Animals

I cried why my dog of ten years died.  I also go fishing on a pretty regular basis and have no problem whatsoever filleting still flopping fish.  My experience on a couple different farms has forced me to work with a lot of people who treat their animals on varying scales of truly terrible to mild neglect, and I can't handle working with the people who treat their animals like crap.  However, when a cow is being stubborn, I have less than no problem reaching for the cattle prod.  I suppose this could lead to some questions about my ethics standing regarding animals.  

For me, it comes down to matter of deciding what animals mean more.  To the casual reader, that might seem harsh, but to me it makes sense.  A mosquito does not have the same moral standing as dog.  This goes doubly so for animals that are actually self-aware.  I have no problem eating meat, as long as its beef, chicken, fish, or anything that I know is not a conscious, thinking, future planning animal.  I would never eat a chimpanzee.  This argument is the driving force behind "The Cove," a documentary about the slaughter of thousands of dolphins in a cove outside of Taiji, Japan.  I have visited cattle slaughter houses before, and I know how horrible those places are, but cattle do not have the capacity feel joy and fear.  Dolphins, on the other hand, do.  Mr. O'Barry, who was the driving force behind the documentary, was the principle dolphin trainer for the TV show Flipper.  He changed his views on captured dolphins after realizing that the dolphins he was training for the show could feel joy, sadness, fear, and knew that they were in captivity.  

This is the same view I hold for animal rights.  I believe that every animal has the right to continue living.  In this view, there are certain exceptions.  This right to continued life does not necessarily mean that every single organism has the right for life.  It is a more holistic view, that the species has a right to life, and the community is the important part.  That is true for every organism that is not self aware.  As soon as consciousness and the ability to fear pleasure and pain come in to play, that dynamic changes.  Every single self aware animal has the right to a decent life.  That is what I believe.