9 minute read
ANIMAL RIGHTS
Editor’s Note: It goes without saying that we all care about our pets. We treat them as if they are family and we educate ourselves to improve their lives, as we would our own. Unfortunately, this is not the case for all animals in South Africa. To talk about animals’ rights is often frowned upon as pointed out in this article. So, let’s talk about what could improve should we implement better regulation of animal rights.
Animal Rights - Human Rights
The subject of animal rights is controversial and often hard to discuss. The way in which animals are treated worldwide is appalling, and this urgently needs to change. But can we justify caring about animal rights when so many of our fellow human beings are struggling to survive and experiencing abuse and neglect, too? The answer is a resounding: ‘Yes!’. Striving towards better treatment and rights for animals does not mean not caring about human needs and rights – quite the opposite, in fact.
What are animal rights?
In broad terms, rights are certain moral, legal, and social entitlements and freedoms that each individual has, which nobody is allowed to ignore or take away. Animals are now considered to be sentient beings and, as such, they should also have certain rights with which we cannot interfere. At the very least, they have the right to live a normal life that provides everything needed to thrive and does not cause unnecessary suffering and distress.
Many people believe that animals are simply here to feed, clothe, protect and entertain us; that they lack sentience and, therefore, don’t need rights. On the other end of the spectrum are those that believe that animals are not only sentient but should never be used for anything benefiting humans at all; that all ‘use’ is abuse. Most of us fall somewhere in between these opposing views, believing that it is normal to benefit from animals in some way, but acknowledging that we have a moral obligation to treat them with kindness and respect.
The problem is that this generally makes it challenging to get as much out of animals as some would like: if we care about their rights, we cannot intensively farm them, transport them in cheap but inhumane conditions, chain them up to guard property, use them as disposable test subjects, destroy their habitats to build houses, and all the myriad other ways in which humans exploit animals. Some may argue that human rights and needs trump those of animals, but, when you consider it from several angles, looking after animal rights actually benefits everyone.
Agriculture
Humans will almost certainly continue getting food and other items from animal sources for the foreseeable future. This isn’t inherently a bad thing, for example, if someone keeps a few happy chickens in their garden and eats the eggs, there shouldn’t be an issue. Unfortunately, the vast majority (over 90%) of animal products we consume do not come from happy chickens in back yards – they come from intensive or industrial animal farming. This provides cheap, abundant, and accessible food and other animal products, and rakes in profits… but it comes at a heavy cost. These animals live in overcrowded, stressful conditions, and have a truly awful existence, but did you know that it also has a negative impact on our health and the environment? When huge numbers of animals live crammed together, as is the case with factory farming, the risk of disease spreading is greatly increased. In order to prevent this, the animals are routinely given antibiotics, which also make them grow faster. These drugs find their way into eggs, milk, and meat, and the air, soil, and water. Although still requiring more research, it is thought that this is possibly the largest source of antibiotic resistance today, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). And you don’t even need to eat the animal to be affected – in one study, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health collected drug-resistant bacteria from the air and surfaces in their cars…while driving behind factory chicken transport vehicles. It can also contribute to development of zoonoses, such as novel H1N1 (‘swine flu’).
Sentience (sehn-stjens)
The capacity to experience feelings, both positive (joy, love, pleasure) and negative (suffering, pain, distress). It implies having an awareness of oneself and others. It is different to reason (the ability to think), although they are often closely linked.
“Compassion for animals is intimately associated with goodness of character, and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good person.”- Arthur
Schopenhauer, philosopher and author
In a 2009 report, Dr Gregory Gray, director of the Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases at the University of Iowa College of Public Health, advised that, “The same economy-of-scale efficiencies that allow [factory farming] to produce affordable meat for so many consumers, also facilitate the mutation of viral pathogens into novel strains… workers exposed routinely to livestock can pass these zoonotic infections—which transmit readily among humans and animals—on to the wider public.”
Moreover, poorly looked after animals are not as productive, for example, stressed cows give less milk. Because these animals don’t eat naturally (instead are fed mass-produced, fortified foods full of antibiotics), and have their growth unnaturally accelerated, it is possible that products from these animals could be less nutritious. Intensive livestock farming practices (which couldn’t happen if we cared about animal rights) also have a massive impact on the environment, from their contribution to greenhouse gases, to toxic run-off which lands up in our water. Clearly, if the end goal is to provide better lives for people, factory farming – which most definitely infringes on animal rights - is not actually achieving that goal at all.
Community
We know that our environment contributes to our behaviour, and when people are continuously surrounded by the physical signs of lack, of which visible animal neglect, mistreatment, and overpopulation are a part, it feeds into a poverty narrative. By improving the care of community animals, it speaks, not just to the welfare of those animals, but to better surroundings and more positive mind sets for the people who live there.
Neglect of animals living closely with humans, be they dogs and cats, or goats, chickens, and pigs, can also contribute to dangerous situations developing. For example, when an area has lots of uncared for dogs, the likelihood of someone being bitten increases. Dirty, unsanitary animal enclosures pose health threats to the people who live near them; the same goes for not treating for parasites like fleas and worms which can affect people too. Those in challenging circumstances, who rely on their companion animals for protection and companionship, need them to be happy and healthy. All of this can only happen if we concern ourselves with making sure their basic rights are attended to.
There is also a strong link between animal abuse, and family and community violence, and it’s estimated that animal abusers are five times more likely to harm humans too. People who abuse animals generally do not stop with animals.
Children exposed to animal cruelty are less likely to cope with other forms of trauma and more likely to develop psychological issues. Women in abusive relationships frequently report that their abuser had “threatened, harmed, or killed” their companion animals as a way to exert dominance over them and the family. Aggressive criminals, mass murderers, sex offenders, and serial killers are all significantly more likely than the general population to have perpetrated cruelty to animals, particularly from a young age.
Animal abuse and neglect has also been linked with general antisocial behaviour, including drug and public disorder offences. In addition, children that are involved in animal abuse are often themselves being abused. So, animal abuse can be both a predictor to, cause of, and red flag for other forms of abuse towards humans.
The better animal rights laws there are, the more likely animal abuse is to be taken seriously, which, aside from helping the animals themselves, could potentially prevent escalation to abuse of people and add weight to prosecution of that abuse.
Wildlife
Wild animals, be they birds or buffalo, are also deserving of rights – and protecting them impacts greatly on us. Poaching, killing, poisoning, or removing our wildlife has a negative impact on the entire ecosystem, which we are also part of. Moreover, nature tourism, in which visitors come to the country to enjoy our biodiversity and unique animals, is a crucial source of income for both local communities and the country as a whole. Tourism brings jobs, education, community upliftment, and bolsters international goodwill.
It is also thought that wildlife crime, such as rhino poaching, is linked with other serious crimes, such as weapons and drug smuggling, money-laundering, and possibly even funding of terrorist groups. We also have to consider that infringing on wild animals’ habitats and food sources, tends to force them to enter ‘human’ areas. This can lead to dangerous clashes between humans and animals, destruction of crops, attacks on domestic animals, and spreading of parasites and disease, all of which affect humans.
The bottom line is that animal rights and human rights are inextricably connected. The foundational values on which our own constitution is based include human dignity, the achievement of equality, and the advancement of human rights and freedoms. If we take into account all the ways in which our lives are closely linked with animals, it becomes clear that, in order to maintain these values, it is essential that we uphold and further animal rights too.
