Treating Animals with the Same Respect as Humans

Treating animals with the same respect as humans In 2012 there were 35 000 animal cruelty cases reported in the media all over the world. What is more, there are many atrocious videos posted on the internet in which animals are being ill-treated or killed. Statistically, one fifth of all domestic animals are not well treated. These facts arouse the question: ‘Should animals be treated with the same respect as humans?’. In spite of the fact that animals are not conscious thinking creatures, they should be treated as humans because they are biologically similar to us and they are our companions. First and foremost, animals are biologically similar to humans. Their genetic code is similar to ours because it is made of the same nucleotides that encode amino acids. DNA is the carrier of genetic information in which our behaviour, appearance and genetic predispositions are encoded. Human and animals’ structure of DNA is almost the same. The best example is the DNA of the great apes which is in 95 percent similar to the human. Even though many people can say that animals do not feel anything, animals are able to feel pain, happiness or anger owing to the developed nervous system. The typical examples of that are a dog which howls when it feels pain and a cat which purrs when it is being stroked. Many experiments were held in which e.g. chimpanzees were learnt how to count fruits shown on the screen and with the right answer they were getting a reward, and they were able to learn it which is the clear proof that they are able to learn certain conducts in the course of time. Furthermore, many species of animals are human companions. Choicely trained dogs are used to help blind people function in the world. Jack is one of the many people who without his dog would only have to stay at home and be dependent on his family. However, it is not the life that those people want to live and dogs are the unbeatable mean of helping them in their day-to-day activities. Secondly,