Animal rights have grown to become a debated subject within our country. The rise of awareness groups such as PETA and animal cruelty laws has increased awareness to animal abuse and formed a side of treating animals as equal beings. On the other hand there are people who believe animals are just animals, they have no emotions and only serve as resources of food, clothing, and assistance and companionship on a farm. Both sides of the animal rights debate causes nation wide discussions with the metaphor of a food chain, who ranks higher humans or animals or are they equal? The focus of this perspective is not to debate whether animals are equal to humans or if animal abuse is wrong. The focus is to logically determine where is the line of too much involvement with animal rights. Animal cruelty can spread into multiple subjects, the two most interesting are economic affects as well as judicial aspects. Economic examples can be directed towards the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. This organization manages 100 million dollars worth of accounts to spread across many different conservation efforts such as protecting nearly extincted animals and mating programs. This is man's attempt at controlling elements that they cannot control, nature. To try to control nature is to just cause more damage than good, for example zoo conservation efforts. By breeding animals in captivity then releasing them into the wild, man releases unprepared animals to fend for themselves. By feeding them, providing them with shelter and keeping them caged, and lack of feral social skills, the animals that man releases are left for dead, like Keiko the Orca. This whale was captured when he was young and was sold from sea park to sea park, until he ended up in Mexico. Once there a movement began to free Keiko, which, was overly publicized. In fact the movement was a major factor for the creation of a 1990's childhood movie Free Willy, it was part of the movement to free Keiko. Sadly after 8 months of being free in wild water, he died of pneumonia. This tragic result from overly aggressive actions draws the question, how far is too far?
In 2007, Micheal Vick, NFL quarterback, gets a 23 month jail sentence for holding and running a dogfighting ring. In 2009, Donte Stallworth, NFL wide receiver, gets a 30 day jail sentence for his second DUI, during which he killed a 59 year old man. These two violent crimes have a 22 month difference, along with Vick receiving a total of $142 million in financial loses, when Stallworth settled with a lose of $235 thousand. This brings up the question, when did an animal's life become more cherished than that of a human beings? Although Vick ran an illegal dogfighting organization for an extended amount of time and Stallworth's crime was due to impulsively poor judgment, the main criticism Vick received from the public was due to him murdering dogs, not that he ran an illegal operation. Despite all the crime within this nation, animal cruelty still draws more public outcry than any other. Organizations such as PETA held large protests outside of Michael Vick's trial, yet crowds of M.A.D.D. (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) were not nearly as loud when Stallworth entered the courtroom. The scale is too in favor of animal treatment over human beings. A dog is placed in foster care and given a loving, caring temporary home, but when a human foster child such as Marcus Fiesal, is placed in foster care the results are tragic. Sadly, in 2006 Marcus was killed by his foster parents after a long span of neglect and abuse. However, Marcus was not the first indicator of foster care abuse, in 2001 the New York Times published an article stating that nearly 1 in every 5 foster children were either abused or neglected, while under state care according to the Youth and Family services of New Jersey. Is this the meaning of “Humane”? To treat our pets better than our children? There were no large protests by an organization such as PETA demanding justice for Marcus during the trial against his killers, nor were there threats of self taken justice such as riots. Organizations like PETA draw attention to a noble cause with overly dramatic productions. They wish to disturb the natural order of life, animals are not as humanity's equal due to our greater intellect. Therefore we are atop of the food chain. Also, in terms to food while it's not pretty to watch an animal being slaughtered in a factory farm, one cannot deny that technology is man's greatest weapon and has helped our race make extraordinary progress like curing our ill or discovering more about our planet. Yet, this is a weapon that can cause positive or negative results depending on how it's used. In the end however, this is the human way of remaining on top of the food chain.
In a time of financial crisis for America we as a nation must decide priorities. Spending the amount of money our government spends in order to disrupt an animal species dying off, or to fund conservation efforts is dangerous. Especially, when one of the countries well known problems is the recession, lack of funds for medical care in particular. Instead of spending $100 million on animal survival most of it should be used for human survival, cancer research, creating jobs, cleaner fuel, any of our countries main concerns. In comparison animal rights may not receive a majority of the funding, but in a time of great need every million, every thousand, every hundred is essential. In 2011 the unemployment rate in America reached 8.9%, a majority of that $100 million that the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation had access to could have went to assisting businesses with employment costs such as insurance, benefits, overall salary, things that hinder employers to hire more people. In the end we must choose which we value more, human survival or that of an animal.
Overly controlling nature is like overly controlling a relationship, it will lead to negative results. We as a race fear what cannot be controlled. Such normal processes like death and weather, humans fear these things the most due to how uncontrollable they are and their ability to quickly change our lives. We must learn to accept what cannot be controlled and draw focus to what can, such as the economy, justice, and health care. These are such a key part of the current election, that all focus should be drawn to them. I'm not condoning animal abuse, nor am I down playing the important companionship a pet can offer, but to try to save a polar bear from melting ice is like saving a teenager from their hormones, if one gets involved it will cause an opposite affect. While our pollution is a possible factor in the cause of the ice caps melting, we must understand that we need to save ourselves in this situation by focusing on the ice caps and cleaner environments. If we do this then the polar bear has a better chance of survival, we have a better chance of survival and everyone wins. Yet, if we just focus on saving the bear than we too shall sink and become extinct.
Works Cited
Werder, Ed. “Apologetic Vick gets 23-month sentence on dogfighting charges”. Espn. 2007. Web.
Sharyn Alfonsi, Rich McHugh, Imaeyen Ibanga. “Browns' Donte Stallworth get 30 days for DUI”. ABC. 2009. Web.
National Fish and Widelife Foundation. Washington D.C. 2012. Web.
Bureau of Labor Statistics. NE Washington. 2012. Web.
Leslie Kaufman, Richard Lezin Jones. “Trenton Finds Abuse High In Foster Care”. New York Times. 2003. Web.
In 2007, Micheal Vick, NFL quarterback, gets a 23 month jail sentence for holding and running a dogfighting ring. In 2009, Donte Stallworth, NFL wide receiver, gets a 30 day jail sentence for his second DUI, during which he killed a 59 year old man. These two violent crimes have a 22 month difference, along with Vick receiving a total of $142 million in financial loses, when Stallworth settled with a lose of $235 thousand. This brings up the question, when did an animal's life become more cherished than that of a human beings? Although Vick ran an illegal dogfighting organization for an extended amount of time and Stallworth's crime was due to impulsively poor judgment, the main criticism Vick received from the public was due to him murdering dogs, not that he ran an illegal operation. Despite all the crime within this nation, animal cruelty still draws more public outcry than any other. Organizations such as PETA held large protests outside of Michael Vick's trial, yet crowds of M.A.D.D. (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) were not nearly as loud when Stallworth entered the courtroom. The scale is too in favor of animal treatment over human beings. A dog is placed in foster care and given a loving, caring temporary home, but when a human foster child such as Marcus Fiesal, is placed in foster care the results are tragic. Sadly, in 2006 Marcus was killed by his foster parents after a long span of neglect and abuse. However, Marcus was not the first indicator of foster care abuse, in 2001 the New York Times published an article stating that nearly 1 in every 5 foster children were either abused or neglected, while under state care according to the Youth and Family services of New Jersey. Is this the meaning of “Humane”? To treat our pets better than our children? There were no large protests by an organization such as PETA demanding justice for Marcus during the trial against his killers, nor were there threats of self taken justice such as riots. Organizations like PETA draw attention to a noble cause with overly dramatic productions. They wish to disturb the natural order of life, animals are not as humanity's equal due to our greater intellect. Therefore we are atop of the food chain. Also, in terms to food while it's not pretty to watch an animal being slaughtered in a factory farm, one cannot deny that technology is man's greatest weapon and has helped our race make extraordinary progress like curing our ill or discovering more about our planet. Yet, this is a weapon that can cause positive or negative results depending on how it's used. In the end however, this is the human way of remaining on top of the food chain.
In a time of financial crisis for America we as a nation must decide priorities. Spending the amount of money our government spends in order to disrupt an animal species dying off, or to fund conservation efforts is dangerous. Especially, when one of the countries well known problems is the recession, lack of funds for medical care in particular. Instead of spending $100 million on animal survival most of it should be used for human survival, cancer research, creating jobs, cleaner fuel, any of our countries main concerns. In comparison animal rights may not receive a majority of the funding, but in a time of great need every million, every thousand, every hundred is essential. In 2011 the unemployment rate in America reached 8.9%, a majority of that $100 million that the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation had access to could have went to assisting businesses with employment costs such as insurance, benefits, overall salary, things that hinder employers to hire more people. In the end we must choose which we value more, human survival or that of an animal.
Overly controlling nature is like overly controlling a relationship, it will lead to negative results. We as a race fear what cannot be controlled. Such normal processes like death and weather, humans fear these things the most due to how uncontrollable they are and their ability to quickly change our lives. We must learn to accept what cannot be controlled and draw focus to what can, such as the economy, justice, and health care. These are such a key part of the current election, that all focus should be drawn to them. I'm not condoning animal abuse, nor am I down playing the important companionship a pet can offer, but to try to save a polar bear from melting ice is like saving a teenager from their hormones, if one gets involved it will cause an opposite affect. While our pollution is a possible factor in the cause of the ice caps melting, we must understand that we need to save ourselves in this situation by focusing on the ice caps and cleaner environments. If we do this then the polar bear has a better chance of survival, we have a better chance of survival and everyone wins. Yet, if we just focus on saving the bear than we too shall sink and become extinct.
Works Cited
Werder, Ed. “Apologetic Vick gets 23-month sentence on dogfighting charges”. Espn. 2007. Web.
Sharyn Alfonsi, Rich McHugh, Imaeyen Ibanga. “Browns' Donte Stallworth get 30 days for DUI”. ABC. 2009. Web.
National Fish and Widelife Foundation. Washington D.C. 2012. Web.
Bureau of Labor Statistics. NE Washington. 2012. Web.
Leslie Kaufman, Richard Lezin Jones. “Trenton Finds Abuse High In Foster Care”. New York Times. 2003. Web.