Animal Rights vs. Animal Welfare

Many people do not know that there is a significant difference between animal rights and animal welfare.  Animal rights is when you believe that animals have basically the same rights as humans and that animals deserve to be treated in a humane way.  According to Peta .org, "animal rights theories say that animals, like humans, have interests that cannot be sacrificed or traded away to benefit others."  Peta.org also believes that animals should not be used for human entertainment, human clothing, and human research.  They deserve to have rights just as humans do.  On the other hand, animal welfare theories do recognize that animals do have rights, but the theorists believe that the animals rights can be expended if it is in the best interest of humans and that the benefits of the outcome justify the animals sacrifices (Peta.org). 

 "Why animals are not ours to experiment on"

The use of animals in research has been an ongoing controversy for many years now.  Although there are arguments from both sides of the table as to why animals should or should not be experimented on, in this web site, I tended to focus on the reasons why they should not be used.

Most of the animals who are used in experiments experience extreme pain and are exposed to inhumane conditions.  Peta. org states that "Medical historians have shown that improved nutrition and sanitation standards and other behavioral and environmental factors—rather than knowledge gained from animal experiments—are responsible for the decreasing number of deaths from common infectious diseases since 1900's and that medicine has had little to do with increased life expectancy".  There has been numerous research on the once popular idea that animals have similar body structures as humans and then more research is starting to show that most animals that are being used in research are not comparable to human beings (Peta.org).

In a recent article on cancer and animal research found on ARTL: Cancer, suggests that ""The moral of the animal model system does not only kill animals, they also kill humans.  There is no good factual evidence to show that the use of animals in cancer research has led to the prevention or cure of a single human cancer."  In this article, Dr Irwin D. J. Bross  states that animals are not a good analogy of humans.  He goes on to suggest that it is no use putting human cancer cells into animals or primates because animals could never compare to the human cancer process.  He quotes that "The biochemical environment of the animal model is completely different from that of the human host" ( ARTL: Cancer).

There are alternatives to animal research and some scientist are eagerly trying to develop different ways to avoid using animals. For example, according to the alternative to animal research foundation stated that they were given a grant of 155,000 dollars in support of the development of four experiments that will an be an alternative to animal research.  Since last January, this foundation has received grants of up to 1.25 million dollars for this sole purpose.  One of the four scientist selected to perform an experiment is Dr. Luca Cucullo who works in the neurological department in Cleveland. His initial idea is to close the gap as to why certain drugs are effective on animals and not humans.  Therefore, he has developed an experiment that uses human cells that will mimic the layers and dynamics of the blood brain barrier, which will hopefully be a more accurate testing of the effectiveness of the drugs in the earlier stages of development (http://www.ardonline.org/new_images/newsrelease.pdf).

This foundation is just one of the many organizations of scientists trying to develop alternative methods to animal research.  A good, simple way to help support this process is to not purchase any products that have not been tested on animals. If the product does not test on animals, it will be written on the outside.  I try to make sure that all of my cosmetics and beauty products do not test on animals.  By doing this, it is a small, but significant step that everyday people can do, to boycott animal research. 

"Why animals are not ours to wear"

Every year millions of animals are killed for their fur and some are killed in the most inhumane and torturous ways.  Traps and fur factory farms are two of the main ways that animals are caught or bred for their fur. These animals experience excruciating pain and distress just to satisfy the ritzy, fashionable trend of wearing fur.

Minks, foxes, dog raccoons, bobcats, and chinchillas are only a few of the animals being killed each year on fur farms. Approximately, thirty one million animals are killed each year at fur farms alone.  Many people think that fur farms treat animals humanely, but the real truth is that they do not.  Take minks for example, they are aquatic animals and spend a large part of their day swimming in the water and on the fur farms, the minks are kept in cages are have no access to water.  Denying an animal of its natural habitat is inhumane and can cause some psychological damage. The psychological damage that the mink experiences consists of pacing rapidly back and forth in their cage and "tail biting". Tail biting is a form of self destruction and it can turn into a difficult obstacle for fur farmers because it devalues the price of the mink's fur (Fact Sheet  Fur Farm).

The leg trap is another way that animals are caught for their fur.  It is one of the most popular traps used still today.  Even though the leg trap has been banned in eighty-eight countries, the United States has still not banned its use.  When an animal is caught in a leg trap, two metal jaws clamp the animals leg.  The initial clamp is not what makes the trap so dangerous, it is the animals attempt to escape that does the most damage.  Most of the time when the animal is trying to escape, they end up breaking their teeth on the metal jaws, breaking their bones, and in the worst case scenario, biting off their own limbs. When an animal has to result to biting off their own limbs should be reason enough to understand the torturous cruelty that these traps cause. If the animals cannot manage to escape, most of the animals die from hypothermia, loss of blood, dehydration, and infection (Fact Sheet :: Trapping).

   Sometimes fur hunters will not use traps, instead they will venture out into the wilderness, hunt the specific animal down, and violently kill them.  For example, in Canada, the country has allowed hunters to brutally kill 350,000 baby seal , just for their fur.  This massive killing of baby seals has not happened in almost fifty years, when the Canadian seal was almost extinct (cnn.com).  The hunters achieve this by sneaking up on the innocent babies and violently club them to death or shoot them pinpoint in the head.  Some of these baby seals cannot even swim yet, and are getting skinned alive and left to die in the freezing temperatures with no fur to protect them (FurIsDead.com > Attention, All Fur-Wearers!). 

 In another article found on Peta.com, talks about the boycott of Australian sheep's wool .  According to this article, sheep are being skinned of their wool in an inhumane and un cautious way.  As cited in Peta.org, "the sheep are being trussed upside-down and are having huge chunks of flesh carved from their rumps without any pain relief".  The sheep are also being shipped across seas in which they are exposed to excruciating heat and freezing cold temperatures.  The sheep have also had their throats cut while still conscious.  To stop this inhumane treatment of sheep, Peta has made a boycott of Australian sheep's wool until this tortuous and abusive treatment of sheep stops.  The popular American Fashion Company, Abercrombie and Fitch has also established a boycott of Australian wool.  Once companies become aware of this abusive treatment, there is hope that they too will also boycott Australian sheep wool and put a stop to the cruel practices of the Australian wool industry. http://savethehsheep.com/f-boycottAuWool.asp

If the majority of the public, including the fashion industry, knew of these torturous ways that animals are being treated and killed, just for their commercial enterprise of their fur. I feel that the fur fashion would quickly decline if the public would become aware.

"Why animals are not ours for entertainment"

Many people feel that animals should not be used for entertainment.  Animals were not born to be in the limelight.  They were born to live in their natural habitat, to explore the wild, to mate, and to raise families. 

For hundreds of years animas have been used for entertainment, mostly in the circus.  Some of these animals, including, tigers, elephants, and lions, are exposed to abuse by their trainers and their care takers.  In the past decade, more and more cases of are being reported of animal abuse in the circus.  Just and example of this was found on peta.org.  Peta did a special investigation on the abusive treatment of animals in the circus.  They discovered that the Carson and Barnes animal trainer, Tim Frisco, has been violently yelling and screaming obscenities to elephants.  He was also commanding that future trainers should "hurt the elephants until they scream, and then he shows them how to do it" (AnimalActivist.com > Animals Used for Entertainment).  According to Peta, the Carson and Barnes circus has had a life long record of violations of the animal rights protection law, unexplained deaths and torturous treatment of their circus animals.   Also in Peta.org, are records of abuse for the Carson and Barnes circus.  The government inspected the circus and found that the animals were living in inhumane conditions and were being treated with severe neglect.  The government found that the animals were living in rusty, overcrowded cages.   Some of their cages were filthy with feces and snakes.  As for the animals themselves, the elephants had gigantic sores and boils on their bodies and hippos were left without water.  The government inspectors said that this was one of the worst cases of animal abuse and neglect that they have seen in a long time. 

This quote was found on circus.com and I felt that it did a great job describing why using animals for entertainment in the circus is wrong. 

The Ringling brothers circus have also been reported for their abusive treatment of animals.  Like the Carson and Barnes case, the Ringling brother have also failed to meet the minimal standards of animal care.  The USDA has charged them with the neglect to seek veterinary care for a dying baby elephant and for the rest of their animals.  They have also been charged with leaving their animals exposed to excruciating heat and freezing temperatures, and failure to provide their animals with sufficient cage space and exercise  (circus.com). 

After all of this controversy of animals in circus entertainment, something is being done.  Organizations have come up with animal free circuses.  Acrobats, gymnasts, and jugglers make up this most enjoyable new show.  These animal free circuses are a new idea and just a small step as to what has been done to help stop animals being used in entertainment. Also, adding to the anti animals in entertainment are nine states and eleven countries whom have banned circuses, rodeo's and animal acts all together http://www.circuses.com/pdfs/AnimalActs_Legislation.pdf.  With new alternatives and new laws banning animals in entertainment, there will soon be no more animals suffering and dying for our sheer enjoyment. 

Conclusion

Being an animal lover myself, I was very excited to do this research on animals rights.  I only picked three main points to focus on because I felt that right now they are the stories that are being seen in the news.  Everyday more and more people are becoming aware of the unethical treatment of animals and more and more people are starting to take action to have it stopped.  We have to keep in mind that animals were here first and they deserved to be treated with the same utmost respect as everyone else.  Animals are our friends and they have feels too.             

Bibliography

 1) http://www.animalactivist.com/entertainment.asptp:/ retrieved October 10, 2004.

2) /www.ardf-online.org/ retrieved September 25, 2004.

3) http://www.circus.com retrieved October 10, 2004.

4) http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/News/2004/08/13/580346.html retrieved October 19, 2004.

5) http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/04/12/newfoundland.seals/index.html retrieved October 1, 2004.

6) http://www.circus.com retrieved October 19, 2004.

7) http://www.furkills.org retrieved October 1, 2004.

8) http://www.health.org.nz/ retrieved October 18, 2004.

9) http://www.northcoastjournal.com/062404/news0624.html retrieved October 4, 2004.

10) http://www.peta.org retrieved September 16, 2004.