Thursday, October 23, 2003

ANIMAL RIGHTS?

Back in the day when I had just started up my blog I told myself that I would never blog about the big issues, namely capital punishment, abortion and euthanasia. Its pretty pointless because everyone has an opinion and no one is going to change it because its usually the result of deeply held ideological/moral beliefs.

The animal rights issue seems to fall into this category, or just about anyway, but I got into the debate on the phone with a friend tonight and my frustration level got to the point that I had to write about it.

To begin with I hate those folks over at PETA. I understand the drive to get into radical political activism. In the crazy days of my youth I have even participated in it. But what causes someone to step out into the world with the desire to do good, look around at all the human suffering from disease, poverty, starvation, and injustice and decide that the most pressing matter is to help... the ANIMALS! It seems to me that the only way that this should be a priority is if the state of affairs for humans was perfect or near perfect. Clearly it is not.

The brief summary of my position is this: All domesticated animals are someone elses private property. As such those people have the right to do with their property as they please, so long as it does not harm another person. If a person goes out and buys a cat simply for the purpose of killing it, that is his right. If a pig farmer does not use the most humane method of slaughtering his stock that is fine. I might be concerned about the mental health of the person who kills the cat, and I would definitely be concerned if the method of slaughter affects the quality of my pork, but I do not want either of these people being fined, jailed or otherwise punished for simply using their personal property the way they see fit.

Animals in the wild are a different situation. No one owns them and so governments should take steps to preserve them and punish people who hunt out of season and so on. But cows and chickens and cats and dogs? These animals would not exist in nearly the numbers they currently do if people did not grow them for our own uses.

Posted by Matthew @ 2:18 a.m.