Should animals have "rights"?

Should animals have rights? Animal torture, cosmetic animal testing, the use of tigers and elephants, etc in circuses, the killing of animals for fur.. I am strongly opposed to all of the above. I believe in respecting the sanctity of nature and preserving the environment in which animals live. But what about domestic animals and the use of animals for food? Where do you draw the line between Canadians eating cow meat (which is unthinkable in India), and Chinese eating dog and cat meat (which is unthinkable in Canada). What about the use of animals in traditional chinese medicine? Would you agree that your family pet would be better off in the wild to fend for herself? What about the overpopulation that would result in everyone letting their household pets out in the wild, not to mention the fact that our development of urban sprawls make the idea itself sound ludicrous. If one believes it's wrong to slaughter horses for human consumption shouldn't the same go for cattle and chickens? These are some pretty heavy issues that many are passionate about. Is it the slaughter itself that's wrong or the methods used? So much to think about....
Being pro-animal welfare, and a vegetarian, I come across a lot of opposition from both sides..and yet I am not opposed to animal rights, but the idea of total animal liberation is hard to grasp..read on. Animal abolitionists, who believe animals shouldn't be used as human property for any reason whatsoever (including pets) tell me that I'm not doing enough, that I'm wasting my time, that their way is the way to go. Personally, I don't believe it is wrong to have pets provided they're treated as a member of the family and given adequate food, water, shelter, love and attention. I know that if i let my dog free or even my little hamster that they probably wouldn't last more than a couple weeks. Another thing I was thinking about today is that turkey toms are unable to mate with females on their own and female turkeys must be artificially inseminated. So if we were to release all turkeys into the wild, they would die off because of not being able to reproduce on their own.
I'm on the fence right now about where I stand on raising animals for meat. Other animals eat animals. It's arguable whether humans were meant to be herbivores or omnivores. It's also not very environmentally sustainable.. meat production wastes a lot of resources, and animal feces in such a great number pollutes our air and water. I consider myself a definite nature-lover, therefore I cannot justify eating meat for that reason, but the main thing is I just don't feel right about another animal having to die so that I can have a yummy meal when there are SO many other equally yummy options to choose from! It's just not necessary so i don't eat it. And it makes me feel great to think about the lives that I saved. But am I against others eating meat? Yeah, sure I am.. if I had my way everyone would be a vegetarian! But once I ate meat and didn't see anything wrong with it either, so I know I can't push my beliefs on others.. However, more importantly, I am MORE against the suffering that animals go through in the meat production industry. Yes, there are some farms that produce animals for meat that have very skilled and knowledgeable barn managers and people working there and the animals are provided for and cared for very well, but there are others that are not so good, and practices that I am against because it causes unnecessary suffering to the animal, for example: battery cages, dubbing, sow gestation crates, sheep mulesing, etc. There is also free range animal production which is a lot better than factory farms, but I don't eat that meat either because to me it's an animal that once lived, breathed, and valued it's life... but that's MY opinion and MY feelings towards meat eating and I know I can't push my views onto everyone so I choose instead to push the issue of better conditions for the animals in this industry.
I am taking an animal science class this year and the views expressed in that class are on the opposite scale. (I've actually had to speak with one of the professors after class because I was fed up with his derogatory statements about 'animal rights people'. I told him I think the class should be taught on neutral ground so we can determine where we stand on the issue of animal production on our own.) I feel a bit timid when asking questions regarding animal welfare in a specific area of production because I know that most of the students come from farming backgrounds and that most of them regard vegetarians as this weird breed of human aliens. lol.. I think the animal science area could use more people like me who are open minded but genuinely concerned for the welfare of animals and are interested in developing new methods of production and procedures that are more humane. Money and profit isn't everything.
So what about abolishing animal use completely and pro-animal rights? The issue falls under moral agents vs moral patients. Moral agents have the ability to freely choose or fail to choose to act as morality requires. They can be held accountable for right and wrong. Moral patients lack ability to understand moral principles and cannot be held accountable for right or wrong behavior. Moral patients may still have desires, they may perceive, remember, act intentionally, have a sense of future, may be self aware or self-conscious, and may have the ability to feel and display emotion, but they do not have the ability to understand right and wrong. For example in Jane Goodall's observation of wild chimps she once saw a mother and her daughter attack and eat a defenseless baby chimp. To moral agents, this type of cannibalism is morally wrong, but the chimps cannot be held accountable for this because of they don't have the same perceptions of right and wrong as moral agents do. ((this IS arguable.. they may have some grasp of right and wrong but that is a whole other discussion. For the moment I think most can agree that chimps don't have as high of an ability as mentally sound human beings to distinguish right from wrong. ... Someday I think I'd like to study the extent of which an animal understand s that concept and if and how it can be learned.. would be interesting but hard!)
Because animals don't have the capabilities to determine right from wrong (for example if my hamster ever got out and the cat got at her, the cat has no idea he is doing something wrong... which is demonstrated in the fact that one would question whether the cat eating the hamster is even wrong, because cats are natural predators to rodents.. my point exactly! ..) ...in the animal world, moral principles do not exist like they do for humans. Animals can be taught behavior such as no pooping in the house, but apart from unpleasant consequences after pooping in the house, apart from this the animal doesn't understand that it is "wrong".
So that's where rights fall in. To have rights I think one needs to be able to be held accountable for choices and the use or misuse of those rights. To be able to be held accountable one must understand moral principles. Since animals fall under the category of moral patients and not moral agents, it is up to moral agents to care for and provide the most ethical and moral treatment of moral patients. That doesn't mean animals shouldn't be protected and treated well (we know it's the "right" thing to do!), but it is up to moral agents to make sure animals have the best lives possible, because as moral agents we should recognize that every life has intrinsic value!
However, sadly, often animals are mistreated and are victims of unnecessary cruelty by the moral agent. The moral agents also cannot determine amongst themselves where to draw the line. Some have no moral problem with circuses and others do. Some have no moral problem with research testing and others do. Some have no problem eating dogs and others do. So here is where I'll agree that animals do need rights because of humanities' shortfalls and clashes of moral principles. But what KIND of rights? "The Seattle-based Great Ape Project is campaigning for the United Nations to adopt a Declaration on Great Apes, which would see gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees and bonobos included in a "community of equals" with human beings, extending to them the protection of three basic interests: the right to life, the protection of individual liberty, and the prohibition of torture". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_rights) Can we extend these rights to every animal? I think the prohibition of torture should be without a doubt extended to every living creature capable of suffering. But what about liberty? Can we allow our pets free range of the city?...don't think so. But what about those wild animals kept in zoos and circuses? How do we determine what species to award which rights? Can we extend the right of life to every animal? In an ideal world maybe. Extending the right to life to every animal would mean humans would be unable to consume animals as food. But what makes it wrong for humans to do so and natural for non-human animals to kill for food? Think about it.
Because the animal rights issues are so complicated and getting everyone to agree on what rights should be afforded to animals and figuring out whether all should have the same rights etc would be impossible, I choose to advocate for animal welfare. It is something I can do NOW to reduce the suffering of animals. And I think it is a means to an end.. the more people become involved with animal welfare issues the better it is for the animals. We're already seeing an increase in interest in this area and already the UK and some states have left Canada in the dust by putting an end to cruel practices such as horse slaughter plants and battery cages. Eventually with more interest, Canada will follow suit... and EVENTUALLY, one day.. I hope that animals are awarded rights so that they are free from suffering and cruelty for good.


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I'd like to note that the above blog is really me still forming my ideas as far as these issues are concerned, and the more I learn the more I find my beliefs and values towards these issues reshape themselves and change. So I welcome any comments, arguments, etc!

Take a picture

Everyday is an opportunity to learn something new. The crazy new thing for today is called Quick Response Code. They have this technology in Japan, which apparently allows you to take a picture of a store window, poster, or advertisement with your cell phone and it takes you immediately to their website where you can find a ton of information. For example, you can take a picture of a movie poster and have the theater show times and ticket prices right at your fingertips, as well as buy tickets right then and there. It allows you to take a picture of a clothing store window poster and see if they have your size or color preference in stock. It even allows you to find out about your meat ! lol... get this:

"Somebody can go to the meat section of some supermarkets in Japan and use a QR code to find out what the cow ate, where it came from and where it was processed," said Junn Chanoki, the Tokyo-based head of food and agribusiness research for Rabobank, a Dutch investment bank. "Ninety percent of Japanese have a mobile phone, and most phones are connected to the Internet, so the number of potential users is enormous." [ from http://searchquant.blogspot.com/2006/10/quick-response-codes-japans-waaaay.html ]

Of course we don't have any such thing in North America because all the major cell phone companies are trying to come up with their OWN code instead of working together to make this happen. The only reason it happened in Japan is because the cell phone companies and businesses co-operated and accepted the inventor's code as the standardized version. My economic prof pointed out that this is the same reason why Microsoft has 95% of computer sales and Mac only 5% because everyone accepted Microsoft's programs as the "standard".

Anyways I thought this was a pretty cool little piece of info to share.. AND it ties in to the whole animal welfare thing in that you'd be able to tell where your food is coming from, how it was raised, etc.. for those that are cruelty-conscious or even those that are health conscious. I think if we had that technology here, more people would start thinking about where their meat is coming from, and consumer trends MIGHT shift to a more humane level.

I do believe that a day will come where we will catch up to the UK in our animal production methods.. and I think this sort of technology might not only help us to catch up to them but to even exceed them in innovating ultra-humane ways of raising animals for whatever reason.

Personally, I would rather see everyone stop eating meat altogether.. not just for animal-rights reasons (because killing is never cool) but also from an environmental perspective (the higher up on the trophic level, the less ecologically efficient you are!!!.. in other words, a lot of the energy captured by plants, ingested by the herbivore, then ingested by the first carnivore or the top carnivore... it's a lot of energy wasted. We could feed all of the starving children in the world with the amount of water and crops grown to raise animals for food). But I have to keep a realistic perspective about things.

I think a little change at a time is what's realistic. The whole world isn't going to go vegetarian or vegan overnight. I'm trying to make suggestions for the general public to become more aware of these issues and make conscious choices reflecting responsibility to our environment and to influence consumer choices that will promote better treatment of animals.

Egg-eaters, beware

Ever stop and think where your eggs come from?

Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit the University of Saskatchewan campus laying barn. I mentally prepared myself before I went because I had read about the plight of hens and the horrible conditions they suffer, but I wanted to see it firsthand. You cant believe everything that you read on the internet, right?

Unfortunately, I have to confirm that what you read on animal rights/animal welfare websites about the plight of laying hens is TRUE. We went through on a tour of the hatchery, the laying barn, and the broiler (meat chicken) barn. During the tour I asked a lot of questions regarding the welfare of the animals. For example they were telling us how they debeak the chicks and I asked how humane that process is. Don’t the birds have nerve endings in their beaks? The man showing us around told us that yes, it is a painful process for the birds, but it must be done to prevent the chickens from pecking each other to death, and cannibalism.

Once in the laying hen barn it was obvious to see why debeaking is done. The hens are in tiny cages, packed with up to 6 birds a cage. If I was that crowded, I’d want to peck the person beside me to death as well! As I was walking down the isles of chickens my disgust was growing. Rows upon rows, stacks upon stacks, of full grown chickens crammed into tiny metal cages so that they couldn’t even spread their wings. There were a few cages that had 2 or 4 birds, which wasn’t AS bad, but there was also a large amount of cages with as many as 6 birds. I don’t understand how any living creature should be forced to live like that. The hens are kept in these tight little metal cages for a full year, sometimes longer. It would be like the equivalent of stuffing 6 fat people in your bedroom closet for a year (and I’m not talking about a walk in closet either!). If you went to a pet store and saw 6 full grown dogs crammed in a cage so tight that they were standing shoulder to shoulder and couldn’t even move around, would you not be shocked and call the SPCA or your local animal protection officer? Yet these are the conditions that hens are forced to endure for their entire lives so that you and I can eat eggs.

I must also note that there was a couple of alternative cages they were “trying out”.. That were reasonably larger, cleaner, and the hens in those cages were significantly more calm that the ones in the battery cages. At least they ARE looking into alternatives. I don't understand though why every cage has not been replaced with the larger more humane, cleaner ones. The University is shelling out millions to make place riel into a frikkin shopping center but they can't shell out anything for a more humane laying-hen production?

My professor said that in the UK they have banned battery cages and their laying hens are now kept in a large barn setting where they are free to roam and walk around. Unfortunately, all Canadians seem to care about is that the price of their eggs stays low, and so they don’t care that these birds have shitty lives. (or else they don’t KNOW about it.. but now you DO know.. so if you go out and buy regular supermarket eggs, remember, you are supporting this type of cruelty that other countries have banned!) I can promise you I will never buy supermarket eggs again unless they are from free range hens.

I don’t like to eat eggs period because of the unnecessary slaughter that is associated with egg production. All of the male chicks that hatch in the egg industry are killed because, of course, male chicks don’t lay eggs. They are not kept for meat because there is barely any meat on them. Also after a year, the female hens are killed because their production declines to about 70%. In a natural setting, a hen can live 4-5 years.

So in conclusion, I’m not telling you all to NOT eat eggs. If you simply must eat eggs please remember: hens go through a lot of suffering in battery cages to produce low cost supermarket eggs. Choose to be a better person and shell out a bit extra from your wallet…choose to buy eggs that are from free range hens .. birds that are allowed to roam in the sunshine!

please note: the pictures in the above article were not taken at the U of S barns. I googled the images from random websites, but I chose the images which I felt best depicted what I saw in person.

Disease or delicacy

Ducks and geese.. who should be out on the lake, swimming and flying, enjoying the wind and the sun.. they are kept in cages indoors, not allowed to fly or breath fresh air. They are raised for 3 months and then killed for their livers. They are force fed by metal pipes that scrape up the inside of their throats, the huge amount of food they are force fed causes them to get liver disease,.. which makes their livers grow 10 times the regular size. It causes them extreme pain, difficulties breathing, and stress, so that they will tear their own feathers out and cause open wounds. Many of the birds are unable to move under the extreme weight of their livers. The disease causes many of them to die before they even reach 3 months of age when they will be slaughtered. Many of them, by the time of slaughtering are barely alive. All so that people can eat these diseased, fatty livers.. "foie gras".. considered a delicacy. I just don't understand it. The California, Israel, Switzerland, and the UK have banned the sale of foi gras. I sure wish Canada would follow suit.


One of the ladies from an organization I volunteer for in the city is currently down in Virginia working for PETA. She sent me this video which I found completely and utterly shocking.. (PETA wasn't the people behind this undercover investigation, but are supporting bringing awareness to it nonetheless, for animal welfare purposes.) I know that animals in factory farms suffer but this degree of cruelty is one of the worst I have yet heard of. At first I didn't even know what foie gras is (fatty duck/goose liver) .. and I had no idea there was a market for it! If you go to Amazon.com and type in foie gras, a lot of results will come up. Apparently the demand is also increasing. I called the agriculture inspector for Elevages Perigord.. the company in Quebec that is guilty of this cruelty, but no one answered so I left a message expressing my utter disgust at their treatment of the animals and asked for a call back with my name and number. So we'll see what happens. I also called the head office of Sobey's and left a polite message that I will no longer be shopping at their store until they stop selling foie gras because it promotes cruelty! I'm also planning on calling Amazon.com's corporate number on Monday to tell them I will not be purchasing anything online from them until they no longer offer foie gras. They sell the products from Elevages Perigord. Personally i find it disgusting that anyone would want to eat DISEASED duck livers in the first place! Anyways no more words.. I think this video will speak louder than ANY amount of words could:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IWN8UGDyC0

Horse Slaughter plant opens in Saskatchewan

Just last Wednesday in my Animal Science lab, the proff stated that Canada is lagging behind many other countries in issues of animal welfare. There are several methods we use here in Canada in animal production that have been banned in other countries because they are inhumane. One does not have to look very far to find really how horribly we treat animals. One of these days I'm going to do a blog on just how these beings suffer so that we can eat them or wear their skin or their fur. It will NOT be happy reading.
However the issue at hand today is this: I have recently found out that our province has opened up a HORSE SLAUGHTERING plant, just outside of Regina. .. for the export of HORSE MEAT.
"A southern Saskatchewan meat processor is bringing its workforce back up to 100 per cent by processing horse meat for sale in the European Union (EU)." (see end of blog for resources)
They are justifying this act of complete cruelty and inhumanity by that fact that it opens up a lot of new jobs. I sure don't want to kill horses for a living.
Now I know some of you may not feel the same way as I do in regards to animal welfare when it comes to chickens, fish, etc.. because some people question how much those animals actually understand or actually suffer because they don't SEEM to be so smart. But I think we can ALL agree that horses are beautiful, amazing, and super intelligent animals. And so I ask you again..
would YOU like to have a job that requires you to murder these awesome creatures in vast numbers every day? I don't think I could look at myself in the mirror knowing that blood is on my hands.
"Currently, horse slaughtering is a controversial issue in the United States, where the country's last horse slaughterhouse, located in Illinois, is challenging a state law that bans the practice. Two Texas-based plants were closed in May due to similar state legislation being enforced."
...
Remember: horses are not raised for slaughter. They are usually bought at auctions, or stolen or brought in by their owners who once loved them and no longer want them. Often people are ignorant to the mass amount of mistreatment their horse is about to suffer in it's last moments alive. At the plant they are mistreated, terrified at the pungent smell of blood and death all around them, electrocuted, hit, or speared into the "kill box", and they are beaten down. They are hoisted up by one leg where they hang there in a line awaiting their throats to be slashed while they are still alive.
(Quote from a horse plant worker,"You move so fast you dont have time to wait till a horse bleeds out, you skin him as he bleeds. Sometimes a horses nose is down in the blood, blowing bubbles, and he suffocates.")

We need to do something. Make calls, send letters.. make people more aware of what is going on.. and we need to speak up . We can't just sit and let this go on..

"It is not alone what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable."
~Moliere (1622-1673)

Please go to www.horsekillers.com to watch real video footage of what really goes on at a horse slaughtering plant.

Resources:
http://www.defendhorsescanada.org/
http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/business/story.html?id=90cd6e3e-f68e-4852-852e-786f27912976

Call for compassion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvBf7ngydbU