Do Animals Have Rights?
@touchofjupiter (157)
United States
July 11, 2007 8:35am CST
Many religious and otherwise good people feel that animals were made for man's consumption and companionship. Some say that people have a responsibility to treat animals kindly, but that animals do not have rights because they are sub-human.
What's YOUR take on the subject? ARE animals simply here for our use, or DO they have rights, and WHY?
1 person likes this
4 responses
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
17 Jul 07
I do think animals should be treated humanely. I mean they are living, thinking, creatures and deserve some rights. I'm not an environmentalist, vegetarian, or some PETA freak who thinks animals are more important than humans. I just like animals and don't think they should be mistreated. I am also against humane societies killing animals just because they aren't adopted. I don't get their logic, nor do I see anything humane about killing a healthy animal that could live a long life.
1 person likes this
@touchofjupiter (157)
• United States
20 Jul 07
I don't see PETA people as being freaks, actually. I see people who abuse animals as being freaks and that they need to be treated with the harshness they inflict on the innocent.
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
20 Jul 07
Not everyone who associates with PETA is a freak, but the organization itself is very extremist. Petco no longer carries any birds bigger than a cockatiel because it was the only way to get PETA to stop protesting outside their doors. Ringling Brothers Circus has been attacked by PETA multiple times due to unfounded claims that they mistreat their elephants. Fortunately, that stopped after Ringling Brothers not only showed that their retired elephants live on a nice reservation, but they also showed that PETA euthanizes the majority of the elephants that they take away from other circuses.
Some of them have even been so ridiculous as to compare animal farms to the holocaust. If that isn't freakish and extreme, I don't know what is.
@touchofjupiter (157)
• United States
22 Jul 07
Sometimes, it takes an iron fist to fix the mental problems that humans have -- for hurting each other and the innocent creatures around them. Humans have destroyed their environment, killed off wild creatures so that HUNDREDS of wild creatures are put on the endangered list EACH AND EVERY YEAR -- many never make it off that list. If it were not for PETA and their harsh ways of getting things accomplished, the animals they saved would be suffering in silence!
@yaoyao918 (262)
• China
11 Jul 07
Of course! We should do our best to protect them.
1 person likes this
@touchofjupiter (157)
• United States
11 Jul 07
Yaoyao918 -- Thank you for your response. I TOTALLY agree with you. But, I've had my head bitten off by some religious people saying that because animals "have no souls" that they are here only for our own use and consumption.
I think this is absurd. What do you think? Do animals have actually have rights? And, if so, what rights and how to we enforce those rights?
I'm looking forward to your reply. Thanks!
1 person likes this
@danishcanadian (28953)
• Canada
19 Jul 07
Animals are living things the same as humans are. Humans are a type of animal. Just because we are high on the food chain doesn't mean we have the right to abuse animals. Animals have the right to food, water, shelter, love, just the way humans do.
@maximax8 (31053)
• United Kingdom
22 Jul 07
George Orwell wrote that all animals are equal but some are more equal than others. I think humans are intelligent and that they should not abuse this. They should treat animals with kindness because they have feelings and they are unable to defend themselves. Some animals make good companions like pet dogs and cats. Other animals should stay wild like lions, zebras and hippos. I don't think it is right to kill animals for food.
