Should abusing animals be illegal?
 

Should it be illegal to abuse animals (i.e. torture them) if you own them?

Why or why not?

Re: Should abusing animals be illegal?
 

No, it should be completely legal.

Having it illegal won't change anything; people can always torture animals if they want to. Giving animals rights, however, could bring up wierd legal issues that could make eating them and wearing them difficult.

Re: Should abusing animals be illegal?
 

Yes; it is already.

http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/dawson...ty/cruelty.htm
http://www.animal-law.org/statutes/

Re: Should abusing animals be illegal?
 

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Should it be illegal to abuse animals (i.e. torture them) if you own them?

Why or why not?

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Yes. Because it is contrary to my moral code.

Re: Should abusing animals be illegal?
 

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No, it should be completely legal.

Having it illegal won't change anything; people can always torture animals if they want to. Giving animals rights, however, could bring up wierd legal issues that could make eating them and wearing them difficult.

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The same logic could be applied to murder. People could still do it and wierd legal issues ccouild and have arisen. But maybe you think muder should be legal too because it satisfies your premises.

Re: Should abusing animals be illegal?
 

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The same logic could be applied to murder. People could still do it and wierd legal issues ccouild and have arisen. But maybe you think muder should be legal too because it satisfies your premises.

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This is true, because I pumped out a quick, stupid answer.

I should have mentioned that I believe human beings should have rights that animals quite simply don't have. Society should put humans first because we're the ones who contribute to it. Animals, by contrast, are food, clothing and entertainment to us. I really don't see any reason to protect their rights.

Re: Should abusing animals be illegal?
 

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I really don't see any reason to protect their rights.

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So the fact that it has been shown that animals experience pain , fear and suffering is no reason to protect their rights? Nice.

I'm not advocating a bill of rights for animals or that we shouldn't continue to use them in the manner that we do, but some basic laws to prevent people needlessly torturing animals seem entirely reasonable to me.

And not at odds with your reactionary tough guy "humans come first, down with the veggies" stance at all.

Re: Should abusing animals be illegal?
 

"Animals, by contrast, are food, clothing and entertainment to us. I really don't see any reason to protect their rights."

So in your view, animals have no intrinsic value, and you would have no problem if I raised kittens or puppies for the sole purpose of poking their eyes out and slowly torturing them to death?

While I think that is a defensible position (but certainly not one that I hold), very little separates any person who advocates in favor of it from a serial killer.

Re: Should abusing animals be illegal?
 

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The same logic could be applied to murder. People could still do it and wierd legal issues ccouild and have arisen. But maybe you think muder should be legal too because it satisfies your premises.

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This is true, because I pumped out a quick, stupid answer.

I should have mentioned that I believe human beings should have rights that animals quite simply don't have. Society should put humans first because we're the ones who contribute to it. Animals, by contrast, are food, clothing and entertainment to us. I really don't see any reason to protect their rights.

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It all comes down to one's personal feeling of the society one wants to be part of. I would not like to live in a society where, for example, where it was ok to to nail a cat to a fence and leave it to die (ok maybe cats but definitly not dogs!). And so one goes down the line until some cruelty is tolerable, eg in vermin control. Somewhere you make a choice as to what is acceptable to you. No absolute measure, just what you feel is OK. There are no absolute rigts, only what a society choses to bestow.

So the reason to give them rights is so you feel comfortable living in your particular society.

Re: Should abusing animals be illegal?
 

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So in your view, animals have no intrinsic value, and you would have no problem if I raised kittens or puppies for the sole purpose of poking their eyes out and slowly torturing them to death?

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That's a pretty exceptionally rare extreme, and anyone sadistic enough to want to engage in such a barbaric activity should probably be getting some serious therapy. I pity such a person.

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While I think that is a defensible position (but certainly not one that I hold), very little separates any person who advocates in favor of it from a serial killer.

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The difference is a few rungs on the evolutionary ladder, that's about it.