We may claim that time is producing more civilized human beings, but our frustrations and the violence within us continue to mount. Animals are one aspect of the ecosystem that’s paying the price for our indulgences and research. Myriad animals are being killed each day just so that they could be hung on drawing-room walls as evidence of our bravery or so that we could cut them open as a new excuse for science. Slaughtering of animals for the sake of food is a cause that could be justified, but countless animals are becoming victims to violence that is uncalled for. Even slaughtering of animals for food requires us and to set limits so as to cause the animal minimum possible pain. The torturing of animals is an act that should not to be permitted in any set of circumstances. Our habits and lavish lifestyles are risking animals and driving many of their species towards extinction. According to the National Wildlife Federation, About 100 different species of plants and animals are lost to deforestation every day. According to the current rate of extinction, about 27000 species are being lost each year.
People are torturing and killing animals for countless different reasons, and sadly, very few of those reasons can be justified. Many hunts for food while others seek their bodies for various manufacturing processes. For instance, skin of many animals is being used for making blankets, shoes, and leather products and teeth for jewelry and decorations. Some people also support killing of animals who may pose threats to human life. Some, on the other hand, kill for the thrill. Hunters target animals because they like the challenge, and bigger the animal they hunt, better they feel about themselves. This is why most people also mount the stuffed heads of different animals onto their walls and also keep stuffed ones for beauty. While our homes become beautiful, the forests and nations parks are becoming empty of striking animals and there may eventually come a day when our children will not have any wild beauties to appreciate. Not to mention how we are destroying several animal habitats and parks so that we can fulfill our needs for wood and more space. Our food and lifestyle nowadays also makes use of and encourages the killing of animals prematurely before they reach the age for reproduction. An example of this might be the slaughtering of pregnant sheep so that we could make a special type of fabric from the skin of the baby. We also indulge in many food recopies that require the eggs of fish and other sea animals before they have even hatched. Recent studies have also shed light on the treatment of animals in animal shelters. According various studies conducted on animal shelters, only four out of ten stray dogs and two out of ten cats manage to come out of animal shelters alive. Various animals are also being used for testing of different cosmetic as well as pharmaceutical products. Every year in the U.S., about 125000 animals are being imprisoned in laboratories, tortured and killed in horrifying experiments. Baby animals are forcibly being separated from their mothers in the same laboratories, and they are being treated inhumanely.
Because of the current rate at which we are so recklessly assassinating different animals and plants, countless different species are becoming extinct. The problem however doesn’t just end here. In addition to different species, we are also losing the variation within a species of animals and, as a result, diversity in animals and plants is becoming abysmally low. With the loss in different types of animals and plants, we are deliberately limiting our food choices. Our fish stocks are also dwindling at a deplorable rate, and we are unconsciously limiting our choices and losing the beauty that animals add to the world. This world was created with several different ecosystems that are dependent on one another. Every food chain starts with a plant and ends in a prey which in most circumstances is human. So with decrease in even a single type of organism, all the various ecosystems suffer and ultimately, so do humans. We are losing several species of mammals, fish and birds if not to poaching then to the pollution of the water caused by oil spills and the dumping of the industrial wastes. Furthermore, all the smaller reptiles that save our crops from being eaten by insects are waning radically. At this rate, with the human population increasing and the ratio of animals abysmally declining in comparison, we may very soon come face-to-face with a food crisis at the global level.
How animals benefit us is the most compelling argument against the dramatic killing of them, but there’s also the moral debate. The animal rights not only forbid the unjustified killing of animals, but go a step further by stating that animals should not be killed even for consumption purposes. These animals right justify that the animals should not be treated as ends to someone else’s needs. Therefore, people who support and work for the rights of animals are mostly vegetarians and don’t believe in eating their meat. This debate is however one that not everyone is in support of. When talking about the legal aspect, we know that there are several laws against unjustified animal killing. Let’s study the law of the Ohio State as an example. According to this law, no owner is allowed to abandon a petted animal under any circumstances. The injuring of any animal including goat, sheep, cow, bull, fox is illegal that is someone else’s property. The law also declares the poisoning of animals as illegal whether willfully or maliciously. The law also protects the animals from drugging, being involved in games, destruction or cruelty. The laws in all other states of the Unites States also provide and stress the importance of the same animal rights, and the laws there are similar to the laws of the Ohio state.
In my opinion, animals exist so that humans could benefit from them. They could fulfill the purpose of beauty and can also be used for food. So slaughtering of animals for food is a matter that is acceptable when it comes to the debate of the killing of animals. But these animals should be killed or slaughtered in such a way so to cause the minimum possible pain. They should not be tormented either intentionally or unintentionally and should be well taken care of. Also, if we want to continue benefiting from a diet of red or white meat, we should take steps to make sure that their species and diversity within those species are preserved. Animal habitats should not be destroyed, and care should be taken as to not hunt or fish in the breeding season. Setting up of special breeding farms and clinic can also help preserve a wide variety of species. Also, there should be laws against the killing of young animals that have not reached breeding age. Animal testing and killing of animals for the purpose of research should be made illegal. In addition, poaching and hunting of wild animals should be illegalized all around the globe and should be punished with the severest consequences.
Works Cited
Creation, Web of. Problem: Extinction of Plant and Animal Species. <http://www.webofcreation.org/Earth%20Problems/species.htm>.
Group, The Animal Studies. "Killing Animals." Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2006. 172.
PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Primates in Laboratories. <http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/primates-laboratories/>.
rules, Ohio Laws and. Chapter 959: OFFENSES RELATING TO DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 29 September 2013. <http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/959>.
