Animal Rights. There are many circumstances in which the subject of animal rights comes up; is it acceptable to farm animals? Should we eat them? Should we hunt and fish them? Is it permissible to use their hide as clothing?

Authors Avatar

Animal rights, also referred to as animal liberation, are the belief that the most basic welfare of non-human animals should be given the importance that the welfare of humans is given.  There are many circumstances in which the subject of ‘animal rights’ comes up; is it acceptable to farm animals? Should we eat them? Should we hunt and fish them? Is it permissible to use their hide as clothing? Is it acceptable to use animals as entertainment in the forms of horse racing, zoos, circuses etc.?  The most common question that crops up time and time again, however, is should we be permitted to use animals to test medicines and cosmetics on? Charles Magel once said ‘Ask the experimenters why they experiment on animals, and the answer is:  "Because the animals are like us."  Ask the experimenters why it is morally okay to experiment on animals, and the answer is:  "Because the animals are not like us."  Animal experimentation rests on a logical contradiction.’

Humans have evolved in a very convoluted manner, and we are accorded rights on the basis that we are able to think, communicate, and feel pain. However, other animals are also able to think – to a certain extent – and they can most definitely feel pain, and therefore they too deserve the rights we benefit from – i.e. to a life that is free and without fear or threat from others constantly, and one that is healthy.  Also, if we are to say that the reason humans are accorded  rights and non-human animals aren’t is because humans have the ability to think, speak and communicate, then we are excluding babies and the mentally handicapped from receiving these basic rights.  

Join now!

A majority of non-human animals are reared for the sole purpose of being slaughtered and consumed by humans. These animals are generally confined in factory farms and face ill treatment because of these space constraints and also as there is a lack of health care facilities for them. Farmers often use chemicals and antibiotics to induce maturity amongst farmed animals which can hence be taken to slaughter houses. They also use these chemicals and antibiotics to produce meatier flesh which is unnatural and causes great discomfort to the animals. The animals are subject to this only because they are not ...

This is a preview of the whole essay