Brandie Killgore
DeVry University
Animals have been seen as a lower species for decades. They have little to no rights and are sometimes treated inhumanely. No rights are given to them, so when they are abused there is little to no consequences. Hit an animal, make them live in dirty environments, forgot to feed them, leave them in the hot temperatures with no water, or torture them and the consequences are minor compared to the cruelty forced on that animal. Animals should have certain rights so that abusers can have harsher consequences which in turn could help with future crimes, but doesn’t mean that they can’t be raised to feed our society or be used for other services. For centuries animals have been used by society to perform different duties. They are food for our families, they help the disabled, used for transportation, and other jobs. Yet if asked some still believe that they are just animals and were put on this earth to service people, not be equals nor have rights. For years animal activists have been trying to get society to see animals more clearly for what they are, living breathing beings. Some people believe that animal rights activists care more about animals than they do about other people, which isn’t entirely true. Some of the more extreme activists do but most activists have expanded their circle of compassion so that it includes both humans and non-humans. Most just believe that animals deserve to live humanely and with dignity, to be able to live without being abused and other cruelties visited upon them. The way some animals are treated can be incredibly brutal and despite the fact that they are not humans they are still living beings and should be treated with some amount of respect. Some people believe that the view that humans and animals are equal is a flawed assumption, as human beings possess special qualities that animals don’t. But animals are like foreigners, we may not
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