Animal rights #2

Animal Rights
Introduction
Animals are an important part of the surrounding. They are significant for several aspects of the ecosystem and are part of the existence and sustenance of the environment and human life. It is mandatory for human beings to safeguard the rights of the animals in the surrounding the same way human beings would want their lives to be protected. Besides, animal liberation is frequently used in the place of animal rights, implying that the most fundamental needs and interests of non-human animals need to be addressed in a similar manner as the corresponding desires of human beings (Cherry 14). It is important to treat animals properly and respect them the same way human beings treat each other well. The topic of animal rights is widely covered in applied science or philosophy courses in several universities in the United States and Canada, for example. Societies should support and encourage animal rights to ensure that their lives are not lessened. Human beings should protect the domestic animals and even the wild animals because the animals also wish to live, and fear death. The paper argues that when human life is at stake only then the animal rights should be volatile not for clothing, cosmetics, and other human pleasure.
Views of Animal Rights
Philosophers have different opinions about the issue of animal rights. The abolitionists’ perception is that animals have moral rights. One of the abolitionists is Gary Francione, who argues for the promotion of ethical veganism.

He holds that animal rights organizations that follow welfare issues like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) increase their chance of making the society feel happy about its exploitation of animals (Cherry 17). The Utilitarian approach argues that the animal ethics and rights need to be morally taken into consideration. It implies that the human beings have the responsibility to protect the animal rights and ensure that their desires and interests are considered. As such, a community that opposes animal rights and their well-being suffers from speciesism (Dawn 11). In other words, the society is sexist and observes racism. Besides, all the major religious denominations that prevail in the world, such as Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, also respect the rights of animals. The religions have been at the forefront in educating the societies about non-human animals and assist human beings in understanding the rights of these animals. Furthermore, stringent laws have been set up in the US and Canada against animal brutality. In Canada, for instance, there is no tolerance towards animal unkindness, which is documented in the Contemporary Canadian Criminal Code (Cherry 24).
Animal Rights Movement
The underlying principle of the modern animal rights movement is that several non-human animals have primary desires that should be recognized, considered, and preserved. According to the supporters of the animal rights, the basic desires make the animals have both legal and moral rights (Dawn 12). The modern animal rights movement is the first social transformation campaign started by philosophers. The moral rights of animals are attributed to the American and Australian philosophers, Tom Regan and Peter Singer, in that order. In his 1975 book, Animal Liberation, Singer claimed that the desires of humans and animals need to be given equal attention (Pellow 25). As a utilitarian, Singer maintains that behaviors are morally right to the degree that they maximize desire or lessen agony or suffering. What is taken into consideration is the question of whether an animal is sentient and can, therefore, undergo pain or feel pleasure. Because animals can suffer and experience pleasure, Singer claims that human beings have a moral responsibility to reduce or prevent inflicting such pain, the same way they have a duty to reduce or deter inflicting the grief of other human beings. Not a utilitarian, Regan holds that at least some animals possess fundamental moral rights since they have similar radical cognitive capabilities that substantiate the acknowledgment of fundamental moral rights to human beings. By virtue of these capacities, these animals have both instrumental and intrinsic value (Cherry 27).
Although philosophers facilitated the modern animal rights movement, other professionals from various disciplines joined them. The philosophers were joined by writers, physicians, academics, scientists, nurses, lawyers, veterinarians, psychologists, and theologians, among other specialists, who operated within their own areas to encourage animal rights. Several professional bodies were formed to train and educate the society concerning the mistreatment of animals. Besides, at the start of the 21st century, litigations in the interests of non-human animals, occasionally with the non-human creatures referred to as the complainants, became widespread (Dawn 15). Following the vital positions that lawyers have in the development of public policy and the upholding of rights, their growing passion for animal rights and animal-protection matters was substantial. The arguments about the non-human animals possessing fundamental moral and legal rights were powerfully supported by progressively refined scientific explorations into the emotional, cognitive, and social abilities of animals and by development in neuroscience, genetics, psychology, linguistics, physiology, ethology, and evolution, most of which have shown that animals and human beings have many common behaviors, abilities, and genetic features (Kymlicka and Donaldson 117).
Mistreatment of Animals and Solutions to the Problems
Animal testing is an example of the ways in which animal rights is endangered. The animal testing, also called animal experimentation, refers to the testing within a living thing (Cherry 33). This procedure is cruel to the animals because it involves a painful experience. These categories of experiments harm animals entirely or destruct them in the cases where they are not helpful for the experiments. The animal experiments are conducted in different fields, including clinical testing, cosmetic testing, and pharmaceutical items (Badyal and Desai 257). Approximately 20 million animals are experimented and killed per year. 15 million of the number is tested for medication and the remaining figure tested for other commodities (Badyal and Desai 257). Medical specialists argue that animal testing is critical for medication as it helps understand the side effects of a particular type of treatments. In the testing process, animals are not offered proper anesthetic drugs to save them from the severe pain they bear and, therefore, many animals die each year due to these testing. Animal testing is not appropriate for the lives of the animals and should be abandoned by all means possible. There should be options that can be used to safeguard the animals from passing through such hurting procedures. The medical field should also conduct the medicine testing in a way that animals suffer the minimum agony and do not die. Besides, proper anesthetics should be provided to the animals, and medical professionals need to handle the animals as living things. Societies should support the banning of the use of animals in testing the usability and effectiveness of drugs and their impacts and recognize animals also breathe and have feelings just like human beings (Kymlicka and Donaldson 120).
Apart from the animal testing, animal cloning is another practice that destroys the lives of animals. The process can make animals develop different diseases as they are treated harshly and in a different environment that is not suitable for their life (Dawn 19). They are also experiencing pain when under these processes. As such, the practitioners should desist from these actions and protect the lives of animals.
Animals are also used in making clothes and dairy products. Traditionally, animals were killed and their skins and hides used in making clothes to be worn by human beings. Today, the development of technology should provide an alternative to the production of clothes and use of animal products to make the items. It is ethical to use the animals the dairy products if they are treated properly and their rights observed (Dawn 20). However, this is not the actual activity taking place with several farmers. They give these animals synthetics feed, making them grow bigger faster and lay eggs and yield milk in significantly larger amount. As a result of the types of feed, the health of animals is deprived and their dairy products like milk, which human beings obtain from them, are also not healthy for human consumption (Cherry 34). This practice is destructive for both animals and human beings. Basing on this, there is a need to protect the animal rights to maintain their health and avoid any complications of their products to the human life.
Also, leather has become a major business across the globe and yielded a lot of revenue for firms. The products come from animals. Human beings kill animals, take their hide and skin, and manufacture items like leather bags, leather jackets, among other leather items. As long as there is still leather products in the market, there is a high chance that an animal has been killed somewhere in the world. People should learn to live without these products to reduce the killing of animals. Indeed, human beings can go without these items like leather coats, shoes, and luggage. These are luxury products and not necessaries of life. Only a few individuals can afford these products, meaning that the poor people can live without them and still obtain the necessary product in life. People should learn to recognize the animal rights as living beings with feelings and can breathe. When such recognition is put into practice, the wildlife can be saved and their lives protected from harm, the same way human beings want their lives and social welfare to be safeguarded. Business people should be ethical and save animals in a way to protect their lives (Wrenn 24).
Moreover, the dominant religions in the society, such as Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity, also appreciate the value of the animals and urge people to treat animals well and ethically. The Christian Holy Bible states that man must take care of the world and control its use. Humanity has been offered the power over all the creatures that were created by God (Wrenn 25). The resources on earth are created for human use and consumption. Some animals awe also included as part of human food, implying that a person can use animals for the purpose he wants. However, the excess killing and brutality of animals are forbidden in the Bible. Accordingly, man is requested to protect the animals and guard them against any diseases and poor living conditions. On the other hand, the Islam is also nearly similar to Christianity when it comes to the respect of animal rights. Muslims are permitted to eat meat, which is obtained from the animals and can also consume all types of the dairy products. In the Islamic communities, animal slaughtering is conducted in such a manner that the animals undergo the minimum agony and the blood moves away. The nature of this slaughtering of animals deters human beings from being infected by bacteria and other diseases. Despite the Islamic religion allowing its followers to take meat from animals, it still calls upon its believers to be compassionate to animals (Cherry 35). If a person keeps a pet like a dog, donkey, cow, cat, or any other animal, he should be concerned about the necessities of the animal. The Islamic religion does not permit any person to be unkind with animals. Likewise, Buddhism religion also advocates for the animal rights. The religion was initiated when Buddha Siddhartha Gautama was born in 5th century BCE (Pellow 27). Buddha Siddhartha Gautama’s teachings are followed by the Buddhists. Buddha Siddhartha Gautama was a priest in the Ancient India. Buddha’s lessons and teachings are duly followed by the Buddhists, who rest their lives on him. Buddha argued that all living things possess equal rights. He adds that the world and resources found in it are not created specifically for human beings consumption. Human beings are not permitted to kill or slaughter animals and use their products, such as for food or clothing. According to Buddhism, all living beings have equal rights, and each of them has the right to live comfortably (Hansson and Jacobsson 268). This also describes the significance of animal rights in the society and the ecosystem in which they live. As a result, Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists should follow their moral teachings by observing the rights of animals to ensure that their lives are protected in the environment.
The government should also play a role in ensuring that animal rights are safeguarded. Many policies have been established that entitles one for incarceration and a criminal, especially when he kills or hurts an animal without sufficient explanation. The laws and regulations specify that no individual can kill or harm an animal until they are a risk to the community or environment like possessing an infection, which could be detrimental to the surrounding and society (Wrenn 28). The adoption of the animal rights is continuing in the U.S. to ensure that the animals are guarded.
Why Animal Rights are Important
Human beings involved in agricultural and other exploitative activities, when challenged, justify that animals have no emotions and feelings and are not aware of their environment. Human beings feel the world around them via sensations and feelings and are aware of these perceptions and emotions. People are also aware of themselves and other people, as well as the factors influencing them, including climate and diseases. Sentience is one reason why animal rights are important. It refers to the ability to feel the perceptions and sensations of the world and environment. A sentient creature is aware of his environments and has the feelings of pleasure and pain (Hansson and Jacobsson 268). It is becoming progressively clear that animals have more emotional and multifaceted lives than persons have earlier noticed. More research into the cognitive capacities of animals, such as fish farm animals, insects, and crustaceans is conducted. Studies have determined that farm animals have all types of emotions and acuity in intelligence far passed the level that was earlier known and imagined. Awareness in regards to farm animal sentience is gaining more recognition generally, although the reality that farm animals are sentient needs to be really an issue of observation and simple common sense (Wrenn 30). People who use farm animals in their agricultural practices most definitely understand that these beings are sentient, feeling, and thinking creatures. Still, regardless of such observations, several people frequently treat animals as if they were simply creatures, unfeeling, inanimate, and resistant to the types of feelings and sensations that human beings experience (White 9). Human beings should handle animals more compassionately just because they are living creatures. It is believed that animals are conscious, sentient creatures, have self-awareness, and are aware of others, as well as their surroundings.
It can also be argued that animals wish to live. People should behave caringly to animals since they, as human beings, wish to have a life. In all animals, including humans, certainly, the disposition for survival is strong. Buddha also mentioned, in regards to all animals, including human beings that all beings love life, shiver before fierceness, and afraid of death (Hansson and Jacobsson 262). These statements should encourage people to be kind to animals and treat them with honor and not damage them in any manner as these animals are like humans and also wish to live. Again, all animals are afraid of death, and if they did not have the fear, they would not live for long. They also fear agony and escape link with circumstance and occurrence in their surroundings that can cause pain. Moreover, since it has been recognized that animals feel pain both emotionally and physically, various laws have been created to protect their lives from cruel treatment by human beings (Vivarelli et al. 577). The policies aim at improving the living conditions for the animals and ensuring a compassionate treatment of the animals, including the farm animals. Raising animals for slaughter is an unkind, cold-hearted, and an act of barbarism. There is nothing compassionate about killing another creature, and it is the supreme act of extreme unkindness to deprive a living being of its life.
Moreover, when an animal is killed, it is obvious that it has to feel pain and grief. It is unkind to confine animals, grab their eggs or take a share of the milk that is meant for their calves, control their lives as to when they should give birth and die or put them under tough farm work, including cultivation, and medication testing (Hansson and Jacobsson 267). Animals should be left to live their own lives in a safe way and in the manner that nature planned without harmful interference. Animals feel stress and fear, and people should treat them keeping in mind that they are like them.
Further, killing an animal is close to murdering a fellow human being. In other words, a person who kills an ant, for example, nears the killing of a person. Violence, cruelty, and murder at any level all turn to be easier with more practice. The more a person harms and kills another creature, be it human or non-human, the easier it is to kill another time. A daily killing of animals becomes a heartless behavior that yields other cold-hearted acts. A society cannot be peaceful and harmonious while people in it kill other beings that have equal rights as they are to their lives (Vivarelli et al. 577). Animals should be treated in a better way than it was before and now. They also need compassion and humanity in their lives as people observe ethics when interacting with a fellow human being. Peace cannot prevail in the world when human beings are cruel to animals and exploit them. As a recap, murdering a non-human animal is a move towards killing a person.
Methods of enhancing Humane Treatment of Animals
Farm animals are the class of non-human animals that experience the most severe mistreatments. Human beings should reconsider their thoughts and conducts towards animals. They should have different thinking about animals that they have chosen as the food sources. The animal food that is no longer needed and is destructive to the wildlife should be left. Again, people should educate themselves about the animal rights and the need to allow them to live their lives as determined by nature (Garner 331). Individuals should understand that eating meat, fish, and dairy products lead to environmental damage, inflict human health problems, contribute to worldwide famine, and cause huge pain on several animals throughout the world. The best solution to the problems between the animals and human beings is to stop consuming animal products and encourage vegetarianism or go vegan. This would help reduce the number of animals being slaughtered per day in different parts of the world (White 10). Another way of helping the animals by maintaining their rights to live is the use of campaigns. Individuals should take part in the movements, such as initiating or signing petitions, drafting a letter to the government and food manufacturers, and conducting peaceful demonstrations to promote the kindness to the animals (Garner 331). The campaigns should be against the cruelty shown to animals, and the advocates should be rewarded for their involvement.
Conclusion
Animals are important for several aspects of the ecosystem and are part of the sustenance of the environment and human life. It is mandatory for human beings to protect the rights of the animals in the environment just as human beings would want their lives to be protected. Also, animal rights have received a lot of support from different bodies, including various philosophers and religions, such as Christianity, Islamic, and Buddhism. The religions, for instance, have been at the forefront in teaching the communities about non-human animals and assist human beings in acknowledging the rights of these animals. Animals have been exploited in different settings in the societies like factories and farms. In the farms, donkeys and bulls are used as sources of labor and the pain they experience are not considered by the farm owners. Moreover, in the factories and pharmaceutical industries, medication testing is conducted using animals. The procedure is quite painful to the animals. In some cases, the animals are killed deliberately by the medical researchers. It should be understood that animals are sentient beings and, therefore, can experience pain and pleasure. They need to be treated well the same way people treat themselves. Education through various support groups and religious organizations should promote the prohibition of the animal exploitation.

Works Cited
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Hansson, Niklas, and Kerstin Jacobsson. “Learning to Be Affected: Subjectivity, Sense, and Sensibility in Animal Rights Activism.” Society & Animals 22.3 (2014): 262-288.
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Pellow, D. Total Liberation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014.
Vivarelli, Fabio, et al. “The Sympathy of Policy-Makers towards Animal-Rights Activists, and the Future of Biomedical Research.” Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology: RTP 70.3 (2014): 577-578.
White, Rob. Green Criminology. Springer New York, 2014.
Wrenn, Corey Lee. Professionalization, Factionalism, and Social Movement Success: A Case Study on Nonhuman Animal Rights Mobilization. Diss. Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016.