Obligations to Animals

There is some legal protection for animals. For example, a person that chains a dog up in the mid-summer heat with no water and the appearance of the dog has sings of neglect (such as bones showing due to lack of food) a neighbor will call and report it. Sometimes a warning will be issued and rare cases fines will be involved. People frown and defiantly call authorities if an animal is locked in a hot car. The treatment of an animal while in a human beings care is important, not providing the animal's needs (such as food and water), beating the animal, is wrong and cruel. For decades, humans have killed animals for nourishment and carried into today as the way of life. Humans should not inflict more suffering than is necessary. Experiments on animals is painful and most leads to death, it is cruel. However, the experiments preformed on animals unlock the answers to end human suffering and death; it is like "Men or Mice". Andre and Velasquez writes "Moral rights and moral practices apply only to those who are part of the moral community created by these moral processes. Since animals are not part of the moral community, we have no obligation toward them, but we do have obligation to our fellow human beings, which include the duty to reduce and prevent needless human suffering and death, which in turn, many require the painful experiments on animals" (Andre & Velasquez, last para). I do not agree with this, we do have obligations to animals. If we do not take care of them, they could spread sickness to humans. For example, in the medieval times rats carried bubonic plague and when the fleas off the rats would bite the towns' people the person would die about three days later. In the world today, I am sure that fleas carry a disease that can make us sick on case infection to the bite. If a cow is raised in a nasty environment and not in good health, it could cause humans to get sick. Example, mad cow disease. Also taking care of you pets is an obligation. http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/features/diseases-from-animals-primer. If farm animals do not have a proper heath system the animals are likely to get a disease and will spread to humans and make humans sick and can also lead to death. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/brucellosis_g.htm