[Opinion] Do Animals Have Rights?

[allingeneral]

So, I just had a short discussion with someone who thinks that kicking a horse is the same as kicking a human. Now, I'm not here to say that kicking animals is something that people should go around doing just for the fun of it, but a horse is a horse of course, of course...

Animals don't have rights. They're animals. They live according to the pre-wired instincts, much like trees and grass.

So, if I shoot a deer in the head, or I chop off a chicken's neck - am I a murderer? In some people's eyes, the answer is YES! I am a murderer! LOL! These people are just plain out in "left" field.

The world has real problems - human sickness and suffering, terrorism, disease, ammo shortages, etc. Surely people can find something better to do with their time than to complain about how a trainer pulled on a horse's lead too hard or how fish hooks hurt fish.

For more on how fish hooks hurt fish, see this link:

http://gofishingforum.net/fishing-discu ... -t378.html

[OakRidgeStars]

First, let me say that I've been hunting and fishing since I was just a wee lad. Growing up out in the country, it was just something that we all did. I learned a lot about animals and people during that time. I learned how to take down an animal as quickly as possible to minimize it's suffering. Just because a deer, or whatever, is going to be butchered and stored in the freezer, doesn't mean it should should have to spend it's last few moments on this earth suffering unnecessarily. The hunters I've met are more concerned about wildlife then all of the so-called environmentalists I've ever met put together. Only a hunter can admire how beautiful one of God's creatures are, right before he squeezes the trigger. Try explaining that to someone from PETA.

As far as kicking a horse, or any other animal, why would a person intentionally do anything that would cause pain?. There's a world of difference between a hook in a fish's mouth and kicking an animal. If there wasn't, we wouldn't have animal cruelty laws. If I had the choice, I'd rather kick a person. At least they can tell me if it hurts.

[allingeneral]

I agree wholeheartedly that to put an animal down to keep it from suffering unnecessarily is the right thing to do.

hmm.. so, maybe we're talking about mammalian rights here since hooking a fish and kicking a horse are different. I don't disagree with animal cruelty laws - people should not be cruel to animals, and should pay the consequences if they break those laws. However, to take it a step further and say that "Animals have rights" is just too much for me.

Read some of this from the PETA website:

Without any legal protection from cruel treatment, fish are impaled, crushed, suffocated, or sliced open and gutted, all while they're fully conscious.

The methods used to kill fish are shocking and horrifying. Fish are so hideously abused that it would warrant felony cruelty charges if the victims were dogs or cats (or even cows or pigs). Some countries are making improvements: The EU includes fish in its cruelty-to-animals statute, and Norway closed down a fish farm for cruelty to cod. However, all countries have extremely inadequate protection for fish, and the U.S. and Canada have no protection for them at all.

These people and the people who go way out on the left on this issue or any other just make my skin crawl.

[Moccasin]

PETA= People Eating Tasty Animals, mmmmmmmm fish is good! So are the Shad dead or alive when they get planked today?

Animals don't need to be abused but IMO hunting and fishing isn't abuse. Abuse is the dog tied up for days on end with no human contact except at feeding time, if you don't want to pet the animal don't get one. It's the person who "loves" cats so much they have 100 of them but can't afford to feed themselves much less the cats. I don't think animals have the same rights as humans but I do believe they shouldn't be abused. Many so called "animal lovers" are some of the worst abusers.

[gfost1]

Animal rights? No.

Too many people, especially politicians, fail to note the distinction between rights and protections. We afford a certain level of protection to those unable to defend themselves not because they have "rights", but because we have rights. Hand-in-hand with rights go obligations, and we are obligated not abuse the power that God has given us over lesser creatures. Generally speaking, those who legally harvest fish and game satisfy this obligation.

Condoning animal abuse is not wrong because an animals "rights"are being violated; it is wrong because permitting such abuse diminishes ourselves.

Regards,

[allingeneral]

Animal rights? No.

Too many people, especially politicians, fail to note the distinction between rights and protections. We afford a certain level of protection to those unable to defend themselves not because they have "rights", but because we have rights. Hand-in-hand with rights go obligations, and we are obligated not abuse the power that God has given us over lesser creatures. Generally speaking, those who legally harvest fish and game satisfy this obligation.

Condoning animal abuse is not wrong because an animals "rights"are being violated; it is wrong because permitting such abuse diminishes ourselves.

Regards,

Well said.

I like your avatar

[Bob]

Animal Rights, I think they have a right to be treated with respect by us humans.

I'm a hunter and I don't apologize for what I do. I'm 67 years old and I have hunted almost as long as I can remember.
I'm never cruel to an animal, I own animals, they deserve to be treated well.

I have no use for anyone that mistreats animals, I consider them scum.

It's my duty to shoot as accurately as possible, and to kill as quickly and as humanely as possible. I pride myself on one shot one kill, when I pull that trigger I expect to see something go down. Thats the least I can do.

[wylde007]

It's one thing to kill an animal in order to subsist, another altogether of the desire to inflict injury, pain or torment.

Many hunters, salts of the earth, feel a kinship to the animals that they take down for food (and before, clothing/shelter)... ashes to ashes, dust to dust kind of thing.

If you're kicking a horse just to be mean to it, I'm not sure I could see any reason to condone it. I would be perfectly OK with permitting the horse to kick you back and see how you like it, though!

[cwats04]

i am not a hunter at least not yet (no one ever took me and taught me) but i see a distinct differance in killing for food and killing for a trophy.

i fish all the time and to tell you the truth the ones that i keep are knocked out before they ever get gutted and cleaned

as for kicking a horse i would normally say no that is wrong, but i do have to admit that there are a few justifiable times that kicking a horse could be needed for correction i have seen it done multiple times when a hourse was so out of control that no body could get it to calm down. one swift kick to the stomach and you would have never known that was the same horse. while needed for certain situations it is still far different than kicking for the fun of it

now as for animals having rights i would say no but i do agree that they are afforded certain protections and should be

[wylde007]

Condoning animal abuse is not wrong because an animals "rights"are being violated; it is wrong because permitting such abuse diminishes ourselves.

We were made lords and stewards over Creation.

We should never abuse that gift.

[Bob]

I like what you wrote wylde007.

I almost always feel a little sad when I kill a deer, not so much for the turkey or other birds, but the deer always give me a pang of sorrow.

I love to watch them especially in the spring when the fawns are born, they are a majestic animal, the true essence of the outdoors.

I have no use for people that abuse animals, I hate to see a dog being mistreated, it's almost always because the human is stupid not the dog.

I see no reason to abuse an animal, some people are just plain mean.

[SnakeEater]

I just have to say that I sure am glad that PETA was not around during biblical times, God would never have received his offerings.

I have to agree that I can not stand people who abuse animals. I was told I abuse animals one time because I hunt, It is not abuse to kill an animal for food, It was commanded by God when he tossed Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden that they should have to eat the flesh of animals and the list is found in Deuteronomy. I agree it to be abuse if you kill for sport and do not use the animal.

If you have to take out your aggressions, pleas take up Boxing, Karate, or even Dominos ( games can get rowdy).

Will