Throughout time there has always been a discussion on if animals have the capability of emotion and reasoning. And both sides of the intensive discussion have provided detailed explanations of their reasoning. And with time the rights of animals have changed back and forth from gaining and losing rights of better living conditions.
In the year 2018 currently, the public policy of Animal rights in the United States has decreased in the amount of protection that was provided to animals. Currently, the part of the policy that has changed is the protection of animals who are hunted. Since President Donald Trump has entered office in 2017 the number of animals being hunted has increased due to the federal agencies allowing states to change their laws on the protection of animals being hunted. Another issue that has changed is allowing breeding and research facilities know when an inspection would occur of the facility. And this got a lot of backlashes because many organization said that allowing facilities to know when an inspection would occur would allow facilities to change their ways of treating animals.
The issue of the change of the public policy on the current policy is that it is allowing more leeway to facilities to commit animal abuse or have animals in poor condition instead of having the proper care for the animals. Another issue is if animals should be used to test out products that have just been formulated or for tests for research of new medicals advances. Another part of the issue is the conditions that animal’s facilities who raise animals to produce sustenance for us humans living conditions. They say that many animals are kept in wire cages that are to compact for them to move around in. In the article “World Animal Protection” by the PR Newswire it says “Three out of four of the world’s mother pigs spend most of their lives in steel cages no bigger than a refrigerator, unable to turn around or move freely”. (pg. 2). And the result being in their cages causes stress and physical pain which causes many animals to have behavior problems or get diseases or infections that cause many to die. This issue affects us, humans, because we are the ones that are consuming the animals. And many have infections or have diseases that need to be treated with medication. And all these impacts on the animals affect us because we can get sick and are unhealthy for us to consume. Another issue is if animals should be used to test out products that have just been formulated.
There are two sides of a discussion and their reasoning on the pro or cons of the current public policy of animal protection. The part of the issue is if animals have the ability of any type of emotion which has a pro and con side. The pro side says that animals are very closely related to how we think and comprehend things. And that animals are able to express their emotions by their behavior. The con side says that animals do not have any emotions to be able to decide or know anything that is occurring to them and that they just eat and don’t think about anything. Another issue is if animals should be used for medical research or used in testing products which also has a pro side and con side. The pro side of the topic says that it helps with the research of testing of new medication or treatment of humans. The reason for their reasoning is because they say most all animals and humans share common traits which will help the evolution process in the medical field. The cons side is that most of the animals used for testing are kept in small crates that have no access to a window. And that the animals are stressed and in distress from not having the brain stimulation that they need to survive and prosper.
Another con was that many animals die from the testing every year from all the chemicals that are inserted or put on them. The animals will also sometimes have abnormalities that will occur to them from the side effects of the medical research that is done to them. The public policy of animal protection has two sides on is the enforcement of the law and the other is to decrease or take away of the animal protection law. One side says that the decrease in protection is the correct thing to do because animals are made to be consumed by humans. And that there is no use in protecting a thing that is inferior and can make no decision for itself and has no emotion either. And them hunting animals helps the nature cycle so that there is not an overcrowded of animals in the United States. The other side of the discussion is the continuation of the animal protection law and more of an enforcement that allows the treatment of animals to be respected and animals to be cared for properly. And that no animals should be locked in a small cage with no room for them to turn in.
The prescription of what the government or federal should be doing is that they need to continue to enforce the protection of animals. The need to enforce more of the policy because the animals are being treated poorly and live in living conditions that they have no ability to move and live happily. The opposite side says that the government needs to decrease the protection because animals have no feelings and only have one use which is to be used in favor of the human. Also, they say that the enforcement of the law causes an interference with the cycle of life and that with people hunting animals helps control the overpopulation of animals.
In my personal opinion on the public policy of the protection of animals, I believe that all animals should have the opportunity to live a happy life without cruelty. There are many reasons why I support the enforcement of the law on animal protection, but some main reasons are that animals have the capability of emotion and are able to understand what types of situations they are living in. One reason I believe they have emotion is that scientists have done numerous studies throughout the years on why caged animals have very aggressive behaviors that are different than chickens that are raised in healthy environments such as a farm. And the results were that the animals were experiencing emotions that would cause anger from not to have the correct stimulation that they require to live a normal healthy life. And that the built-up agitation that the caged animals had from being locked up would cause the animals to bite themselves and get into fights with other animals that were in the same situation as them. And in some cases, the animals would die from being in a fight with another animal or from contacting a disease or infection from living in unsanitized living spaces.
Another reason for my support on the enforcement of animal protection is because of the suffering animals endure when they are tested in laboratories for medical testing. In the article “Protecting Animals” by CQ press they state that “FDA previously found that between 92 and 96 percent of drugs that pass animal testing fail to proceed to market most often because of problems that were not identified during animal testing.” (pg.591) this means that experimenting on animals is not useful for medical research. Instead of it being helpful for research it only killing animals that are innocent and have never seen the outside of a laboratory.
