Soc.120 - Introduction to Ethics and Social Responsibility - Ethical Treatment of Animals

Ethical Treatment of Animals

Merlinda Sandoval

Soc.120 Introduction to Ethics and Social Responsibility

Instructor: Tracy Green

May 15, 2011

Introduction

The ethical treatment of animals has always been an on-going disagreement of what is right or what is wrong in the eyes of the public people. We as humans should always make the right and moral decision when interacting with animals whether it is for food consumption, animal testing and using them for their furs? The treatments should be in a humane way that will not inflict excessive pain and prolong their suffering, find a better way of experimenting with animals and limit the amount of animals used, improving the environment of the animal that is being used for food consumption or the raising of animals that are sold as pets and ban the illegal gambling fights that occur with different animals like dog fighting.

The mistreatment of animals and using chemicals

We as humans are the only true animals that have the power to do harm on a tremendous huge scale, with the ability to devastate our environment and we hold the power of life and death over other species. We are fully aware of what we are doing in regards of treating these other species. No animal or species by the nature of its being is "undeserving" of humane treatment and basic consideration of its interests; rather the question should be for what, if any, reasons may those interests be overridden.

Davis and Dujardin state, ""If cats and dogs were treated the way chickens, pigs and other farm animals are treated, everybody involved would be charged with felony cruelty to animals and prosecuted." In regards to the people who raise and sell animals for food consumption to what extent are they willing to go too to produce products? Animals that are used for our daily food consumption are being treated with excessive chemicals like growth hormones that will make them grow at an extremely rapid pace.

Chicken farm factories still to this day are raising animals in very intense confinement; these chickens are kept in small cages that they do not have enough room to turn around or in warehouses that are unsanitary. The chickens are walking in their own feces, but in fact they are walking around dead chicken that died due to stress or heart attacks. They are not being provided with adequate clean drinking water and thousands these chickens are being engineered and are being pumped with growth hormones. These hormones will make their breasts will grow extremely large this does not allow the chickens to open their wings so they can fly.

Johnson states that "During forced molting, the birds are kept without food in darkened cages for seven to 14 days. When they can no longer lay productively, the entire shed's population is sent for slaughter to make room for a new set of birds." Chickens should be allowed to grow naturally and at their own pace in an environment that is clean, with all of the fresh air they need to thrive naturally and where no chemicals are used to enhance their growth.

The same treatment is being inflicted on cows these animals which are sometimes too sick or even too diseased to stand on their own feet are literally dragged or a bulldozer is used to drag them to the slaughter house. These animals that are raised for meat on factory farms live miserable lives and die bloody, violent deaths. Cows are not only branded but their horns are cut off, and the male bulls are castrated without any kind of painkiller. Cows are also given some kind hormone or antibiotic to make them grow at a fast pace. Reinhold states, "Most cattle are fed an antibiotic called "ionophore". Ionophores serve to promote growth by altering the digestive action of the cow's stomach. Without the antibiotic it would take about ten percent more feed to fatten a cow, which would increase cost by five to six percent. Tetracycline was once used to fatten cattle, but ionophores are more effective and cost about the same.

Therefore farmers give their livestock these antibiotics instead of letting them graze on grass or feed on grains and fatten themselves at their own pace. Unfortunately money plays a big role in their decision making because at this rate the cow will take a longer time to fatten itself so they'd rather inject these cows with antibiotics. Farmers give antibiotics to their livestock in order help a cow back to good health when it is sick which is caused by the stress that is inflicted on them due to being kept in very crowded pens, exposed to unhealthy living conditions and not allowed to move around in an open range. Slaughterhouses or farm factories are literally a living hell for these animals. The food industries needs to practice a humane way of treating their animals and getting them ready to be sold just because they're going to kill for the consumption of food doesn't mean that they don't deserve good ethical treatment.

Experimenting on animals

Some would say that testing various substances on animals may contribute to finding new medicines and find solutions for various health issues. Many people will argue that medical research is an acceptable reason for inflicting suffering and that shouldn't be an acceptable answer. There should be other reliable alternatives to animal experimentation, alternatives that are acceptable. Alternatives methods of experimenting that will encourage researchers to studying the effects medicine's have on illnesses, hence limiting or reducing the amount of animals that are used.

When experimenting with animals the scientist should ensure that they are following proper research procedures that will ensure limited discomfort or injury to animal and that scientists are using some form of analgesic, anesthetic, or pain killer to minimize their pain. Horner & Minifie state, that "contemporary animal research policies should embrace the "Three Rs" the first being to reduce the number of animals used in experiments, secondly, to refine experimental procedures to minimize animal pain and suffering, and thirdly to replace animal subjects with non-animal alternatives when scientifically feasible."

For an astronaut it is a privilege and a dream that comes true to be able to go up to outer space and explore the universe. Unfortunately they run the risk of being exposed to radiation when they spend a very long time beyond Earth Atmosphere. The radiation from earth and outer space greatly varies this is