toldailytopic: Animal Rights. What rights (if any) should animals have?

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Nathon Detroit

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The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for September 21st, 2010 10:29 AM


toldailytopic: Animal Rights. What rights (if any) should animals have?






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Nydhogg

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I don't think animals have rights per se, but I'm certain that torturing them should carry a severe punishment.
 
Nick M

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I would contend that eating an animal is torture. Therefore, they have no rights.

And with that I will also say I would never beat or torture dogs or cats, all jokes aside. Teasing cats is fair game.
 
Granite

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Knight said:
When you say animals should be treated humanely does that mean you think they should not be killed and eaten?
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No, definitely not. But it's possible to treat a creature with decency even if you're going to kill and consume it. I'm disgusted by mass-produced chickens kept in filth, industrialized abattoirs that batter, terrorize, and torture the animals within, and the whole mass-market meat industry in general. There are better ways to maintain these creatures before eating them.
 
Nathon Detroit

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Granite said:
No, definitely not. But it's possible to treat a creature with decency even if you're going to kill and consume it. I'm disgusted by mass-produced chickens kept in filth, industrialized abattoirs that batter, terrorize, and torture the animals within, and the whole mass-market meat industry in general. There are better ways to maintain these creatures before eating them.
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So who would determine what constitutes "terror" and "torture"? Because I'm pretty sure even somebody like you and some wacky PETA nut would have vastly different opinions on that.
 
Granite

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Knight said:
So who would determine what constitutes "terror" and "torture"? Because I'm pretty sure even somebody like you and some wacky PETA nut would have vastly different opinions on that.
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Sure. I'm more of a free-range guy when it comes to how I think animals should be grown and treated, and I think that's probably a good way of doing things. I don't know if any one group would codify what's "torturous" or not, but it's not very difficult to treat animals well. I grew up on a farm with hogs. Give them some basics and they'll do just fine.

For all the nuttery and unintentional harm PETA's responsible for I do give them credit for exposing the foul conditions in which many animals are subjected. There is a lot of cruelty and abuse out there, much of it on an industrial scale. Somebody needs to get the word out. Just wish they were better messengers.
 
Nathon Detroit

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Granite said:
Sure. I'm more of a free-range guy when it comes to how I think animals should be grown and treated, and I think that's probably a good way of doing things. I don't know if any one group would codify what's "torturous" or not, but it's not very difficult to treat animals well. I grew up on a farm with hogs. Give them some basics and they'll do just fine.

For all the nuttery and unintentional harm PETA's responsible for I do give them credit for exposing the foul conditions in which many animals are subjected. There is a lot of cruelty and abuse out there, much of it on an industrial scale. Somebody needs to get the word out. Just wish they were better messengers.
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Yet PETA would consider your pig farming business inhumane because they believe that "meat is murder".

Who's right? You? Or PETA?
 
Granite

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Knight said:
Yet PETA would consider your pig farming business inhumane because they believe that "meat is murder".

Who's right? You? Or PETA?
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Well, again: I just said I don't support everything PETA does. For every thing they get right they generally make three mistakes.
 
Memento Mori

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Tico said:
Since animals aren´t human, no.
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Animals are clearly just tools built for the use of humans and to be put in any place, any way, and any time we see fit for any purpose.

You know, the animal farming industry is very lucky in that it doesn't have to answer to an Ethics Board...
 
Nathon Detroit

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Granite said:
Well, again: I just said I don't support everything PETA does. For every thing they get right they generally make three mistakes.
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Thank you "Captain Obvious".. :)

Clearly you and PETA don't agree on everything, if you did... I wouldn't have asked the question.

My question is....

Knowing that you believe animals deserve a certain level of rights and knowing that PETA believes animals deserve a certain level of rights who should determine what level of rights animals should actually have? And how should we make that determination?

In other words... when you assert that animals should be treated humanely.... on the surface PETA would agree with that sentiment, yet their idea of what is humane is dramatically different from what you believe is humane. Therefore, on what standard should we determine what "humane" actually is?
 
Granite

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Therefore, on what standard should we determine what "humane" actually is?
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It does get subjective. One of those situations where you know it when you see it. Chickens not being able to stand, having their beaks seared off? Not acceptable. Pigs and cows being trapped ankle-deep in their own filth, sometimes never seeing daylight? Not acceptable, either. Decency, care, an effort to avoid degradation when possible, an attempt to avoid abuse at all costs: not too much to ask, but slipperier to define. In some cases—the outright sadism of, say, dog fighting—the issue is a lot more black and white.
 
Nick M

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Happy as stall fed calf tells me that their life isn't so bad. And I am pretty sure I can't tell the chickens are complaining either.
 
Tico

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Memento Mori said:
Animals are clearly just tools built for the use of humans and to be put in any place, any way, and any time we see fit for any purpose.

You know, the animal farming industry is very lucky in that it doesn't have to answer to an Ethics Board...
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Are animals humans? Do they have rights? If so, where do they come from?
 
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