Animal Rights

I really feel strongly about animal rights and I feel I have a completely different side than Hearne or Singer. I feel that animals have rights, but not in the same sense as humans. They're not humans. Some are closer than others (apes, dolphins, etc.) but they're not at the same level of sentience as humans. And if they are, they're hiding it really well. I feel that animals should be well treated and respected, especially in respect to their habitats. Even animals to be slaughtered should be well treated until we kill them. Because let's face it. If it weren't for us, they wouldn't exist. This BS that animal rights activists spout about freeing farm animals? You know what that would be? Near genocide. Those animals couldn't survive on their own. And if we all stop eating meat like those bizzaros want us to? Again, genocide. That's what those races of animals were bred to do. Be food. And if they stop doing that, what will they do? Absolutely nothing. Farmers who breed cows and pigs and other food animals will stop selling them, will become poor and will be unable to feed their animals. And that will result in those animals starving to death. And then we'll see those cute cows on the endangered species list. Do you want that? No. Keep buying steaks.

I do, however, agree that animal testing has to be moderated somehow. The examples given by Singer mortified me and I am shocked that such things are allowed to occur. We rant and rave against torture of our fellow man, but mice and cats and who knows how many other animals are being tortured for no good reason? Now don't take this the wrong way. I'm not some PETA freak who wants to go and "rescue" all the animals from labs. I understand that mice breed at a ridiculous rate and are good for cancer research and that they're not allowed to test on humans (Which is dumb. There are 6 billion of them and increasing...). But the electric shock or starvation test? Thoroughly unnecessary. There should be a government organization set up to regulate this kind of thing.

So yeah. I don't agree with Hearne or Singer. I think they're both going about it the wrong way. They both had good points, but I still don't think either of them quite had it.