Human has been known as the superior creation and according to some religious scriptures like the Bible and it is human that is tasked with taking care of other creations. Animals have been used for various purposes such as; food, entertainment, education purposes, as sources of valuable materials for clothing and jewelry, means of transport, sources of security, means of communications, store of wealth, and among many others depending on the culture backgrounds of people owning them. In the process of using these animals for the various purposes that have been mentioned above, people tend to perform some acts that contradicts the humanly ways these animals should be treated. Animal rights implies that animals are not for human to use for clothing, entertainment, experimentation or food but this can be tolerated when moral and intellectual approach is introduced on how such activities are applied, thus bringing about the concept of animal welfare. Animal welfare therefore permits for the various uses of animals to human only if some humane standards are followed. These standards for humane treatment of animals have been the subject of debates and discussions at various levels by animal welfare associations, academicians, and even legislatures globally. This research thus attempts to look at various mistreatment animals go through in the hands of humans at various levels ranging from being caged in the zoos to the effect some human activities have on them, and the general recommendations that can be applied to uphold their rights.
Various articles by PETA exhaustively show how animals undergo mistreatment even in the hands of those people who should protect them. Zoos are facilities where wild animals are kept for exhibition and PETA decries them as business places that major only on rearing, buying and selling animals with the main objective of making profit rather than animal welfare. To justify this greed of zoos, PETA presents some of those proofs as described below. Penguins that are adapted to snow cold Antarctic regions and aquatic environments have been caged in zoos that do not meet their natural environments standards. Such penguins tend to be unhappy, stressed up, and anxious and this affects their natural defense and the ability to lay their eggs (Rawlinson, 2014). Zoos such as Scarborough are therefore compelled to introduce the use of antidepressants to make such penguins happy. Another scenario within the zoo involves killing of animals that are categorized to have outlived their usefulness. Such zoos kill old animals like giraffes with the intention of limiting their inbreeding and feed their carcass to the carnivores like lions (Naik and Gumuchian, 2014).
Animals are also restricted in movement in several zoos and some game wardens tend to act lethally when these animals stray. In 2004 in a Dallas Zoo, a gorilla got away from its enclosure and injured about four people after which it was hunted and killed (NBC News, 2004). It is the duty of the Zoos to ensure that these animals are kept from reaching people and after the escape these animals should be recaptured and tamed if possible.
Other Zoos also lack some species of animals and they therefore try their best to imitate those animals. PETA organization reports of donkeys that have been painted in strips of black and white so as to resemble the zebras like in the Gaza Zoo. Painting not only affects the regulation of body temperatures of animals but also the sense of being strange to themselves (PETA, 2018).
Primarily dogs have been known to be the sources of security for several homesteads; however, the United States marine has extended the dependence on marine animals like dolphins as source of security. The US marine carries out training to some dolphins on how they can help in identifying submerged enemy vessels in their territorial waters (Slocum, n.d). They attach some weapons to these dolphins so that they perform underwater spy, and scientific research shows that such dolphins do not live longer than usual. The use of high frequency sound navigation and ranging (sonar) devices within waters is also characterized with generation of large decibels of sound which can lead to injury and death of aquatic animals. Whales, dolphins and other marine wildlife tend to run away from the sonar waves to a point where they reach shallow waters and they become trapped and die just like the whales that became stranded and died at the beach of North Carolina Outer Banks when the Navy was carrying out their sonar training (Slocum, n.d). Wildlife group advocates such as Natural Resources Defense Council, International Fund for Animal Welfare, the League for Coastal Protection, Cetacean Society International, and Ocean Futures Society argues that high frequency sonar tests could kill about 170, 000 aquatic animals, and permanently injuring about 500 whales not including about 8, 000 whales that may incur temporary deafness (Slocum, n.d).
There has also been importation of animas from various parts of the world through illegal poaching that may expose them to environments that do not favor their lives. In 2003 for instance, the San Diego Zoo and Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo imported about 11 captured African elephants from Swaziland while in 2006, several licensed zoos brought in about 33 monkeys that had been unlawfully traded by poachers in Africa. These animals are then subjected to new enclosures which are usually disconsolate, tiny, filthy, and barren. Even the best manmade environments cannot match the space, diverseness, and the degree of freedom these animals want. This deprivation from the natural environment merged with continuous boredom, loneliness, and cruel treatment from people cause some of these animals to lose their minds a condition referred to as zoochosis (PETA, 2018). Such are the instances when these animals are then introduced to antidepressants and antipsychotics to control this abnormal behavior. To avoid wastage of life of such wildlife, various zoos should team up with wildlife rehabilitators to return such poached animals to their natural habitats.
Most marine museums that make use of aquariums for keeping live fish and underwater animals for public exhibition deny several of such aquatic animals the freedom to interact with their natural environment and in the process such animals develop some stereotypic conditions. Such conditions involves these animals interacting with the unseen transparent glass boundaries by continuously lifting their heads above the water surface, whirling around the imaginary objects, and then severally turning on one side as they scratch along the floor of the aquarium tank (PETA, 2018). Also, according to PETA, some of these animals in aquarium tanks are compelled to perform stunts and they are distanced from their colonies as they are often moved from one park to another. Several of them therefore end up dying prematurely due to unfavorable conditions they are subjected to.
There are also some individuals that generate their personal incomes by performing acts, tricks and other entertainment purposes. For such animals to acquire such skills necessary for circus entertainments, they pass through rigorous training accompanied by harmful punishments such as being flocked with bullhooks and shocked with electric prods (PETA, 2018).
Some zoos also restrict the population of a given species of animals. Animal welfare would recommend for a continuous reproduction of animals without becoming extinct like the mammoth and dinosaur. Copenhagen Zoo and Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire for instance due to their limited space have resorted to euthanizing some of their wild animals like giraffe and lions respectively (Young, 2014). Besides gentle killing by the use of injections, some also recommends the use of contraceptives. All these population control mechanisms are not good for the animal. These zoos with limited space should instead relocate the excess animals to other environments that might suit them. Some zoos also do not offer health treatment to animals that are sick or hit by moving machines and only opt for euthanizing as the only option to end their sufferings (PETA, 2018).
Human has also been engaging in various medicinal research and experiments aiming at developing drugs that can help in treating various diseases and infections. Most of these medicine trials hardly use human and PETA argues that several animals are instead used. In an article published online by PETA, it states that some veterinary officers like those of Cleveland Zoo support the use of excess zoo animals for various medical experimentations. Several millions of such animals like pigs, dogs, rodents, donkeys, birds, frogs, cats among others are either killed or used alive for chemical, food, cosmetics, and drug testing (PETA, 2018). Other articles also show that several animals are trapped and used in various learning institutions for anatomical studies even though there could be other artificial tools that can be used for this purpose (PETA, 2018).
Having seen various ways in which animals are subjected to inhumane treatment, it is therefore applicable that some recommendations be made on how such cruel treatment can be limited to fully attain animal welfare rights. The solutions basically lie with the general public and the government policies. As PETA suggests, the general public should avoid zoos and circus that seem to violate the rights of animals. This will compel them to change their attitude on how they treat these animals. The government on the other hand can also come up with strict policies that can see that various activities that can hurt animals whether on land, sea or air are thoroughly dealt with. Strict policies can be a good deterrence to deliberate mistreatment of animals by humans.
References
13 Times Zoos Were Bad for Animals | PETA (2018). PETA, Retrieved 22 November 2018, from https://www.peta.org/features/zoo-animal-abuse/
Animals Used in Education | PETA. (2018). PETA, Retrieved 2 November 2018, from https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/classroom-dissection/
Aquariums and Marine Parks | PETA. (2018). PETA, Retrieved 12 October 2018, from https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-in-entertainment/zoos-pseudo-sanctuaries/aquariums-marine-parks/
Casey. (2017). Marineland facing new charges of animal abuse. CTVNews. Retrieved 1 November 2018, from https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/marineland-facing-new-charges-of-animal-abuse-1.3233671
Circuses | PETA. (2018). PETA. Retrieved 12 October 2018, from https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-in-entertainment/circuses/
Experiments on Animals: Overview | PETA. (2018). PETA. Retrieved 2 November 2018, from https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/animals-used-experimentation-factsheets/animal-experiments-overview/
Naik, B. and Gumuchian, M. L. (2014) Danish zoo kills healthy giraffe, feeds body to lions, CNN, Retrieved 22 November 2018, from https://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/09/world/europe/denmark-zoo-giraffe/index.html
NBC News (2004), Gorilla’s escape, violent rampage stuns zoo officials Retrieved 22 November 2018, from http://www.nbcnews.com/id/4558461/ns/us_news/t/gorillas-escape-violent- rampage-stun-zoo-officials/#.W_ZgwVxR3IU
Rawlinson, K. (2014). Rain-lashed penguins at Scarborough sanctuary given antidepressants, The Guardian, Retrieved 22 November 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/the-northerner/2014/feb/06/penguins-prescribed- antidepressants-scarborough-rain
Slocum, J. (n.d). Does Military Sonar Kill Marine Wildlife? Scientific American, Retrieved 22 November 2018, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-military-sonar- kill/
Young, R. (2014). The Real Reason Copenhagen Zoo Euthanized a Giraffe: Parenthood, SLATE, Retrieved 22 November 2018, from https://slate.com/technology/2014/02/why-did- copenhagen-zoo-kill-marius-the-giraffe-cultural-differences-in-conservation.html
Zoos and Other Captive-Animal Displays | PETA (2018). PETA, Retrieved 22 November 2018, from https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-in-entertainment/zoos-pseudo-sanctuaries/
