Argument for Animal Rights
Argument for Animal Rights
Ever since the society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in England in 1824 was formed, there have been long running debates on the topic of animal rights. The first societies were formed to protect and maintain humane treatment of work animals, such as horses, cattle, and house hold pets. Towards the end of the nineteenth century more organizations were formed, this time to protest the use of animals in scientific experimentation. Today groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have continued these traditional fights as well as adding new agendas.
"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; The Declaration of Independence holds these rights to be self evident and unalienable. In the eighteenth century when these words were written they were called natural rights, today we call them human rights" (McShea, 34). The issue of whether or not to grant animals rights such as those humans retain, is a greatly disputed issue. Animal right is an extremely intricate issue that involves the question of animal farming, animal experimentation, and animal activists.
There is no happy little farmer milking his cow on a nice farm anymore; this is the food industry; it is dirty; it is unsafe, and it is a massacre of innocent animals. Cows, chickens, pigs, and other animals processed into food are not kept on a farm; they are crowded into pens and cages that are too small to even allow the animal to turn around (Krizmanic, 36). So if the animals are not growing up on farms, where are they? Animals are raised at places called "factory farms" (Krizmanic, 36), which is also known as intensive animal agriculture (Kamrin NA). A factory farm is just that, a factory. Food is brought to the confined animal on conveyer belts, and eggs and other products are taken away on conveyer belts (Krizmanic, 36).
"Crowding, rough handling, mutilation, force feeding, genetic manipulation, and loss of offspring are the normal and standard operating procedures" (Karmin, NA). 90% of all slaughtered animals are raised in confinement (Krizmanic, 37). At these "farms", nine million chickens, turkeys, pig calves, and cows are slaughtered every day (Robins, NA), so that most of the United States' meat, milk, and eggs come from intensive confinement factory farms (Sequoia, 45). These animals are not just raised on animal feed alone. Animals are immobilized by machines and transported on assembly...