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"Animal Rights"

It may seem quite controversial to argue against animal rights but I have a raging feminist girl in my college class who argues about absolutely everything and she has pushed me to the psychological limit and provoked a bit of deep thinking on my part.

Since the dinosaurs perished and mankind became the dominant species on Earth, we have remained unchallenged. Well over 2000 years have gone by and we haven’t had a challenge to our power, a single species (namely us) has pretty much unlimited power. People talk about how intelligent dolphins and dogs are and how they are almost as clever as humans and even show human traits so should be treated equally. A few hundred years ago before the slave trade was abolished, black people were treated worse than animals despite the fact that they were in fact human.

Before the world decides to give animals all these special rights I think we need to sort out human rights before. Racial hatred is at an all time high and before animals start getting treated the same as humans, other humans need to start respecting each other and treat each other as equals.

If animals are smart enough to understand they aren’t treated equally then why don’t they go ahead and do something about it? Why, because they aren’t that smart. I am against animal cruelty for sure, I love animals and hate so see battery farming, fox hunting and animal testing going ahead but we need to develop a perspective. Our fellow man is more important than any animals. No matter how much you love your little pet hamster, a human life is more valuable.

I’m interested to listen to your views on the matter, so go on, discuss.

Déb wrote:

> If only we treated animals with respect, we might start treating our
> fellow humans in a decent fashion too.

You not think we need to treat humans right and then concentrate on animals?

Exactly, also why can't we tackle more than one issue at a time. If we tackled only human rights issues, we'd be waiting a long time before we got to animal rights, maybe never. There are too many problems in the world to sort them one at a time. We should address them all.

Ditto what Kitkat has said in his/her last post. I did not assume that you were arguing in favour of animal abuse, I just think that a blasé attitude towards animal rights is a preventitive measure to any serious action against the perpetrators of horrific crimes against animals.

I am not arguing for animal rights as in 'the right to vote' or 'the right to an education', but rather 'the right to live.' I believe that if we choose to keep animals in captivity, we should take responsibility for their care and wellbeing.

A two year old human doesn't have the same intellect as a 30 year old human, but still has the same rights. Just because we are more intelligent than animals, doesn't mean that we should to adopt a speciesist point of view concerning their rights. I suggest the opposite should occur, we should be guardians of 'lower order' species.

The human race is one of very few truly cruel species on this planet. We even torture our fellow humans. Most other animals kill their prey with swiftness and do not prolong their suffering (there are obvious exceptions, eg the domestic cat). Members of the human race keep our prey in tiny cages, beat them and starve them, and for what reason? If only we treated animals with respect, we might start treating our fellow humans in a decent fashion too.

Think this has been misinterpreted. "authority" as you put it has quite a different meaning. I don't think anyone with any common sense proposes that hamsters should be politically involved in society. Whenever you hear people talking of "animal rights" I think you'll find they are referring to the treatment of animals with dignity and responsibility. The fact that they aren't clever enough to get up and do something about it as you put it, is precisely the reason they need to be protected. They should have rights to stop them from being tortured, starved, used as a football etc because they can do absolutely nothing about it. We however can, we can stand up to each other and make a point, just like we are now, they can't can they? Because we are superior we have a responsibility over the environment, animals etc. If we can't get on in unity in this world its our own faults.....

Deb, what you said was sort of arguing as if I was saying "yeah lets burn all the furry little critters and kick old people in the faces". Do you sincerely beleive animals should have the same authority as humans? Everyone has the right not to be endangered and to feel secure but animals don't have the intellect humans do and shouldnt have the same rights. If some animal rights activists had their way, hamsters would be running for prime minister in the name of equality.

Déb wrote:
> I work every other day as a volunteer at an animal sanctuary. The
> owner of this sanctuary is a truly inspiring person who has rescued
> hundreds of animals from situations where they were neglected or
> abused, including sheep, goats, turkeys, chickens, dogs, ducks and
> rabbits.
>
> I am a real advocate of animal rights, I believe that we should be
> ashamed at the way the human race as a whole treats animals. We ARE
> superior to animals with our ability for introspection, and I believe
> that this is the reason why we should endevour to treat other species
> with respect. I believe that anyone who harms an animal is capable of
> harming another human being, as it shows a lack of compassion.
>
> We have many animals at the sanctuary who have been beaten to an inch
> of their lives. We have a dog who was thrown in a river with it's
> littermates as a puppy. The owner of the sanctuary was passing by at
> the time, and jumped into the river, but could only save one. What
> right do we have to breed animals and kill them in such abomnable
> ways?
>
> Who says that humans are more important than other animals? Us humans
> are the stewards of this planet, with the ability to destroy this
> planet.The position at the top of the animal hierarchy has only been
> occupied by humans for a very, very short time in relation to the
> time this earth has existed. We should treat out planet with the
> reverence it deserves as it provides us with all we need for life.


Thats exactly what I was going to say! I've worked with animals a lot too so like Deb i've seen some pretty awful things that disgust me. I agree human rights need to be addressed but animal rights cannot be over looked. Animals are at our mercy, they cannot do anything to fight back.

While I believe that some animal testing is, “bad M’kay”, I also believe that it is mostly necessary.

I will have to deal with situations involving protesters soon enough. There is a primate testing centre being built nearby at the moment. I will have to act with impartiality, even if I agree with some of what is being said.

Everyone has double standards though, including animal rights protesters.

I work every other day as a volunteer at an animal sanctuary. The owner of this sanctuary is a truly inspiring person who has rescued hundreds of animals from situations where they were neglected or abused, including sheep, goats, turkeys, chickens, dogs, ducks and rabbits.

I am a real advocate of animal rights, I believe that we should be ashamed at the way the human race as a whole treats animals. We ARE superior to animals with our ability for introspection, and I believe that this is the reason why we should endevour to treat other species with respect. I believe that anyone who harms an animal is capable of harming another human being, as it shows a lack of compassion.

We have many animals at the sanctuary who have been beaten to an inch of their lives. We have a dog who was thrown in a river with it's littermates as a puppy. The owner of the sanctuary was passing by at the time, and jumped into the river, but could only save one. What right do we have to breed animals and kill them in such abomnable ways?

Who says that humans are more important than other animals? Us humans are the stewards of this planet, with the ability to destroy this planet.The position at the top of the animal hierarchy has only been occupied by humans for a very, very short time in relation to the time this earth has existed. We should treat out planet with the reverence it deserves as it provides us with all we need for life.

Bouncer wrote:
> Timmargh wrote:
> Yes: I would pick my mother. But, if it was the hamster making the
> choice?
>
> Does a hamster have the mental capability to make a decision like
> that?

Like Dr Duck said, it's not a question of whether or not the hamster has the *ability* to decide, but if it did it would undoubtedly choose the hamster.

Dr Duck wrote:
> So in a way you're saying it's natural, but we should have progressed
> away from it, as we become more civilised (allegedly :^) ).
> (To Timmargh)

Absolutely. We have sufficient alternatives to allow us to survive without killing other creatures. I know our ancestors hunted to survive but in this day and age we hardly need to otherwise every vegetarian would starve to death.