THIS IS AN ESSAY I WROTE RECECTLY

All mammals deserve rights and compassion

I believe very strongly that the time has come for people to set clear guidelines; legal limits to humans when it comes to animal rights.  Animals are vulnerable, mammals just like us, and therefore should be treated with compassion by us.  Animals are slaughtered for our food, they are used in scientific research, and kept as pets, in zoos, farms and circuses.  So there needs to be laws that protect all animals where ever they are.  And for those who break these animal rights laws, they need to be held responsible. 

In the United States today domestically, most of the time when someone calls to report animal abuse and someone shows up to do something about it, the animal being abused has been abused many times before by these same people.  Not only does the animal have these injuries and pain from this recent abuse, but also other physical problems from previous abuse.  Also, when the police arrive, normally all they do is take a report and the owners are given a warning.  The animal is left there to be abused even more, and the perpetrators are not punished in any way.

Generally there are three different views that people have when it comes to animal welfare, the first one asserts that animals do not have a conscious and don’t experience pain or loss, and so are unable to experience good or bad welfare, therefore it is ok to slaughter them for our food, abuse them, use them for experiments, and whatever for the survival of humans. The second is that animals should not be regarded as property and any use of animals by humans is unacceptable, and the third is somewhere in between.

On farms here and around the world human activities affect the welfare and survival of domestic animals as well as species in the wild, but at least here in the United States there are efforts required by law to calm this wave of abuse of animals such as the IACUC.  The IACUC reviews research guidelines and does evaluations of animal care in research facilities to enhance the well-being of the animals in them before research can take place.  This also includes research on farm animals.  Researchers try to minimize the distress in animals when possible, and procedures that cause more than slight pain are supposed to be performed with sedation or anesthesia, but sometimes the animal’s pain cannot be relieved because this would interfere with the study.  Also in the U.S. we have laws to protect animals from being abused, but as you and I both know, there is a lot of horrific abuses that still takes place here, as you might recall just not too long ago the professional football player Michael Vick was arrested along with three of his associates on federal and state charges for fighting over fifty pit bull dogs, many of whom were maimed or crippled for life.  They were also damaged emotionally and spiritually.  You can see countless pictures on the internet of these dogs that he and his buddies fought, and how mangled they are.  He for his punishment basically got scolded, and a slap on his hand.  He is still playing professional football, and is still a role model to America’s children.

In China animals of all kinds (mostly dogs and cats) are skinned alive for their fur.  They are piled high in tiny cages by the dozens with hardly room to move, and while one of the dogs or other animals is being skinned alive, the others stacked in the cramped cages watch and know that they are next.  The animals are hung by their legs or tails and, when they cut the skin and their fur is peeled from the animals, they kick and jerk around from the pain.  These animals are still alive five to ten minutes after being skinned.  They are alive while being skinned and after being tossed onto the piles of newly skinned animals, to watch while the people skin more animals alive.  Some of the cats and dogs in the cages still have their collars on, since they were someone’s pets and stolen out of someone’s yard.  This is so awful I would put a stop to it right now, if I had the power to, and make an example of anybody involved!  In addition to this, China is the world’s largest fur exporter, and they deliberately mislabel their fur as fur from other species, to sell to unsuspecting customers in stores around the world, including the United States.

Personally I believe that animals do feel physical and emotional pain, and suffer loss just like we do.  I personally have seen many examples of an animal feeling loss, like the dog who stayed by his owners grave for years after their owners death, and there are many other examples of this all you have to do is pay attention to see that animals of all kinds feel loss.  Also I believe that animals have souls, as the Bible says that they do, JOB 12: 10, and I believe that when they die they go to Heaven just like we do, ISAIAH 11: 6-9.