotes George Orwell saying “all animals are equal but some are more equal than others”(2). In my opinion this means
As I have progressed through this class, my already strong interest in animal ethics has grown substantially. The animal narratives that we have read for this course and their discussion have prompted me to think more deeply about mankind’s treatment of our fellow animals, including how my actions impact Earth’s countless other creatures. It is all too easy to separate one’s ethical perspective and personal philosophy from one’s actions, and so after coming to the conclusion that meat was not something that was worth killing for to me, I became a vegetarian. The trigger for this change (one that I had attempted before, I might add) was in the many stories of animal narratives and their inseparable discussion of the morality in how we treat animals. I will discuss the messages and lessons that the readings have presented on animal ethics, particularly in The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Dead Body and the Living Brain, Rachel in Love, My Friend the Pig, and It Was a Different Day When They Killed the Pig. These stories are particularly relevant to the topic of animal ethics and what constitutes moral treatment of animals, each carrying important lessons on different facets the vast subject of animal ethics.
Norcross, Alastair. “Puppies, Pigs, and People: Eating Meat and Marginal Cases.” Philosophical Perspectives 18, (2004): 229-245.
Linzey, Andrew. Introduction. Animals on the Agenda. Ed. A. Linzey et al. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998.
It is early in the morning; the majestic Elk bugles in the distance. The sun is kissing the tops of the peaks with the most beautiful gold, and painting the clouds rose red. The men and women who enjoy the outdoors whether it is hunting or just hiking help make these types of moments possible. Hunting and the ecosystem is tied closely to conservation of land and animals. The articles of “Hunting and the ecosystem” written by the South Dakota Game Fish and Parks Department (SDGFP), and “Facts and statistics on wildlife conservation” written by Roger Holmes, director of the Fish and Wildlife, touch on how hunting is important in the environment to keep a good balance in the ecosystem. They also point out how hunters do more than any other organization for wildlife and environment. Our country was created by outdoors men who hunted and they passed their knowledge of the outdoors to their kids. Hunting has worked its way down from the generation and we should learn to “pass it on” Hunting is great for the environment and wildlife and should be preserved for the ages to come.
The obscene fact of the matter was that the hunted felt they were in the wrong. Through suppression and unconscious objectification they began to feel diseased, erroneous, and worthless. Whether it be secluded from society, killed openly, or robbed of simple human rights, it became evident that what was happening was wrong. The only way that these crimes were ever brought to light was when and if someone became proactive. The way to catch the public’s eye was not through ...
Sacks, Pamela. "Puppy Mills: Misery FOR Sale." Animals 133.5 (2000): 10. Academic Search Premier. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.
It is true that dogs have a high mental capacity but “such a definition would also include the pig, cow and chicken. And it would exclude severely impaired humans” (Foer 604). Foer effectively uses humor to explain why dogs are no more intelligent than many of the animals Americans find acceptable to eat. He also compares animals to severely impaired humans to allow the reader to analyze why he or she chooses to eat certain animals. Likewise, Foer questions if it’s not acceptable to eat dogs because they are companion animals, “but dog eating isn’t a taboo in many places, and it isn’t in anyway bad for [people]. Properly cooked, dog meat poses no greater health risks than any other meat” (Foer 604). Similarly, humor is used to demonstrate how it is acceptable to eat dog in other cultures and why it should be acceptable in the United States. Humor draws the reader in and makes the writing more lighthearted. This shows that with the wide variety of cultures in the United States, Americans can move to accepting dog eating customs. Thus, the author shows why it should be acceptable to eat dogs in the United States because it is acceptable in other
Morrison, Nick. "Animal Rights and Wrongs." Northern Echo, 24 Feb. 2001: n. pag. elibrary. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.
Paul Shepard. “Hunting and Human Values.” Rhetorical Choices. Charles I. Schuster, Deborah H. Holdstein, Keith Gilyard. Second Edition. New York: Penguin Acdamics, 2013. 568.
Currently, I am a senior at the University of Nebraska at Omaha pursuing a dual major in Neuroscience and Psychology. I have always been interested in human-animal interactions from multiple perspectives including the psychological, sociological, personal and ethical perspectives. From a psychological perspective, I have studied the importance of animal-assisted therapies in various clinical disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). I have also studied human-animal interaction in the context of violent offenders and the associated cases of animal abuse. Furthermore, I have studied human-animal interactions from a behavioral psychological approach. Great behaviorist researchers such as Ivan Pavlov and B.F. Skinner made great strides in understanding human and animal behavior using classical and operant conditioning. Today, both classical and operant conditioning are commonly used in animal training. Last semester, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to use a Skinner Box and condition a lab rat using operant conditioning. It was an interesting experience for me; I was exposed to training and regulations proposed by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), which provided insight into the strict care and interactions mandated in animal research. Throughout my academic career, I have studied much research which utilized animal testing. I have performed dissections and profusions which forced me to personally analyze my own ethics and morals in regards to animal testing. In the Behavioral Neuroscience Lab here at UNO, we conducted a behavioral experiment using lab rats. We then performed profusions, dissections, and prepared slides of the rats’ brains. It was very difficult for me to complete th...
Animals can be perceived in many different ways. While some humans consider animals to be mindless machines programmed with instinct, others view them as spiritual creatures capable of coherent thought and emotions. I feel that animals are somewhere in the middle. Although they rely heavily on instinct, the ability to feel emotions shows that their mental capacity is not far from that of a human.
Humans place themselves at the top of the sociological tier, close to what we as individuals call our pets who have a sentimental value in our lives. Resource animal’s on the other hand have a contributory value within our lives: they provide us with meat and other important resources. In order to determine the boundaries between how we treat animals as pets and others simply as resources, utilitarians see these “resource animals” as tools. They contemplate the welfare significances of animals as well as the probable welfares for human-beings. Whereas deontologists see actions taken towards these “resources animals” as obligations regardless of whom or what they harm in the process. The objection to these theories are, whose welfare are we