...All human beings have a moral obligation to animals. Do animals have rights? This is a the question that many in our society disagrees on. It is my opinion that humans have an ethical and moral obligation to treat animals in a humane way. The argument for animal rights or adding them to a worldwide blacklist would mean: We should not exploit animals no matter what the cost to humanity would be, even if it’s done in a humane way. Breeding and raising animals to slaughter houses for food is in-humane. Unfortunately since life began it’s always been the survival of the fittest. But, don’t animals such as farm animals deserve respect and be to able to have some rights? In today’s society because of our economic system, farmers will cut corners on many things to be more efficient, but by cutting costs other issues have risen; such as meat with the e-coli bacteria because of antibiotic resistance to killing germs. There’s an epidemic of DNA altered GMO produced foods from large farming corporations called CAFO, the animals mainly are grain-fed and raised in poor, inadequate overcrowded feedlots, to produce mass amounts of food partially since the start of NAFTA in 1994. Over the years many people wanted to boycott these types of farming practices and some have gone as far to sue, but it is hard to put these large farming corporations out of business because of the financial backing they receive. Many times the CAFO’s will even open a libel counter suit against them that...
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...Animal Rights Animal Rights Johana Diaz Professor Irene Silas April 2011 Animal Rights Animal Rights Like humans, animals feel emotions such as pain, anxiety, and affection then if humans have rights, animals should also have rights. It is true that animals are different from people but it doesn't mean that they are inferior to them. Animals are abused and killed for a variety of socially acceptable purposes: 6 billion are slaughtered as foods, 200 million are murdered by sport hunters, 50 million die in laboratories and 25 million are murdered for their fur. Numbers never lie, cruelty towards animals is a fact. It is important to let humanity know why animals should have rights. Informing on the physical and psychological abuse that they suffer through violence, research of educational and scientific purposes and for the entertainment of people. Animal Rights, also known as Animal Liberation, is the the idea that the most basic interests in animals should be allowed the same amount of attention as basic interests in human beings (Wise, 2007). Peter Singer, a philosopher with a sensible focus on suffering in animals, incites people to extend their moral care boundaries to include animals. He says that animals shouldn't be discriminate against because they are not part of the human species (Yount, 2008).I agree completely with that just because animals don't have the same rationality as human...
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...Ryanesha Curley Animal Rights Do you believe that animals deserve rights? They may not talk or reason, but they do have rights. Animals surely deserve to live their lives free from suffering and exploitation. All animals suffer in the same way and to the same degree that humans do. They can feel anger, loneliness, depression, happiness, and love. Animals should have rights because; they have feelings, should be treated equally, and shouldn’t be used as objects. “If you step on your dogs paw, he yelps because it hurts. Animals experience pain…”-Goodman Animals don’t have voices to express the way they feel during certain situations so humans think that they are okay with the harm they do with them. Perhaps humans believe that since we are on the top of the food chain that we don’t know that we selfishly inflict animals, by our own survival. Animal cruelty goes unnoticed each and every day, because it doesn’t occur to us that they are living breathing creatures. Further more animals that can’t contain the pain and misery are left to suffer and die. At present, on an average day in the United States, 130,000 cattle, 7,000 calves, 360,000 pigs, and 24 million chickens are killed(Williams 65). An average day! And these figures exclude the hoards of rats, mice, dogs, cats, and primates that are brutally tortured until death in research labs across the country. Surely, no form of genocide undertaken in human history can match these numbers. We believe, at least individually, that...
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...American University of Beirut Truthful Utilitarianism Pamela Dagher English 203 Professor Kathryn Lincoln November 19, 2015 | | Through the years, a massive majority of animals were forced to live and perish in circumstances most of us would believe are morally unacceptable. During 2001, almost 17 billion animals in Western countries were raised and slaughtered to feed populations. An additional 100 million animals were killed in laboratories for research purposes, while another 30 million were killed for their fur. Sadly, this insane number of killed animals has been justified by several theories and beliefs that animals, for being nonhuman, are not worthy of any important moral consideration (Lin). Numerous reasonable ethical theories approve that this belief is mistaken, and Utilitarianism is the most important one of them. Animal abuse is the cause of a larger problematic which is the misinterpretation of Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is an ethical theory and a lifestyle that says: “Act in such a way as to maximize the expected satisfaction of interests in the world, equally considered” (Mill). This rule is the application of the logical following ideology,“The Principle of Equal Consideration of Interests.” This ideology assumes that we should keep in mind which actions we would choose if we...
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...Animal Rights The health care professional whom would be the best person to determine what is to be “humane care” would probably be a veterinarian. A veterinarian is the most qualified to give care of an animal and would be best suited to determine humane care. I think a laboratory technician who does research on the animal has to be responsible in researching and such but should follow a strict set of guidelines. I do not support the use of animals for research. I do not think that is it humane to keep an animal locked up for testing and such. If you want to research the animal why not let it be free and research it in its natural habitat. I understand the testing for diseases and things of that sort to help maintain the animals health but I don’t approve of it. I am probably more biased towards this because I hate seeing any animal suffer, even a stray dog for that matter. I have a dog now and would never allow someone to test him unless it was a veterinarian. When viewing the NIH guidelines for animal research, I came across these 3 basic guidelines: Reduction: Reduction in the numbers of animals used to obtain information of a certain amount and precision. Refinement: Decrease in the incidence or severity of pain and distress in those animals that are used. Replacement: Use of other materials, such as cell lines or eggs, or substitution of a lower species, which might be less sensitive to pain and distress, for a higher species. I do believe that these guidelines are...
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...On the issue of animal rights, Carl Cohen takes on the perspective of a reformist. This means that he accepts animal experimentation and meat eating, but believes that these institutions need to be improved upon. Cohen approaches the issue of animal rights using the ideas of obligations and rights, with not only the reformist perspective, but with the speciesist perspective. The conclusion he draws is that animals do not necessarily have rights just because humans have moral obligations to animals. Cohen comes to this conclusion through an analytical series of rights and obligations. His main argument is the following: (1) Humans do have obligations to animals, (this sets him apart from abolitionists) (2) not every obligation arises from a right, (3) so animals do not necessarily have rights just because humans have obligations to them. Since Cohen first mentions obligations, we will look at his analytical approach towards obligations. He admits that rights do in fact entail obligations, but states that obligations do not entail rights. “Obligations arise from commitments freely made,” (Cohen 350) is the simplest way he words it. He then uses the example of how a host will have the obligation to be courteous and cordial to their guests, but the guest absolutely does not hold the right to demand the host courteousness or cordiality. To then wrap up Cohen’s summary of his ideals of obligations, he states that it is false to believe that every obligation trickles down...
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...into Animal Rights In May of 2007, two humpback whales, a mother and her calf, found themselves stranded in a fresh water river off the coast of California. They were in the process of migrating from Alaska to Mexico, when they made a wrong turn under the Golden Gate Bridge, and into the San Francisco Bay. They landed over 90 miles away from the Pacific Ocean that they needed to return to for survival. Their skin began showing signs of distress and injury, and the public decided it was time to get involved. They began sending in all their ideas on how the whales could be coaxed back through the river, into the bay, and off to the ocean. They sent e-mails, made phone calls and visits to government agencies, and came up with countless original ideas that they wanted to share with officials. The longer time went on, the more worried people were becoming about these whales. Fortunately, the Coast Guard was eventually successful in coaxing the whales back through the channel and out to the Pacific after many failed attempts. Why do people care so much about other living creatures? Another question I must bring up is should we be spending so much time and effort on them when there are many other human needs of people that need to be met around the world? I will be connecting many ethical philosophies to this idea of Animal Rights throughout this discussion, and hopefully you will be able to formulate your own moral stance to the answers of those questions. Animal Rights...
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...argument that animals should be given equal consideration to humans, however not everyone agreed to the same extent. One of the views expressed was that while humans care for other animals, for humans as a society to advance, they must exploit other species along the lines of “hunt or be hunted” and “survival of the fittest.” In this way we are speciests. Other group members agreed more strongly with Singer, saying that growing up in a time where animal rights activists began their movement, it isn’t unusual for to believe that animals deserve better rights. If you agree with me, under Kolberg’s stages of moral development, many of us developed this in the first conventional level. Society was changing and becoming more conscious about animals rights and I followed thinking it was the right thing to do because so many people were involved saying it was the right thing to do. Singer verifies this thinking through his many examples like questioning what’s the difference between a mentally disabled person and a dog are concrete supportive arguments to the moral thinking that I have. In Singer’s essay, he uses the word sentience as reasoning to why animals are entitled to equal rights. By using sentience he is referring to all those who may feel suffering and enjoyment. Singer says that being able to experience pain and suffering means that one has an interest that must be taken into consideration for fairness in moral rights. He uses a...
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...Animal Rights Baxter Pittman DeVry University Animal Rights Animals had played an important role in human society. Back in ancient time, people had hunted animals for food, their skins and bones were used for clothing, shelter and tools. Then today, people such as farmers, pet owners, animal breeders, zoo keepers, and research scientists have used animals in a different way. This relates to the common good because humans shouldn’t use animals for their own personal or selfish interests. This also relates to individual rights because animals deserve to be treated with respect, like humans beings do. To make this happen we must allow farm animals to have their own rights where they are free from danger and cruelty from human beings. We need to be fair and set laws like the ASPCA works to rescue animals from abuse, humane laws and share resources with shelters nationwide that would help animals rather than hurt them. Animal rights is an issue dealing with the moral rights of animals due to animal testing, the use of animals for sports and entertainment, animals as food and products, and animal abuse. Animal experimentation is used to improve human health by using animals in biomedical and veterinary research. I believe that the reasons why people are experimenting on animals are to find out more about the animals themselves, and to test substances and procedures to see if they are harmful. Animals were merely a part of our food chain at the start of time, and then we needed...
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...Animal Rights Priscilla Peterman University of Phoenix Com/156 Instructor James Christianson This research paper is going to discuss a major concern with the issue of animal rights and how people view this critical issue. Animals deserve rights, and these rights should annihilate the many problems with animal abuse, abandonment, and animal experimentation. Animals deserve the same rights as humans. Animals, subsequently dating back to the days of Ancient Greece, have always held a place in the hearts of humans. And for so long as this animal human relation existed, so did the realism of taking care of the animals, whether it be in the form of love, care and equal rights. The idea that we are all born with essential rights, such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, is important to our society, mainly to the ideas stated in the United States Constitution. Though, humanities inconsiderately demean this principle by denying that animals share these rights. Animals are just as titled to the rights of living, avoiding pain, and pursuing happiness as humans are. Yet still we exploit and abuse them cruelly, most often without a second thought. The use of animals in biomedical research, segmentation, testing and education, deprives animals of their natural rights and is a great injustice. We must believe that this is completely intolerable, and we should find more humane as well as...
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...Animal Rights in Medical Research As the declaration of human right states that all human beings are free and equal in dignity and rights. The issue of whether or not to grant animal rights such as those that humans have is greatly disputed over years, but without success. Animal right is an extremely complicated issue that involves the question of animal intellect, animal rights groups, and the pros and cons of granting animals their rights. I have worked with and observed chimpanzees in early 2000 in a research lab in Alamogordo, NM as an animal caretaker and seen how these primates communicate with each other. I feel this subject is very important and I will be sharing my reflections, thoughts and experiences in this paper. Researchers all over the world, who have studied primates argue that these animals hold the capacity to communicate. The researchers go on to describe that a communication barrier is all that separates humans from animals. Chimpanzees are more superior on using their hand and feet than humans. I observed them using their hand to peel bananas, use hands and feet to swing, open doors and even had a water faucet sticking out of the wall with a button that they pressed to drink water. I also got a chance to see a chimp using sign language. This particular chimp in his early life was on TV and commercials, can walk upright, and was harmless. His owner decided to part ways due to the chimp’s age and turned him over to the research facility. They can...
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...Animal Rights Since the beginning of living, the interaction between man and animals have been something unavoidable. The encounter in the wild, the hunter and the hunted, and the survival of the strongest are the rules of the jungle an it is because of this relation that we have with the animals that people have been study them. The philosopher Pythagoras was one of the first person who talked about animal, describing their soul were in the same category as the humans begins. Also, in the Bible is told that the humans are in a superior level when they justified that a bled animal can be eaten. Rene Descartes wrote in his meditations that animals do not have soul; therefore, they are not able to feel and their treatment can not be consider as a moral issue. Knowing that there is a lot of controversy about the animal rights, is inevitable to ask what are the advantages and disadvantages about giving them rights? The first and maybe the most important factor that we need to discuss firstly is the ability that both, humans and animals, have to think and feel. On one hand, human beings are complex evolved creatures who are accorded rights on the basis that they are able to think and to feel pain; additionally, any other animals are also able to think (to some extent) and are certainly able to feel pain. Therefore non-human animals should also be accorded rights, like a free and healthy life. However, on the other hand, human beings are infinitely more complex than any other...
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...Animal Rights This argument about animal needing rights has been going on since the twentieth century. Until this day animals still do not receive he rights they deserve. Not all animals deserve to be locked up in a cage at a zoo or in a scientist’s laboratory. How we treat animals has shown an uncivilized community. Prejudice has a way of denying that animal rights have no expectations to the fact that they should be given the rights as we have for ourselves. Doesn’t matter what the case may be, prejudice is morally unacceptable, because think about it, you will eat a pig or cow but it’s in human to eat a dog. [pic] Eating animals isn’t bad but it’s on the wrong side. The way factories torture the cows, pigs, and chickens is the wrong way that we should be eating them. This book that I read Eat Like You Care: An Examination of the Morality of Eating Animals By Gary L. Francione and Anna Charlton, explains that they agree that “unnecessary” suffering and death on animals are ridiculous. The book explains that there will be no different on how we make our meat. Another book by Gary L. Francione, Introduction to Animal Rights: Your Child or the Dog? This book explains that an animal should have rights to live without suffering, just how humans live without suffering. In the Los Angeles Times, there was an article Animal rights, writ too large? This article explains that you can be against animal abuse and animals having rights. But don’t be an hypocrite...
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...The Rights of Animals For as long as humanity has been around so has its pursuit of dominion over other kinds of animals remained. Humans have used the animal as resources in many ways. Early humans have been documented to have domesticated dogs to aid in hunting—an implicit contract with us wherein they will obey our demands in exchange for food and shelter as hunting provided fur for clothing and food for both parties. How do we justify, from this simple early collaboration to the massive meat industry our modern society has been arguably dependent on, to the animal exploitation industry in zoos and amusement parks to the animal research and testing labs, the damages and benefits from our monopoly of animal governance? In Steven M. Wise's article “Why Animals Deserve Legal Rights”, he seeks to find the reasoning behind how we distinguish ourselves and our own rights from those animals who are intrinsically unable or unwilling to operate under humanity's rules. The question asked is whether animals "need legal protection", not whether "animals have rights". Those are two different questions, and an affirmative answer to the first does not imply an affirmative answer to the second. I find Wise's proposal vague and lacking in solution, yet the basis of under in which he arrived I find fairly sound. The problem with his conclusion is that most animals are simply unable to interact with a human-based legal system with regularity so rather than the issue be that of the legality...
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...Animals Deserve Rights Not Abuse Animals have been seen as a lower species for decades. They have little to no rights and are sometimes treated inhumanely. No rights are given to them, so when they are abused there is little to no consequences. Hit an animal, make them live in dirty environments, forgot to feed them, leave them in the hot temperatures with no water, or torture them and the consequences are minor compared to the cruelty forced on that animal. Animals should have certain rights so that abusers can have harsher consequences which in turn could help with future crimes, but doesn’t mean that they can’t be raised to feed our society or be used for other services. For centuries animals have been used by society to perform different duties. They are food for our families, they help the disabled, used for transportation, and other jobs. Yet if asked some still believe that they are just animals and were put on this earth to service people, not be equals nor have rights. For years animal activists have been trying to get society to see animals more clearly for what they are, living breathing beings. Some people believe that animal rights activists care more about animals than they do about other people, which isn’t entirely true. Some of the more extreme activists do but most activists have expanded their circle of compassion so that it includes both humans and non-humans. Most just believe that animals deserve to live humanely and with dignity, to be...
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