Do animals have rights?

Question

Personally, I think the notion is ridiculous. The founding fathers would think we have lost our minds if they knew that we extended "rights" to animals...

Answer 1

Not according to traditional theology. But the Loony Left (and only the loony part of the Left) have developed a self-loathing that extends to making animals more important than human beings, and to attributing souls to them.

See the lnks at: http://snipurl.com/uywv -- cases and materials on the animal rights campaigners and terrorists.

The liberal State has -- perhaps because it has in a way rejected traditional religion in favor of a more materialistic existence and a cultural rump of theology -- afforded animals certain rights: not to be abused and tortured, for example. Enlightened farmers never abused their animals in any case, although I have seen such abuse in Africa and Asia. But then Islam is particularly harsh in the matter.

One does not have to look to the animal rights campaigners for extremism and denial of the validity of the natural food chain: one can look at vegetarian web sites.

Answer 2

Yes and no. My dog has the right to be taken care of and not abused. But my dog doesn't have the right to attack others on sight. Unless in defense of my property.

As for PETA. I classify them as terrorists. What started out as a good idea, has gotten away from them. In fact, just a couple months ago, a couple of them got busted for stealing animals and killing them.

The incident involving throwing the dog from a car actually happened in San Jose, I know. I was there. I was shocked by the response. The reward for finding the guy was higher than the reward for finding a guy who's killed someone. And the guy who threw the dog out of the window was found very quickly. Whereas murderer is still on the loose. I'm appalled. Are we really that screwed up?

Answer 3

What the bunny-huggers need to understand is that with rights come responsibilities. If an animal isn't intelligent enough to be held accountable for it's actions, then it has no responsibility, and, therefore, can not have rights.

Are they going to start arresting coyotes for murdering rabbits? Is it ok for a buzzard to peck at a dead deer, or is that desecration of a corpse? Will they arrest dogs and cats for public urination? What punishment is appropriate for a dog licking himself in public?

If they want animals to have the same rights as human beings, then they must live up to the responsibilities that come with those freedoms. If animals can't, then it proves that they are not equal to humans.

Answer 4

Animals have two classes of rights.

First are the rights people assign to them. There are laws against animal abuse, for instance. So there are rights implied there.

Second are the rights animals afford each other, such as the alpha male in a pack of wolves, who has certain rights over others.

Also, with rights comes duties. So in the first instance, the duty of an animal is what? To be cute and loyal? And in the second, probably to protect the pack.

Answer 5

To some extent, yes.

The animals that are to be used as food have the right to live a contented youth (ie live in a 'chicken paradise', so to speak), and die as quick and painless death as possible.

The animals that are to be pets deserve the same rights as a child - care, love, health, attention, a good roof over their head, and good food given to them at mealtimes.

The animals that are going extinct deserve the right to be protected and to multiply (ie the conservation laws that are in effect now... but with more extreme [I don't mean death... but some sort of permanent deterrent, like banishment from the country] punishments for the poachers).

The animals that are pests have no rights save one, that they are not genocided completely (or, in the case of larger pests [feral pets, snakes, etc.], removed from the area completely and relocated into a less human-populated area).

Answer 6

No. Because in the real world, rights go together with duties, responsibilities.

Now, humans do have an obligation to not be unnecessarily cruel to animals, but IMO, they are not of the same worth as a human life, not even close.

Answer 7

Some animals have the right to make a nice steak for me. Others have the right to protect my house and my children. Beyond that, they shouldn't be subjected to deliberate cruelty.

When we get to the point where a story about a dog being thrown out the window of a car generates bigger rewards for tips to find the perp and makes bigger headlines and than people being murdered (this really happened in LA), we are azz-backwards.

What I hate is the fact that if my dog gets old and decrepit and has no quality of life anymore, I can get arrested for taking him out in the back yard and shooting him like we used to when we lived out in the country. Trust me, a bullet to the brain is just as painless as a needle.

Answer 8

In the eyes of the law some, though it's still a grey area. When it comes to slaughtering if raised for that purpose they have next to none. Animals kept as pets have the right not to be subjected to cruelty or distress.

Answer 9

so does that give you the right to stomp on a little kitten?

what would this say about the state of man's soul if he couldnt find it within his heart to be kind to a living breathing animal, who FEELS pain?

Does everything have to be broken down into a set of laws, rights and equations that must be printed out in black and white????

life and the world is rarely that simple

Answer 10

Unfortunitly some forms of animals have gotten limited rights, which of corse is stupid but what can you do. Animal activists have been pushing for animals to have just as many rights as humans, in other words if you killed your dog you would face capital murder charges and be sentenced to prison. The world is a crazy place and someday if you kill a cockroach you may end up in jail over it.