Do Animals Have Rights?
by Animal rights is a hot-button issue where those who do not own animals want to impose their rules and opinions on those who keep animals.
There are those who insist that animals have rights to existence and wholeness of body, simply because they have a nervous system that allows them to feel pain. There are further those who believe that humans (who are animals) have to extend legal protection and defend those animals from members of their own species, although they do not extend that protection of rights to all of their own. After all, humans still manage to hurt and kill each other in spite of legalities and rights.
In order to make sense of this hot button issue, the term “rights” must be closer defined. Just what is meant by that term? Rights, as in animal rights, mostly are the right to exist, to have comfortable living conditions, and to be free from abuse, violence, and pain. Why should it be so difficult to afford animals these few basic rights to exist and stay alive?
For one, because animals have no understanding of these rules nor do they have the expectation thereof. Animals understand that in order to survive they must fight to stay alive. It is instinct and dictates their behavior. Animals certainly commit what would be considered atrocities, when survival is questionable; they eat their young, they fight for an uneven share of resources, when those are limited, all in order to stay alive. Before we consider examples of altruism and the like, let us remember that humans are still included in this definition of animals. So what about rights?
Humans have the ability of empathy (which develops later in their life) and most, if not all, rights can be reduced to the Golden Rule:
“Do not take what does not belong to you.”
The Golden Rule extends to a promise:
“Do not take mine, and I will not take yours.”
Thus ownership and the recognition that other members of the species have ownership over things are the basic premise of all rules. First and foremost, there is ownership of life. The only way early man could lie down to sleep in the company of others was with this basic premise in place. Humans are not particularly good survivors on their own, but as a society their survival has become so successful as to be one of the predominant species on this planet.
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Post CommentBrenda Nelson
On January 31, 2011 at 12:39 pm
many people do not understand what Animal Rights means. Basically it means animals have the right not to be owned as pets.. in extreme situations it means the cat did wrong for killing a mouse because it “violated” the mouses “rights”.
I personally support Animal Welfare.
Calare
On January 31, 2011 at 1:15 pm
B Nelson, what a good point.
I think the terminology is purposefully obscure because few pet owners would support the Animal Rights movement if they knew that it meant “give up your pet”. Yet there are many pet owners who support the organizations that want to “liberate” our pets.
So I tried to address a wide definition of animal rights in the article.
I do not think that anyone who loves animals objects to laws that mandate for proper care, as long as they do not get to be absurdly intrusive. (I know of one state where 5% matting of a dog is allowed, but 6% is cause for removal of the dog). Owning shaggy dogs, one of which is a pup, believe me, there are felts right after I put the brush down. It is neither neglect nor cruelty or abuse. But I could lose my dogs… in the wrong state. That is where animal welfare is overstepping its bounds. But that’s a different discussion yet.