Treating Animals Humanely Personal Essay

Treating Animals Humanely
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Treating Animals Humanely
Industrial agriculture continues to feed billions all over the world. However, this happens at the expense of 50 billion land animals, a figure that is quite shocking, as noted by Loughnan, Bastian, and Haslam (1). Fifty billion is a big number and translates to more than 130 million land animals every day. These are staggering numbers, and even before the issue of morality creeps in, it is crucial to consider the impact this has on the ecosystem. Eliminating that many animals could indeed have some negative effects or lead to some instability in the ecosystem. The second issue that comes to mind brings about the question of morality: is it right to kill that many animals? Should humanity be called to answer for committing this heinous crime? Who gives humanity the right to exert control and decide the fate of the thousands of other species in the world? These questions require a reflective approach if they are to motivate action. Humanity needs to reflect on its actions and find fault in it. The problem with this is that greed continues to take center stage and is the driving force behind man’s decisions. People want to become rich, and this desire often tramples or comes at the expense of everything else, including the environment and all that is in. However, this essay takes a stand against the killing of animals. Animals do feel pain and deserve more than being butchered for the enhancement of humanity. Based on the above, this article seeks to make the argument that animals deserve to be treated humanely because it is wrong to advance a single species at the expense of others, some fundamental rights extend to all species, and that exalting human beings above other species demeans the essentiality of other aspects of the ecosystem.
Humanity does take precedence in a lot of things because he is the one who comes up with the rules. So, to the majority of the human race, the advancement of humanity should take precedence even if it happens at the expense of other species. In their article, Loughnan, Bastian, and Haslam (2) note that “the average American consumes approximately 120kg (264 lb.) of meat annually.” The article continues to note that this appetite is “fed by the slaughter of 10 billion land animals.” Ten billion is a big number considering that the population of the United States is less than 400 million people. This thus affirms the notion that humanity continues to advance at the expense of other species even though “animals can and do exist independent from people” (Lubinski, 3). So, even as humanity seeks to advance himself, it is crucial to consider the notion that animals do have interests that are outside of man’s quest to objectify them.
Building upon the notion that animals do exist independent from people is the notion that cert...