Animal Ethics

I forbindelse med mit kursus i Laboratory Animal Science har vi haft emnet etik. Jeg ved ikke, om der er copyright på vores cases, men jeg synes alligevel at I lige skulle have glæde af et par overvejelserne:

"Given that an animal belongs to a species incapable of self-consciousness, it follows that it is not wrong to rear and kill it or food, provided that it lives a pleasant life and, after being killed, will be replaced by another animal which will lead a similarly pleasant life and would not have existed if the first animal had not been killed. This means that vegetarianism is not obligatory for thise who can obtain meat from animals that they know to have been reared in this manner" - Singer 1979

"Let us suppose that, inspired by Singer's article, people were to hit on the idea of having their pets painlessly put down at the start of each holiday (as some pet owners already do), acquiring new ones upon their return. Suppose, indeed, that a company grows up, 'Disposapup Ltd.', which rears the animals, house-trains them, supplies them to any willing purchaser, takes them back, exterminates them and supplies replacements, on demand. It is clear, is it not, that there can, for Singer, be absolutely nothing directly wrong with such a practice. Every puppy has, we may assume, an extremely happy, albeit brief, life - and indeed, would not have existed at all but for the practice." - Lockwood 1979

Det er da værd at tænke over, hvorfor de fleste instinktivt synes, det er acceptabelt at gøre med en ko, hvad der ikke er acceptabelt at gøre med en hund... Det er da værd lige at skænke en tanke.
For slet ikke at tale om, hvordan mange ser på brugen af forsøgsdyr, når de ikke skænker det en tanke, hvor ringe krav der er til behandlingen af dyrene i landbruget - for slet ikke at tale om fiskeri, der for alvor må betegnes som værende en særdeles pinefuld død for fiskene.