Animal Rights Essay, Research Paper

"It is possible to commit an immoral act against a non-human

animals." In order to commit an immoral act against a non-human animal, one

must define the word "morality". According to the definition it means

conformity to the rules of right conduct,. On the other hand immorality means

wickedness or evil (random house dictionary). So in reflection a wicked or an

evil act against an animal is an immoral act also. I believe that it is possible

to commit an immoral act against an animal because they are creatures just like

us. They feel pain and emotions just like us humans. When someone violates our

rights, we get hurt which often results in some kind of action. But animals are

helpless, they can’t take any action because they are less intelligent then

humans. However I do believe that humans are the supreme beings on this planet

and that we are on the highest evolutionary scale, but still that does not give

us the right to commit wrong acts to the animals. Some of the wrong or immoral

acts that I strongly oppose to are animal experimentation, entertainment

involving animals, hunting and finally habitat destruction. Animal

experimentation is unethical due to the suffering and death on animals in the

laboratory and that they have a right to be free from such exploitation.

Vivisection is the practice of experimenting on animals which started due to the

religious prohibitions on human dissection. When religious leaders finally

lifted these prohibitions, it was too late, vivisection was already entrenched

in medical and educational institutions (internet). The author of the article on

"animal experimentation is unethical" also opposes vivisection because

he believes that is "morally wrong, cruel & fruitless." He also

believes that they are characterized by scientific limitations, the most

important of all the difficulty of transferring results to human beings with any

degree of reliability (Bender 55). There are many reasons to oppose vivisection

for example the enormous physiological variations among rats, rabbits, dogs,

pigs, and human beings. An experiment in 1989 was performed to determine the

carcinogenicity of fluoride proved this fact (internet). Approximately "520

rats and 520 mice were given daily doses of the mineral for 2 years." Not

one mouse was adversely affected by the fluoride, but the rats experienced

health problems . "As test data cannot be accurately transferred from a

mouse to a rat, it cannot be argued that data transferred from either species to

a human (internet). Some other reasons to oppose vivisection is the deliberate

infliction of burns on animals, and research in psychology. In a study, guinea

pigs were for 3 seconds in 100 degrees Celsius water (Bender 56). How would you

feel if somebody immersed you for 1 second in hot boiling water? Would you feel

any pain? In psychology research, countless animals have been "surgically

dismembered, drugged, starved, fatigued, frozen, electrically shocked, infected,

cross-bred, maddened, and killed in the belief that their behavior would shed

light on human behavior (Bender 57). These things mentioned are morally wrong

because they are evil in nature. As evil in nature as animal experimentation

sounds, so is the entertainment business involving animals. I believe that

animal circus is perhaps the most cruelest entertainment of all because the way

animals are treated. I don’t understand what kind of charm or fun people get out

of watching animals do humanly acts. Why do we want animals to be more like us

when they are perfectly fine being themselves? When we watch the circus, we only

see what goes on in front of us, but what goes behind the scenes is a completely

different story. Some animals are beaten to perform better, they are chained to

iron poles so they won’t run away. These animals are wild, and they need their

space, and if they don’t get their space, these animals react in a negative way.

We often see on T.V. elephants running on the streets if kept under confinement

because animals like elephants do have emotional feelings. Elephants also mourn

for the dead and are observed to be around the dead for several days which

proves that elephants have emotion. Other entertainment involving animals are

also immoral such as bull fighting, hound racing and cock fights because it is

unnecessary and causes much blood-shed to the animals (Disilvestro, 90) Another

example of immoral behavior towards the animals which also causes blood-shed is

hunting for pleasure and conservation. It is cruel and inhumane to kill animals

for fun because they have pain, they have families. Many elephants are hunted

down just so the poachers can make money with their beautiful ivory tusks. Some

hunters even try to take their tusks while they are alive (Dicilvestro 96). Just

try for one-day to put yourself in the animals position. See how it would feel

if a hunter tried to take your nose or fingers or hair etc., just for the sake

of money. Hunting is one of the major causes for extinction in animals. Another

example of extinction is the destruction of animal habitat. Imagine if one day a

bull-dozer pulled up right in front of your beautiful serene-looking house, and

in a blink of an eye, destroyed your house completely without any warning. How

would you feel? What kind of emotions would you be experiencing at that

particular time? What if your whole community (city) was destroyed in this

manner without any explanation or warning? Ok so it was an order for the

government to build a new highway, and your house just happened to be in the

way. The government probably will say "hey, it is our right to do so, it is

for our economical development of the society." Well just because it is

their right and for the benefit of economical development, dues not mean that it

is right! Just because the government has more power than you, doesn’t mean it

is fair to destroy what you call home. This act would be considered highly

immoral due to the fact that it was wrong. Now imagine yourself in an animals

shoes, whose homes are destroyed everyday by the minute. Hundreds and hundreds

of acres are destroyed by the minute, leaving the animals homeless. We say that

animals don’t have emotions or don’t feel pain, but that is to the contrary.

Just because they are of lower intelligence then us, that does not give us the

right to destroy their homes. In conclusion, we have to become more aware of the

significance wild-life has on us we have to educate ourselves about why animals

have to be treated kindly. The issue of animal rights is most definitely a moral

issue because morality deals with what is right or wrong. Being cruel and evil

to animals is simply immoral.