(PETA; www.peta.org).
DID YOU KNOWTHAT mother hens cluck softly to their chicks that are still in their shells, that cows not only solve problems but also enjoy the challenge and become excited when they find a solution and that sheep can recognize and remember as many as 50 faces for up to two years? It seems that every week we learn more about who, rather than what, animals are.
Of course, anyone who has ever lived with a dog or cat already knows that they are unique individuals who feel joy and pain and can be frightened or sad. So, how is it that animals are still often treated as nothing more than property or machines? Chickens are crammed into tiny, filthy cages, unable to stretch their wings. Minks, raccoons and other animals spend their lives pacing in a tight circle in a tiny wire box before finally being painfully electrocuted or sometimes skinned alive for their fur. Even man’s best friend is often chained up like an old bicycle in the back yard.
Not long ago, child labor, human slavery and the oppression of women were all legal, approved practices right here in our own “enlightened” country. Some people honestly thought that other people’s interests didn’t matter. Though there was resistance, we amended our way of thinking and changed how we related to those others. Today, we are horrified at what, just a few generations ago, was considered acceptable. The time has now come for us to examine our treatment of animals.
Fortunately, no real sacrifice is required to consider animals’ interests. Making kind choices can mean eating a tasty vegetarian dish instead of one containing part of an abused chicken, buying shampoo that hasn’t been tested on rabbits’ eyes and keeping warm with clothing made from natural non-animal fibers or synthetics instead of from fur, leather or wool. For every cruel choice, there is a compassionate alternative if we just look.
Change is sometimes difficult. But in a country that values justice, we owe it to ourselves to continue learning and expanding our sphere of respect for others who are not exactly like us but who still deserve to be protected from exploitation. It’s not about radical change—it’s about basic human decency.
C
http://www.costcoconnection.com/connecti…
Pole: Should Animals Have the Same Rights as People - Do you agree 1?
No.
If PETA really are not the hypocrites that they are, then they should follow their own propaganda line that animals are not theirs to give or deny rights to. According to them, as humans, they have no rights or dominion over animals. Deciding for them and giving them something is against their own doctrine since it implies that groups like PETA are superior to animals and can bestow upon them %26quot;rights%26quot;.
And to follow your line: did you know that animal abuse is a crime? That Ingrid Newkirk has survived for decades on a drug that has been researched and tested on animals? PETA has long called for the total extinction of pit bulls and has killed healthy cats and dogs for the sake of expediency (no budget they said). What about THEIR rights? Animal welfare is a serious issue yet PETA chooses to make it into a laughable and insignificant issue fit only for weak minded fanatics.
Pole: Should Animals Have the Same Rights as People - Do you agree 1?
NO!!!
Well, I don't know about the right to vote! ;-)
(By the way, it's %26quot;poll%26quot;, not %26quot;pole%26quot;.)
Animal should have respect for no abuse. Let them have their own thing in their environments.
Yet, the question is do animal treat each other with the same rights.
No...they can't talk, can't go to school like humans (they can go to school, but they can't learn math or science), therefore they can't get the same jobs humans can, and most don't even have opposable thumbs. We feed our pets (we give up our money to feed them), so they can give up some of their rights in exchange for us basically giving them life...
I think they should be left alone as much as possible, because people are always interfering with animals and making them go extinct, or tearing down their habitats. We gotta be respectful of their way of life too.
Perhaps humans and animals should be %26quot;seperate but equal%26quot;.
Not the same rights per say but definetly the ones they can/deserve to have that we have. Like, animals can't vote and stuff like that. But they deserve the right to freedom, and NOT to suffer so severly in thousands of ways by humans cruel hands.
They should be left alone, that's for sure! Who the heck would put a dead, rotting, decaying, flesh of a dead being into their mouths? YUCK!
Animals should be granted rights, of course, but never to the extent of humanity's rights. They can't talk for a reason... they don't have the same reasoning capabilities that we do. However we do have an obligation to treat them with respect.
Some of them, but no one should go overboard.
Hi !
No.
Yes they should..
Well, of course, since they don't have to pay taxes or rent, I would say that animals don't have the right to vote.
Otherwise, I find myself in a quandary. The animal kingdom is very broad. I think that cute kitties, lions, giraffes, dogs, animals who live far away from me (like bears and tigers), etc. have the right to live and seek happiness (provided they do not try to do that by trying to kill me). On the other hand, I do have issues with cockroaches and their right to live in my apartment. I will kill them and then pray over them and offer them puja and wish them a beautiful next life. Same goes for any other bug I find in my apartment. I just am not Buddhist enough to let them run rampant in my house, even if they were on this land first. I will do anything I need to do to get them to go away forever. I do try to talk to the head cockroach to see if we can come to some agreement about me not killing cockroaches unless I see them -- the head cockroach is apparently replaced often -- sometimes I go months without seeing a cockroach, and then sometimes it seems as if lady cockroaches have been sent to my home to give birth. When I lived in Virginia Beach, VA, I was successful with talking to the head mosquito -- I understood that there were different kinds of mosquitoes - duh - there were big ones and small ones -- and I just called out to a head mosquito and explained that I was very mosquito-ist and could not really distinguish between different kinds of mosquitoes, but, if mosquitoes stopped biting the people in my house, I would not kill mosquitoes in my house. It was very interesting - mosquitoes stopped coming into our house, and we were not bitten again by mosquitoes anywhere at all. My room-mate thanked me.
Unfortunately, the cockroaches do not seem to get it, so I kill them when I see them, and then I offer puja and wish them a nice next life)
No.
I will consider giving animals equal rights when Nancy Pelosi gives unborn children equal rights.
First off, PETA is not a credible source. They are far too willing to exaggerate or even lie to further their goals. And even then, they'll bypass their own ideal when it suits them.
I do not think animals should have equal rights as people. They should not be abused or suffer needlessly, but they are not people, they are animals. You're never going to convince everyone to support universal vegetarianism. Even in the modern age, with the vegetarian diet getting so much press and attention, the actual adherents to the practise are a very small portion of the population.
These kinds of articles are the reason many vegetarians get harassed, it is both arrogant and condescending. It is based on the assumption that the vegetarian is somehow morally superior because of his diet and the rest must be shown the error of their ways.
I'm not reading that, but to say they should have all the rights as humans is ridiculous. They aren't going to vote, or drive. I believe they should have the right to life and happiness, and the right to be treated as a sentient creature with feelings and emotions, and they should be protected from abuse, but you can't really compare them to humans.
it's hard to say.
i wish that animals could talk to us,
and we could communicate with them.
totally. we aren't the ones to officially say who/what has certain rights. i believe that position is held by a greater power (cough cough God). so, i say yes.
Nope Because animals have it better than us
NO not at all humans were not meant to be vegetarians we are meat eaters sorry PETA dang you guys are getting out there ain't you
i think i steped on a few veggie toes here.... roflmao
Animals are part of the food chain. Animals eat animals, and people eat animals. Get over it if you don't like the way it is, but you preaching about animals needing the same rights as people isn't gonna change my views on eating meat.
