Human beings have been immune to various prejudices that come with life. In response to various activities that go against the rights of people, philosophers developed arguments trying to fight for civil rights. In the past, philosophers came out strongly to fight slavery and other forms of atrocities that used to take place ( Singer, 2019) . In this manner, we see that human beings care about what happens to them and will use possible ways available to ensure that people live peaceful and valuable life. The big question is, can this be done to the animals? Can human beings take good care of animals and give them the quality of life that they deserve? Sentience condition in animals is a statement that has been underrated by many people who do not care whether animals also feel pain just like human beings do ( Timmons, 2013 ) . The notion of ethical treatment of animals advocates for peaceful relationship between human beings and animals where no harm or pain should be inflicted to the animals.
Human beings interact with animals in various places. People keep animals as pets, some rear animals for agricultural production, entertainment; others use animals as a form of security and many more functions ( Rebuelto, 2018) . This shows that animals are useful to human beings and should therefore be given quality treatment. Ethical treatment of animals is a special branch of ethics which works to examine the relationship between human beings and animals, how animals should be considered morally and how the inhuman animals need to be treated ( Timmons, 2013 ) . This is a wide topic that is essential in controlling the manner in which human beings interact with animals. At least, every person should have basic knowledge about ethical treatment of animals because it very hard to find a home without an animal.
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Ethical treatment of animals is made up of various elements such as animal welfare, animal rights, wildlife conservation, animal law, animal cognition and many more. Unfortunately there are people who still do not recognize the various elements about ethical treatment of animals ( Timmons, 2013 ) . An example of a controversial case which has never been fully solved concerns use of animals for testing. The people who support the use of animals for testing do not know the value of animals and treat animals as if they are non-living creatures ( Rebuelto, 2018) . Most scientists have been using high number of animals for different tests without knowing that these are creatures just like human beings.
The use of massive number of animals for tests is an action that is inhuman and should not be practices. Are there no good options that can be used for testing to help keep animals safe? There are various options that can be used by the scientists instead of harming animals and even causing death in some cases. For example, they can make use of computer models in relation to the experiments ( Timmons, 2013 ) . Animals are sentient and this means that we should consider their interests just like that of human beings especially when making ethical decisions ( Singer, 2019) . The animals also feel pain just like human beings and therefore, they have to be treated special.
According to both secular and religious ethics, living an ethical life means respecting virtues such as justice, fairness, and benevolence. The interest of everyone deserves equal consideration and using animals for dangerous experiments and tests do not respect this ( Singer, 2019) . For justice to be served and ensure that there is fairness, animals should not be used for experiments and harmful tests since they also feel pain just like human beings and also play an important role in the life of human beings ( Timmons, 2013 ) . Again, use of animals for scientific tests and experiments do not respect the utilitarianism theory which advocates for acting in a manner that will best serve the interest of many people ( Rebuelto, 2018) . Use of animals for harmful experiments and tests do not address the interest of many people and instead, the technologists and veterinary physicians should come up with efficient computer models to perform experiments.
To summarize, the use of animals for rigorous scientific experiment and tests is inhuman and should be discouraged. Animals have sentient and this means that they also feel pain just like human beings and deserve to be harmed. Causing pain and harming animals is unethical and immoral because these animals help us in many ways and we depend on some of them. Instead of harming, veterinary physicians and scientists should do more research to help in saving animals.
References
Singer, P. (2019). Practical ethics . Cambridge university press. https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=lNgnV0eDtM0C&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=Applied+Ethics+in+Animals,+Euthanasia&ots=N3Ab913ilB&sig=Nx9nhOjHvfPNboIH7w0CmpqkNV4&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Applied%20Ethics%20in%20Animals%2C%20Euthanasia&f=false
Rebuelto, M. (2018). Ethical dilemmas in euthanasia of small companion animals. The Open Ethics Journal , 2 (1). https://benthamopen.com/ABSTRACT/TOJ-2-21
Timmons, M. (2013). Disputed Moral Issues: A Reader 3rd Edition. https://philpapers.org/rec/TIMDMI-4
