Hey Whyvillians, this is Foxy20, continuing the debate on Cruelty to Animals.
From all of the articles based on this section, my conclusion is this: to me,
hurting animals is definitely wrong. Animals are part of this earth, and they
were not sent here to be injured for "research". I do understand, though, that
we need animals to search for cures, how they lived, and to learn more about
there species. However, killing an animal for a science project is just plain
cruel. If the animal is already dead from a natural cause, I think it is ok
for people to learn more about their life and how they lived to survive.
I also think that research can be very important, and from BabyPowdr's article, I found out that we found the cure for people with diabetes 75 years ago from cows! But in other ways, I believe that keeping poor animals in cages in labs for their whole life is WRONG! They give them shots, drugs, and treating these animals so badly! Then they kill them. Would you like to be kept in a cage all of your life and getting shots every day? I didn't think so.
An article that really made me upset was in the Animal
Forum. The unknown author wrote, "I do not think that as humans we should try to save
animals, in my opinion we should spend our time focusing on saving PEOPLE,
saving homeless, helpless people in other countries, and even in our own
countries. I think that we should focus on the group that really matters: THE
PEOPLE." That made me very upset, because I know that we should spend time on
helping people, but we should also help animals!
This leads me to another topic as well. I found this information on www.cnn.com. This is about a tradition that has been going on for hundreds of years in Spain.
As you probably may have guessed, I'm talking about the annual festival in
Pamplona, Spain. This event, in my opinion, is the worst thing a person can
do to animals. This event is called "running with the bulls". As you probably know,
people use these poor animals for "entertainment". I know that it is a tradition
that has been going on for many years, and they don't have laws for
cruelty to animals that would stop them.
The bulls are hurt very severely to
get them very mad to hurt people for games. The people in Spain
use these animals, hurt them, and when their games and entertainment is over,
they kill them. I know that it is cruel, but it's the truth. I don't want
people from Spain to write me letters about how it's their tradition, and how
I should never write about it in this way. I know that is a tradition, and
it's their way to have fun. But in my opinion, hurting animals for entertainment is wrong, and nothing can change that.
That is only one of many ways
people hurt animals. Why do they do it? That is one thing that doesn't make
sense to me. What does make sense is this: "No animal should suffer
just to make an audience smile."
--Casey Kasem
Here's another example of cruelty: about a year or two ago, my mother was at
work, and found a cute homeless kitten outside. The kitten was very hungry,
and was very thin. My mother took her home and we gave her food and water.
The next couple of days our cat began getting very scared of people. We knew
it wasn't us, because we never did anything to hurt her. Then we realized
that our cat had been beaten by many people where she used to live. She was
scared of everyone, and whenever anyone got close to her, she ran away. But
it was also interesting because she wanted to stay in the same room with us
because she felt safe with us. If we moved out of the room, she came with us.
She just didn't want us to get too close to her. Over the past few years, she
has began to trust us, and lets us pet and hold her.
Another big issue in Whyville is the debate about becoming a vegetarian. I agree with both sides of the argument. We do need meat to survive, but we also need plants to survive. The statement, "Now for all you vegetarians out there, bad news: you're not
helping anything!" was written by ILoveAG. That is not true! People can
stop that, if they stop eating it! One person can't stop it, but a group can.
You see, if people stop buying meat, the industry will go out of business, and farmers will stop killing the animals and then animals won't be killed. Eating
vegetarian food is very healthy, and can in fact make you healthier. You also
need the iron and calcium in meat as well.
So as a conclusion of my opinion,
if you want to become a vegetarian and save animals, you can. I myself am a
vegetarian, because I don't like people killing meat for food. But that
doesn't mean I don't agree with the other side of the story. A quote that expresses my thoughts is this: "To become a vegetarian, it is not necessary to make an oath
of allegiance to the Great Turnip over a sack of soybeans. All one needs to
do is to make the decision and alter their diet. This can be done gradually
or all at once, depending on the strength and urgency of one's beliefs."
--Blanche Leonardo, Ph.D.
If any of you would like to know how to help animals, there are many ways!
Some of the ways that I have found are from a website called IDA -- In Defense of
Animals. Here they are: "There are a great many things you can do! Getting
involved in educating people about the issues involved in animal rights is a
very big thing. Leafleting, having tables with educational materials, talking
to friends and family, writing letters to the editor of your local paper,
writing to your representatives and to companies with your concerns about
specific issues, donating to animal rights organizations, and just making
daily choices that do not harm animals are all excellent ways to make a
difference." If you want more ways to help, look up that website!
This quote got me thinking: "It is an important and popular fact that things
are not always what they seem. For instance, on the planet Earth, man had
always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had
achieved so much -- the wheel, New York, war and so on -- whilst all the
dolphins had ever done is muck about in the water having a good time. But
conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more
intelligent than man -- for precisely the same reasons."
--Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)
From many other articles, people have stated that people are more important
than humans and that we should focus more on us. I strongly disagree with
that because humans and animals are equally the same, and equally important.
Animals have families, and feelings just like we do! This quote says that:
"Life is life -- whether in a cat, or dog or man. There is no difference there
between a cat or a man. The idea of difference is a human conception for
man's own advantage..."
--Sri Aurobindo
Well, it's time for me to go... thanks for reading my opinions! *click*
-Foxy20
