My animal welfare dilemma.

I turned vegetarian recently. My main reason for the change was realising that there is nothing about humans that makes us intrinsically better than other animals. Of course, we have all manner of bells and whistles granted us by evolution that make us more advanced mentally, but unless you want to invoke the concept of a soul, or some kind of spirituality, there's nothing you can really point to in humans that isn't simply a better-developed version of something you can find elsewhere in the animal kingdom. So I drew the conclusion that humans don't in fact have any kind of automatic authority over other living creatures.

But then it occurred to me that the same principle can be applied to animal testing, which can often be lethal for the animals involved. Going by what I just said, I should stay consistent and support bringing the practice to an end. Trouble is, my gut reaction to that point is that it's ridiculous. Animal testing is vital to medical research which has saved countless lives. Whenever I encounter animal rights fundamentalists like PETA, who would sooner allow lethal diseases to run rampant through the human population than support animal testing, I want to beat them with occasional furniture. Yet by my own reasoning, I've wound up agreeing with them.

So what should I do? The main thing I'm trying to do is avoid contradiction. I can't possibly deny the intrinsic superiority of human beings while cheerful waving animals into a vivisectionist's lab for the good of my own species. But to stubbornly refuse those same animals access to the lab while people die of aids, cancer and hundreds of other diseases seems just as immoral. It seems that I can either support animals dying in laboratories, or humans (possibly including myself) dying in the streets of disease. But if I accept that both types of life are equally valuable, how do I decide who to side with?

What do you folks think? Am I just being too rigid with my principles? Is there an easy way accept both animal welfare and animal testing that I haven't thought of? I suspect this is a problem which has been debated hundreds of times before, but I have to admit, it's got me stumped.

Tags: Animal rights, PETA, animal testing, animal welfare

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Permalink Reply by Rob van Senten on November 4, 2011 at 10:55am

"We are animals"

 

Yes, we are  just monkeys with shoes.

 

"... we are higher ordered animals. Human lives are more worthy than animal lives."

 

I'm not saying you're incorrect, but what makes humans special? You are making a dichotomy between "higher ordered" animals and "lesser"(?) animals, what is this distinction based upon?

Is it the ability to suffer, the ability to be sentient?

Permalink Reply by leveni on November 2, 2011 at 5:02am

I normally never eat animal products. But when i visit family or friends, I eat what ever they give me. If I were to go vegan 100% of the time, I would still have a problem with getting B12. Either I could eat termites like other apes or eat beef liver(which is really cheap), or Blue cheese and other cheeses.  Or I could just eat road-kill.

I tend to agree with Shashankas point of view.

In the real world I try and apply utilitarianism, or my version of it, to everything, even inanimate objects. 

Why?

Maybe when I see animals get killed it saddens me. And of course this. Not to sure which saddens me more.

Sometimes i wonder if there are 2 different species of human. Those that feel nothing upon witnessing the killing of an animal/human and those that feel there is something wrong upon witnessing the killing of an animal/human.

Maybe there are varying degrees of humanity between these two extremes. I doubt it though. :)hehe

 

Permalink Reply by Tonya Wynn on November 3, 2011 at 6:43pm

I USED to be a vegan, but have been a vegetarian since age 16 (41 now).  I had the same dilemma, but the answer seemed/seems easy to me.  If I keep myself in the best possible health, then I won't be contributing to animal testing.  I try not to buy products tested on animals and hve written (long ago) to those companies (like Revlon) who do animal testing.  I USED to vacinate my pets, but no longer do because I know the vaccine companies have test animals...other cats and dogs!  I try to teach others about health when  I can.  I am sick to my stoamch at those who injure themselves (drinking,smoking, overeating, speeding..) because they not only hurt themselves, thier family, and society, but also they lead to more animal testing.  If you lead an unhealthy lifestyle, maybe you deserve to die (and not the animals)!

 

A Buddist, I think, made a good point... a flea or mosquito or fly eats us.  We are part of a food chain.  Is the fly or tick beter than us?  Millions of bacteria live off of us (they ARE a life form).  We would DIE without certan bacteria to help us digest our food...they live IN our digestive tract and it is a symbiotic relationship.

Permalink Reply by ShashankA on November 5, 2011 at 7:10am
I guess your point does make sense for now. I am a vegetarian, but not yet a vegan. As soon as I have the opportunity and the confidence, I will become a vegan though.

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