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Is a dog's life more important than a cow's?

Animal rights is a controversial issue. Most people believe that there are certain standards that should be upheld for the treatment our pets. However, there are varying degrees of opinion concerning the treatment and welfare of animals that serve a specific purpose for people, such as the animals that are used for food or animals used in medical testing.

Many people see them as just serving a purpose and are not concerned with their ability to suffer and feel pain. Naturally, these animals do not possess certain rights afforded to domestic animals, such as the right to live, but should there be standards for their everyday treatment? Should there be more laws in place protecting the welfare of all animals? Or should there be different standards of treatment for specific animals. Where you draw the line? Is a dog's life more important than a cow's life? Or a rat's life? Or even an insect? Is a human's life more important than any other creature? Why or why not?

Tags: animal, cats, cows, dogs, horses, pets, rats, rights, treatment, welfare

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Permalink Reply by All things Parrot on June 11, 2008 at 3:09pm: Personlly I believe that all animals should be treated fairly. Meaning fresh food water daily, room to move around, cleaned desent amount of time. and away from harmful elements.

All animals have rights. No matter what the creature, big or small.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jenn & Nick on June 13, 2008 at 9:25am: Thank you for your thoughtful comment!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Savanah on June 13, 2008 at 4:59pm: Actually no. no life is more important than another. We should all be treated as equals. Animals should be treated with respect just as humans are.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Yoshi on June 22, 2008 at 4:53pm: I know you are not going to agree with me, but I'm going to say it any way. While humans are animals too, the rest of the animal world does not, in my opinion, have rights and privileges. They do not have the mental capacity to understand those concepts, and they certainly would not understand having a right or privilege taken away. They live on instincts and habits. If a person brings an animal into their care, be it a cat, cow, dog, goose, etc, the human has a responsibility to keep and care for that animal in humane and responsible fashion. I see nothing wrong with animals being raised and used for food, BUT the animal's death should be as quick and painless as possible. And that animal carcus should be used as completely as possible.

JMHO,
Yoshi's Mom; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jenn & Nick on June 23, 2008 at 10:01am: I see where you are coming from but the problem is that many times humans do not take care of these animals, especially food animals. I also do not see any thing wrong with eating an animal for food, it's nature. I do have a problem with the way they are treated before they loose their lives. They are treated like products instead of living creatures. They are jammed into tiny cages or crammed into huge warehouses and robbed of basic needs such as room to move, sunlight, etc. I agree that they do not understand the concept of rights, but I not talking about rights that humans are afforded such as the right to vote. I am asking, do they have the right to live as pain free of a life as possible? Do they have the right to have a large area to roam, outside? Do pets have the right not to be starved, beaten or neglected by their owner? Should there be laws in place giving all animals the right to be treated well?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Yoshi on July 15, 2008 at 8:21pm: I think that is where anti-cruelty laws and minimum standards of care come in. This puts the onus on the caregiver to be responsible. I think that when pets are elevated from a legal status of property to a protected class of creatures with rights, it opens things up for the government to have a much bigger hand in your relationship with your pets. For instance: All of the pets in my house are spayed or neutered, but as my property, it was my choice to alter them. I will NEVER move to a locality that would require me to spay or neuter my pet by 4 months of age, or any age for that matter, and I will fight with every fiber of my being against such a law. As my property, it should be my choise as to when and if I alter them. I have researched the benefits and drawbacks of early spay and neuter proceedures and after nursing one dog through osteosarcoma (bone cancer) for several months before we obtained a correct diagnosis then the several weeks until she passed, I will do everything possible to avoid going through that again. And that includes not altering my dogs until after they are sexually mature, somewhere around 12-18 months. Large dogs that are altered before sexual maturity have a 40% greater chance of developing osteosarcoma later in life. I know that a bitches chance of mammary cancer increases, but that is a much easier cancer to find and treat. To me, that would be my preference.

Again this is JMHO,
Yoshi's Mom; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dilly on July 25, 2008 at 4:00pm: http://www.killsbugsdead.com/i/product_rhag.jpg"/>
I agree!!! A dogs life is as important as a cows or even a lab rats!!! I do understand they are bred for a specific purpose (cows,pigs,etc.) or to advance stuff like medical reasearch (rats,mice,etc) but it's not fair and i do belive that a lab rats life is equal to a humans!!! Also i do agree that even insects should have certain rights i admit i have killed my share of bugs but i normally swat them with my hand unlike my father who uses abug killer called "RAID" wich is REALLY cruel. Have you seen what it does to bugs on a tipical house fly spraid with raid it falls to the floor, has a very violent siezure, and falls dead. In my opiniun this is very cruel.....; ▶ Reply to This