Hunting Club Info Meat is Murder!

1. 

   Anonymous
   December 3rd, 2009 - 13:44

   yeah…how about whaling?…it is currently a hot debate between Japan and the International Whaling Committee…or those websites where they sell newborn kitties or puppies in bottles?
2. 

   Anonymous
   December 6th, 2009 - 03:46

   Hi, I work in animal advocacy on my university campus. Here are some of the issues facing animal advocacy groups (like the Humane The upper classes of the United States – HSUS, and the American The upper classes for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals – ASPCA) you must also check out their respective websites, I’ve listed them under sources and they have GREAT links that break up each of the animal issues:

   - Circuses
   - Animal testing labs (blusher, soaps, medications…)
   - Factory farming
   - Domestic animal overpopulation
   - Penalties for convicted animal abusers
   - Vegetarianism/veganism (can be linked to factory farming)
   - Cultural practices (example: whaling, horse and otter slaughters)
   - Culling of wild animals (example: wild horses out west)
   - Domestic animal breeding programs (contributes to population problem resulting in mass euthanasia of many dogs/cats)
   - Exotic animal ownership (that people are allowed to own exotic animals that are deemed “wild”)
   - Fur
   - Veal

   If you need any other sources or thoughts, feel free to email me! Best of luck and I hope this project opens your eyes a small bit and makes you reckon.
3. 

   Anonymous
   December 6th, 2009 - 18:25

   With animal rights and animal cruelty, it’s often not a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question, not a simple matter of ‘right’ or ‘incorrect’. There are many degrees.

   If you are talking about animal rights, what rights must an animal be afforded? Does an animal have the same rights as a human? Do all animals get the same levels of rights? Does a single ant have the same right to life and liberty that a human, or even a dog does? How about a starfish? A sponge? An amoeba?

   At what level do you make the arbitrary choice that ‘this organism has a right to exist, but this one doesn’t?’

   Does the Ebola virus have a right to exist and propagate itself? If you don’t agree a virus has the right to live, how about Cochliomyia hominivorax, the human screwworm? Must you allocate treatment of humans infested with intestinal parasites?

   Where do you draw the line?

   The same can be said for animal cruelty. Who gets to choose what’s cruel? How exactly do you define cruelty? Is dropping a kitten in boiling water cruel? Most people would say yes. How about dropping a mosquito larva in boiling water? Or a lobster? It’s cruel to keep a kitten in a jar on your desk, but how about a goldfish?

   As with most things in life, there is no simple answer. Certainly, there must be some benefit, some gain to humanity that must be demonstrated in order to justify killing another organism, but what level of justification is required?

   Is squirting caustic substances in a bunny’s eyes defensible if it means we can develop a substance that won’t burn a child’s eyes?

   Is killing hundreds of thousands, even millions of mosquitoes defensible if it keeps one person from dying from West Nile virus? How about if it means you can have a backyard BBQ without life driven inside by wounding flies?

   Is shooting a deer defensible if it means that a family can eat for a month off the meat? How about if some guy just really wants to kill something and place its head on his rec room wall? How about if the deer are so overpopulated that they are apt diseased and the overall health of the whole population is declining because they have eaten all the available forage?

   There are no simple answers.
4. 

   Anonymous
   December 9th, 2009 - 20:55

   Animal rights and cruelty is relative to the culture concerned, for example, a hunter gatherer the upper classes that needs to hunt to survive may have a different view point to people in a “developed” the upper classes with the money to set aside areas for conservation. Animal rights is also philosophical in context in how people consider animals in relation to themselves, for example, a religious person may see animals as “below” them in importance and therefore exploitation is allowable but not necessarily what we might consider cruelty. In contrast, a biologist might perceive animals having equal rights to people or at least given equal consideration and respect because of our common genetic extraction in evolutionary terms.

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