animal rights

One thing that confuses (actually more like disgusts) me about people is how little rights animals have in this world. Like if an animal bites a person, the animal is put down. But if a human bites an animal, it is considered odd but the human is not put down.


An animal that kills a human is executed. A human kills an animal, a fine at the most. A human kills another human-10 years in jail (possibly more, possibly less).


Why do animal lives have so little value?


Some people say humans are superior since they use humans can think and use logic.


Being able to use logic is no reason to consider humans superior. Reason, logic, or whatever else people want to say makes us superior also makes us the race that continually kills other parts of our race over religion or politics or love or imaginary borders. We are the ones who destroy entire species just because. We are the species that build nuclear reactors that have destroyed large parts of the world. We are the ones who have made bombs that can destroy every living thing on Earth. Just because we can.


No, not superior.


Others might say it is because animals don't have souls.


How do you know animals don't have souls? How do we know people do?


Some say people have souls because they know right from wrong. Well, many people do the wrong things all the time. Does that mean they are soulless? If so, then they don't have souls so are some people superior to others?


The whole right and wrong thing is so arbitrary that it cannot actually be defined. It changes from culture to culture, society to society. People are not born knowing right from wrong. They are taught it. To say right and wrong is to imply certain values on animals that they do not need or care about. Animals have their own codes. Look at how animals play or defend each other. They have their own set of standards.


Perhaps people have souls since they act differently, have different personalities which souls allow for. This is a flawed argument since, if you have had pets, you know they behave differently, have their own little quirks which make them unique. Yes, they have some shared behaviors just like people have some shared behaviors.


Animals should have the same, if not more, rights that people do.


Animals are not the ones stripping the world of natural resources.


Animals are not the ones growing at an exponential rate and taking up natural resources at an alarming rate.


Animals are the ones who are in danger of going extinct due to the population growth of humans.


Animals are the ones who are kept in zoos to be stared at, who are taken from their natural environment, and are believed to be kept safe from the dangers humans pose n these artificial, and much smaller, locations.


Animals are not the ones who create fighting arenas where animals are pitted against each other.


We need to look at how we treat animals and realize that cruelty (in any form) sets us below other species. Some animals become vicious because we make them vicious. We put animals to sleep because there are too many of them. There are too many humans. When do some of them start getting put to sleep?


How come no one ever states that we need to help control the human population by having people spayed or neutered?


Animals have as much right to live peacefully on this world as humans. Some people would disagree with this because they are "smarter" than animals.


Trust me, we are not. More destructive but not smarter.