Treatment of Animals
The golden rule states that "one should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself". Accordingly, some have expressed the opinion that since humans do not want to be eaten, a human following the golden rule should not eat animals either. One argument against this application of the golden rule is the claim that the golden rule does not apply to non-human animals. However, this does not explain why the golden rule applies to some "others" (humans) but does not apply to other "others" (animals). Some believe that it is not possible to raise or kill animals for meat and simultaneously follow the golden rule of treating animals how we would want to be treated if we were them. Application of the golden rule is therefore dependent on studying what causes duress or pain to animals and avoiding these causes.
Ethical vegetarianism has become popular in developed countries particularly because of the spread of factory farming, faster communications, and environmental consciousness. Some believe that the current mass demand for meat cannot be satisfied without a mass-production system that disregards the welfare of animals, while others believe that practices like well-managed free-ranging and consumption of game, particularly from species whose natural predators have been significantly eliminated, could substantially alleviate the demand for mass-produced meat.
Various programs operate in the U.S. that promote the notion that animals raised for food are treated humanely, but Farm Sanctuary believes that commodifying and slaughtering animals is incompatible with the definition of "humane," which according to the Webster's Dictionary, means "characterized by kindness, mercy or compassion".
Defenders of factory farming argue that the animals are better off in total confinement. According to F J "Sonny" Faison, president of Carroll’s Foods:
They're in state-of-the-art confinement facilities. The conditions that we keep these animals in are much more humane than when they were out in the field. Today they're in housing that is environmentally controlled in many respects. And the feed is right there for them all the time, and water, fresh water. They're looked after in some of the best conditions, because the healthier and content that animal, the better it grows. So we're very interested in their well-being up to an extent.Read more about this topic: Ethics Of Eating Meat
Famous quotes containing the words treatment of, treatment and/or animals:
“Our treatment of both older people and children reflects the value we place on independence and autonomy. We do our best to make our children independent from birth. We leave them all alone in rooms with the lights out and tell them, “Go to sleep by yourselves.” And the old people we respect most are the ones who will fight for their independence, who would sooner starve to death than ask for help.”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)
“I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but never with a view to injury and wrongdoing. Neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a course. Similarly, I will not give to a woman a pessary to cause abortion. I will keep pure and holy both my life and my art.”
—Hippocrates (c. 460–c. 370 B.C.)
“I wish more and more that health were studied half as much as disease is. Why, with all the endowment of research against cancer is no study made of those who are free from cancer? Why not inquire what foods they eat, what habits of body and mind they cultivate? And why never study animals in health and natural surroundings? why always sickened and in an environment of strangeness and artificiality?”
—Sarah N. Cleghorn (1976–1959)