How We Treat Animals Reflects Who We Are

Does it matter how we treat animals?

More than and more people are questioning the means human beings use animals, and some are actively turning away from using animal products in their daily lives. Religious and non-religious people agree varying views almost the condition of animals, and of animal rights.

Explore the issues

Watch Shola as she explores religious and non-religious teachings almost the treatment of animals.

We use animals in all kinds of ways: for nutrient, work, sports and entertainment. Merely does it matter how we treat animals?

Hindus and Sikhs believe that the life of God lives in all things and that animals should be treated kindly. And in Hinduism, some animals like monkeys, cows and elephants get special respect. Most Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs attempt to follow the principle of ahimsa, which ways not-violence or doing no harm. And then you'll usually find that no meat is allowed in their temples, simply vegetarian nutrient.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam all teach that animals are precious because they were made by God. The Bible has a long list of laws about which animals tin can and can't exist eaten and most Jews still follow these rules.

The Qur'an allows Muslims to eat meat. But once more, at that place are rules about which animals can and tin't be eaten. Islam and Judaism both have rules near how animals should be killed for food, partly to reduce their suffering but some people feel the rules demand to be updated to reduce the animal'south hurting.

Simply do we demand to apply animals for food at all? Maybe we should call up virtually the effect our love for burgers is having on the planet. Big areas of the world'due south forests have been cleared to make room for cattle, causing wider problems like climate modify.

And in this state, at that place are factory farms which keep thousands of cattle, pigs or chickens in cramped conditions inside massive industrial sheds. So, more and more people are cutting down on meat or becoming vegetarian or vegan for upstanding as well as religious reasons.

But we likewise use animals for entertainment and animate being rights campaigners want most of it stopped: bird shooting, greyhound racing, horse racing, circus animals, even zoos. One very tricky area is the use of animals in scientific research. New drugs and medical treatments are frequently tested on animals to make sure that they're prophylactic for humans. But it's argued that scientists could use cells grown in a laboratory or donated human organs instead.

So what do yous recollect? Exercise animals matter? Are they one of the earth'due south resources for us to use or do they have rights that we should exist thinking about?

Animate being rights

Animal rights refers to the thought that animals should exist entitled to live lives that are costless from abuse by humans. In the Uk, there are laws designed to protect animals from cruelty . For instance, it is a crime to neglect or mistreat an animal, including when an fauna is being transported or slaughtered. It is also illegal to phase fights between animals for entertainment, or to examination cosmetics on animals. Some forms of hunting are also illegal and people tin can be fined or face up imprisonment if they crusade unnecessary suffering to animals.

The grouse shooting flavor runs from August to December on moorlands beyond the Great britain. The manufacture generates a lot of employment and income for rural economies, only is it right to kill animals for sport?

While almost people believe it is acceptable to use animals for food and wearable, increasing numbers of people are turning to vegetarian or vegan ways of living. This may exist due to the belief that animals deserve rights, the virtually basic beingness the right to life. Some people choose to follow a vegetarian or vegan diet out of concerns about the touch of meat and animate being products on the environment, peculiarly those produced by manufacturing plant farming methods. Too as food and habiliment, some people question the utilize of animals for entertainment and in experimental testing for cosmetics, household products, or medicines.

Evolution or cosmos?

Many religions view humans as superior to animals. For instance, Jews and Christians believe that when the world was created, God told humans to dominion over information technology, and therefore they can care for animals however they like. Non-religious people, such as Humanists, bespeak out that the Theory of Evolution presents a big challenge to the idea that animals were put on the world by God for us to use. How could animals have been fabricated for us to apply if we actually evolved from them?

Also, scientists are discovering that many animals are much more intelligent than we thought, and accept greater abilities to communicate. They feel pain, pleasure and even some emotions in similar ways to us. Scientific discipline shows us how closely related we are, in terms of our Dna, to many other species. This leads some people to conclude that animals should have rights, and that it is incorrect to treat them in ways that cause them to suffer, even if human beings benefit from it.

The British Egg Industry Council has strict rules about egg classification. To qualify eggs as gratuitous range, chickens must have access to the outside for at least 8 hours a twenty-four hour period.

Words of wisdom

What practice religions and non-religious literature and texts teach about our handling of animals? Click the picture below to find out.

Reincarnation

Buddhists, Sikhs and Hindus believe that everything is connected through the cycle of birth and rebirth . Therefore, the idea of ruling over the animals is not a belief shared by these religions. Many of these believers live a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle. Yet, some would argue that they value human life as higher than animal life because being reincarnated in human being class is idea of every bit being better than being built-in as an animal.

Animals as food

In some religions there are strict rules about the use of animals. For instance, in Judaism and Islam, animals must be slaughtered for food in very specific means by particularly trained religious people who will say blessings over them. Besides, information technology is forbidden to eat certain animals, like pigs. In Islam killing animals is only allowed in order to provide food. Hunting for pleasure is not allowed. Muslims may proceed animals as pets, although generally keeping dogs is not allowed unless for a practical reason, for example guarding livestock. Many Christians, Jews and Muslims believe that caring for animals is a very of import part of beingness a good caretaker for God's earth and some campaign for better treatment of animals, and even adopting vegan or vegetarian lifestyles.