Essay topic: Specieism
“Specieism”
Hi, my name is Jennings. Today is my 2nd
day of living (Yes, I was born yesterday!). My mom was raised on a dairy farm
and said her mom gave birth to her
there as well. She’s told me a lot of stories about the dairy farm.
Today, I got taken away from my mom. A big
truck came to take me. I feel like I’ve been in this truck for so long, am I
already 4 days old? I’m starving, I’m cold and I just wanna go home to my mom.
Today, I am finally out of the truck! I see the
sky, the grass; oh how it smells so good and open, I wonder if my mom is here- Suddenly
I am pushed against several cold, steel bars in my face, others murmured as
they are in a similar situation, some said their
mothers warned them of death here, as if it’s a normal thing; my mother never warned me of this.
Today, I sat without food or water. I didn’t
get to move much either; this area is too small to move when it is so crowded.
How long has it been since I got here? Every minute I hear shrieks of pain come
from my friends, shrieks of fear and hurt, what is going on? Why did I get sent
here?
Today, a man tied a rope around my neck and
pulled me to a room, I was too exhausted to walk. Is my mother in the room? I
hope she is it’s been so long since I’ve seen her and- Today turned out to be the
last day I was Jennings.
Jennings was a newborn baby calf, who sadly was
born male, which means he does not get to live longer than only a few weeks at
max, before he is shipped to a slaughter house.
Every
twenty seconds a young male calf just like Jennings will be slaughtered… Why?
Because of Specieism; if it weren’t for Specieism no animals, farm or not would
be harmed by human hand. Recently an
organization called “Toronto Pig Save”, shared a video of them pouring cool
water on the rows upon rows of pigs that were overheating in a transport
trailer, one of the advocates who did so, is now facing criminal charges for
giving the pigs water. This is just one other example of how livestock
is treated cruelly… Livestock is only one
group of animals that suffers from terrible Specieism.
First of all what is Specieism and what is the
meaning of it? Specieism is the idea that being human is a good enough reason
for human animals to have greater moral rights than non-human animals; also
considered a prejudice or bias in favor of the interests of members of one's
own species and against those of members of other species. So what exactly are
the differences between us and animals??
an-i-mal ˈanəməl/
adjective
1.
1.
of, relating to, or
characteristic of animals.
"a wide range of
animal species"
-------------------------------
hu-manˈ(h)yo͞omən/
adjective
1.
1.
of, relating to, or
characteristic of people or human beings.
"the human
body"
The only difference that Google can list between us and other
species of animals is our looks!
Yes scientifically we have different DNA but you also have
different DNA then your mom and dad, so why don’t you eat them? Specieism!
Specieism is not, letting cows sit on the couch or a husky eat
your cereal; Specieism is the idea of not treating every single species with
the amount of love, respect and protection you would want for your own.
Animal abuse is something that happens in thousands of homes
across America and BILLIONS of homes across the entire planet, all because of Specieism.
So what percent of animals are affected? (The following data is only
applied to domestic animals) Out of the 100% of domestic animals that are abused
- 31% involved dogs (25 percent of these were identified as pit-bull-like-type
breeds), while 9 percent involved cats.
It is sad to me that people only care about the
statistics of cruelty to dogs and cats. What about the other animals? The list
below contains all animals that can suffer
abuse throughout their lives or animals whose lives can end early because of us.
1. Livestock
2. Horses and bulls
3. Circus animals or zoo
animals (Yes! SeaWorld IS a type of zoo!!)
4. Deer, buck and moose are
hunted. (Along with wild turkeys and pheasants)
5. Fish (and the thousands
of marine animals that die by getting caught in nets by mistake!!!).
6. Domestic animals as
stated above.
As well as the wild lions, rhinos, hippos, elephants
and many more safari/jungle animals are cruelly hunted down for their skin,
meat and/or horns.
The point of this essay is to stress to you
that every species of animal is
important, not just the human
species.
So what can you, a
member of the human species; do to help protect other members of the animal
species??
1.
If you see someone hurting any animal, call your local police
and alert them.
·
If the animal happens to be domestic call your local shelter or
rescue immediately!
·
If the animal happens to be livestock, call the farmer or owner
of the land and report the abuse immediately!
2. If you find an animal that
needs urgent rescue or urgent medical care call your local rescue or vet to get
help.
Absolutely DO NOT call animal control under any
circumstances!!
3.
Go vegan!!! Even just going vegetarian instead is a huge step in
the right direction against animal cruelty!
4.
Sign and share petitions you find that are in favor of animal
rights!
5.
Donate money to organizations around the world to help them make a change!
Even if
you are a teenage student with no cash or a 60 year old with millions of
dollars, you can do something to help. From signing petitions on the internet
to travelling to Antarctica to rescue seals, you are making a difference in an animal’s
life.
Let's end specieism, one animal at a time.
Works
cited
No comments:
Post a Comment