Animal Bill Of Rights: The Ethics Of Shearing And Pony Rides

One of the fears of those who want to defend the world is that people won’t act until it is too late. Only when disasters happen will we understand how much damage we have done, and what the consequences might be. The debate of whether or not animals should be allowed to be used as subjects in research, entertainment, or clothing is one of the most controversial issues known in today’s society. (Park 21) Throughout time, animal rights have acquired different opinions from people. Regardless animals have all the rights to live their own lives without suffering and free from exploitation. Rights for animals should be the same as the rights for humans. It means recognizing that animals are not ours to use - for experimentation, entertainment, or clothing. No matter how much we deny it our world depends on animals. Here I’ll put you to the test. Think of your morning routine, you wake up in your bed, you head to your washroom, and you grab your face wash. Does it have the PETA’s Beauty Without Bunnies logo? 

If not then you are using a product that involves animal testing. Products like Benefit, Clinique, and Maybelline are companies that are not cruelty-free. Approximately 100,000 - 200,000 animals suffer and die just for cosmetics every year around the world. These animals suffer in such inhumane ways such as injections, force-feeding, radiation, and creating depression and anxiety for these animals. Just imagine if our world stopped doing this, we would be minimizing our waste and doing our little part to be more conscious. But yet animals are being infected with diseases that would never allow them to act normally ever again. According to PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) “Animal experiments are five times worse at predicting the effectiveness of human clinical therapies.” We are simply wasting precious lives, time and money. In 150 trials of inflammation-blocking agents that worked on the animals, not one worked for human patients. A study by researcher Ronald Davis found out why. When he and his colleagues compared the ways in which mouse and human genes react to inflammation, they found almost no genetic responses that matched up to humans. 

If we know that our world would be better if we stopped doing harmful things to animals, why do we do it? Why do we use animals for entertainment? Circuses, dog fighting, hunting, horse racing… all of these practices keep animals in captivity and use them against their will for human entertainment. In the past, Roman Maximus circuses, elephants, people, tigers, and other animals were killed for the sake of amusing the audience. Thousands of these animals are forced to perform confusing tricks, they are carted across the country in cramped and stuffy boxcars or truck trailers, they are kept chained or caged in filthy enclosures, and are separated from their family. They undergo through all these stuff just for “human entertainment”. Many of these animals even pay with their lives. Furthermore, animals are kept in zoos and are forced to endure unsuitable conditions that harm their physical and psychological well being. Whether they are wild animals stolen away from their natural habitat zoos deprive animals of everything that makes life worth living for them. Even the littlest games that we enjoyed when we were younger envolved the torment of animals. 

Pony rides are designed to make ponies suffer. Ponies can suffer from hoof ailments and may be left sore and chafed from the saddles and halters they wear all day long to give rides. Furthermore, the physical abuse these animals face is so crucial. Throughout the year's animals have been under the demand of humans, including fashion. Humans have used leather, wool, and fur for years and billions of animals are brutally killed each year for the clothing industry. Each year, more than 1 billion rabbits and 50 million other animals, including foxes, seals, and dogs, are raised on fur farms or trapped in the wild and killed for their pelts. Depending on the size of the clothing, up to 100 animals or more may be killed for a single coat. Leather is probably one of the most used fabrics in clothing. Few people actually realize they are wearing the skins of animals who are often made to walk for days without rest, food, and water. Wool is another worldwide fabric used to make cozy, comfortable and warm garments which are specifically used during winter seasons. Shearing usually needs to be done before spring, before they instinctively shed their winter coat. Most sheep are sheared when it’s still cold and an estimated 1 million sheep die from exposure. 

Nowadays, we have unlimited choices when it comes to clothing. Many different materials are being manufactured but demand in leather, fur, and wool keeps rising. It is simply unacceptable. In fact, we can be fashionable without wearing an animal skin, many people just wear them just for the sake of fashion. But do we really have to? We always hear stuff on the news, from all around the world relating to animal rights. Whether it’s using animals for experimentation, entertainment or clothing. Is it worth worrying about it at all though? Sure, it will be sad if there aren’t any more cute animals in the world, but it’s not like we depend on them. But beyond that, there’s a simple reason to save animals: because we want to. We should follow the words of what Rachel Carson, an American marine biologist responsible for launching the modern environmental movement, said: “The more clearly we can focus our attention on the and realities of the universe about us, the less we shall have for destruction.”