Position of Animals In Modern Day Society

Do animals have rights? A frequently asked question among our

Canadian society today. Well we, humans, have rights, and we're animals.

Should our pets and wild animals have rights? The responses differ

throughout our society. Some people believe that all animals should have

rights just like humans, but other people believe that non-human animals

having rights is just a bunch of nonsense. My essay will answer a series of

questions that have to do with the question of animal rights in Canada. It

will hopefully show how far our society has come, and about what we are

doing to protect our animals here in Canada.

First of all, how do we treat animals in Canada's society? "Humans and

animals have existed together on earth for millions of years. Animals have

been used by humans for food, clothing, tools, currency, companionship,

sport, entertainment and commercial gain. They have been domesticated,

hunted, worshipped, trained and traded. They have been used and abused."

(James, 1990, 4)

How do we relate to animals? "Humans are animals too, though many

people do not think of themselves as an animal. In general, humans treat

other humans differently from the way they treat other animals. The animal

rights movement calls this speciesism. Like racism or sexism, speciesism

describes the discrimination against one group by another. In this case

animals suffer discrimination because they are not human." (James, 1990, 4)

Why should animals have rights? "Concern for animal rights is something

relatively new. Up until quite recently, animals have been more or less taken

for granted, but since they can't speak for themselves, we, as their masters,

guardians, or protectors, must speak for them and defend their rights. It is

because we use animals in different ways -- for food, companionship, to help

us find cures for disease, and so on -- that we have certain responsibilities

and obligations toward them. We, the most powerful animals on earth, have

a moral obligation to protect and enforce their rights." (Fox, 1991, 15)

"Because they are so closely akin to us . . . I loved all warm blooded

animals, who have souls like ourselves and with whom, so I thought, we have

an instinctive understanding. We experience joy and sorrow, love and hate,

hunger, thirst, fear and trust in common . . . " (Jung, 1991, 70)

What type of organizations protect endangered species and help maintain

their rights in Canada? There are many organizations that try to protect the

endangered species. Some of these organizations are The World Wildlife

Fund (WWF), Friends of Animals, and The Fur Conservation Institute of

North America. These organizations' efforts have resulted in making the

Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1973 in Canada and another

convention in 1977 which helped the USA and about eighty other countries

establish ways to control and monitor the import and export of imperiled

species covered by the treaty. Endangered is defined as "any species that is

in danger of extinction, and as threatened any species that is likely to become

endangered within the foreseeable future." (Niven, 1967, 56)

What kind of organizations exist in Canada and the USA? In the Canada

US they have organizations to promote animal rights. "The society for the

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) is the umbrella name for about 600

separate organizations throughout Canada and the United States that seek to

assure humane treatment of animals through education of the public, the

maintenance of animal shelters, and enforcement of laws relating to animal

care." (Niven, 1967, 189)

What are the main concerns of the SPCA? The SPCA has many goals.

"The most important concern of the SPCA is animal overpopulation. In

order to reduce the number of homeless or unwanted cats and dogs that are

euthanized each year the SPCA advocates spaying, neutering, and animal

adoption. In addition to it's work with house pets, the organization places

thousands of exotic animals in zoos and wildlife preservations each year."

(Funk, 1993, A)

What are the rights of lab animals? "One of the most touchy aspects of

our relationship with animals is laboratory sciences. Some people, called

anti-vivisectionists, are at one extreme in their concern. They want an

abolition of all experiments on live animals. At the other extreme there are

those who say that it is quite all right for us to do whatever we like to

animals. They say that God gave us such a right, since it is written in the

bible (Genesis 1:26) that man has dominion over all creatures. If what is

done to these animals may produce something of educational value, adds to

scientific knowledge, or can help improve human health, they argue that it is

worth killing animals or subjecting them to painful experiments." (Fox,

1991, 77)

What else is a main concern in today's Canadian society? Vivisection is.

"Vivisection, specifically surgery on live animals for the purpose of scientific

research. The term has also come to mean any experimentation on live

animals. Many millions of animals are used world wide annually in this way.

Humane Societies question the needfulness of some vivisection, and in the

US the Animal Welfare Act of 1970 sets limits on the use of animals in

laboratories. In many cases simple organisms, tissue cultures and so forth

can be used instead." (Funk, 1993, C)

How do we think of animals today? "We think about animals as objects

whose purpose in the order of things is to serve human ends. We learn a

whole set of unquestionable beliefs and a very specified vocabulary that keep

us from realizing the abuses that non-human animals undergo to satisfy the

ends. A cow who has been killed, skinned, dismembered and ground up or

sliced is beef, leather, hindquarter, hamburger. A laboratory rat is a

research tool or model. A deer or fox on a wildlife refuge becomes a

resource deserving of conservation. Using these words, it is hard, if not

impossible, to understand non-human animals as creatures that, like

ourselves, experience pain and suffering and have complicated emotional

lives." (Carleson, 1989, 43)

I hope that my essay has made you more informed of the position of

animals in our Canadian society today. To finish off my essay, here is one

last quote. "The concept that animals have rights and should be given equal

and fair consideration elicits a predictable reaction from society as a whole. It

brings to the surface human fear of hunger, disease, deprivation, and

suffering if it means that animals should no longer be exploited for food,

fiber, and medical research. Any threat to entitlements as members of a

relatively conspicuously consumptive culture evokes the assertion of

preeminent human rights: What of our rights to health and happiness which

society today entails the exploitation, suffering and killing of billions of

animals every year?" (Fox, 1990, 240)