How Fully Do You Understand This
Often times, when the word “animal” is said, probably the first thing that hits one’s mind is ownership. Well, admit it or not, humans have a very high sense of superiority when authority over all animals is tackled. Why not, people don’t only have the man’s law to use as a strong defense to lean on but more importantly, this authority can be sourced from the Bible. It was written in the Book of Genesis Chapter 1 verse 28: God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
It’s actually true the God gave humans the dominion over all living things, but people have to remember that animals, too, have the right to be respected. We shouldn’t be careless and too abusive to the extent that animals should act as slaves of torture for the humans’ entertainment. This is one strong reason why “animals rights” was coined. Thanks to Jeremy Bentham and Henry Salt’s idea that animals should have rights too, people’s eyes about abuse were opened. From then on, various animal-rights organizations and associations sprung to help strengthen this advocacy.
However, in spite the fact the animal rights is now well-spread all throughout the world, there are still some institutions that don’t follow what ought to be right. Sad to say, many of the world’s zoos nowadays don’t treat animals that way these creatures should be treated. See how ironic to say that a zoo is an animal haven when in fact, some of these establishments are merely using animals for profit gains. Yes, you see how smart dolphins do tricks, how chimpanzees entertain people and how lions growl at the signal of a zoo keeper, really entertaining right? But have this thing crossed your mind, what these animals had to go through before being taught?
{Additional information: Detroit Metro Airport, Cleveland Hopkins Airport, Dallas Aquarium}
There had been some cases that animals in zoo are beaten for training – extremely different on what you see when you take sight of these creatures do some tricks. In teaching a zoo animal, it’s necessary to apply a positive reinforcement. But what do some trainers do? They resort to beating, which is a lot faster technique to make the animals learn. But did you know what’s sad about this? There’s no such thing as a positive reinforcement! People just choose what degree of punishment to give, depending on what they want the animals to do. On some zoos, animals are not fed properly because of lack of budget or financial income. The reason why zoo animal rights was established is for people to follow it, not to break the rules and policies!
If anyone says that humans have the dominion over all living creatures, one cannot argue with that. But also remember that as a human, one should take responsibility of animals too. People using animals for services, entertainment and other stuff aside from food, should know how to “pay back”. By providing these creatures their primary needs like food, water and shelter, it would be already be a great thing to do.
Of course, not all zoos do violate zoo animal rights. More of these establishments are taking care of the animals with the best they can provide. It’s just saddening to think that up to this moment, there are still “animal havens” that are not as pleasant as they seem to be, applying animal cruelty.
They say that the best thing to relate to someone’s situation is to put yourself into one’s shoe. In this case, why don’t you put yourself in one’s “cage”? What if you’re the one deprived of the basic necessities in life and you just can’t do anything about it because you’re caged? How would you feel? Fighting off zoo animal cruelty should start from you. Respect is the key.
{Additional Information: Shedd Aquarium, New England Aquarium}