Personal Statement On Animals Having Feelings

The Use of Non-Human Animals in Psychological Research Animals used in research have proved to be an important factor for the uses of medicine, for example Flemming found the use of penicillin was an effective antibiotic when it was used on mice. Since 1822, legislation has limited how scientists use animals. In the UK, the use of animals in psychological investigations has been constrained by ethical and moral guidelines. Current UK legislation in the Animals Scientific Procedures Act 1986 states that all animal research must only take place in a laboratory that are institutionally licensed for animal research. It must be apart of an approved research project.

When it comes to animals, everyone seems to have an opinion. Some love them, some hate them. Some believe that animals feel and experience authentic emotions, while others believe that they do not have the capability to do so. A lack of belief in the existence of emotions in animals is often used to justify wrongful treatment. Are some animals more aware of feelings than others? These questions and more demand answers. Animals definitely have emotions, and because of this we must rethink many of our modern practices.

Just because humans are considered a more powerful species, doesn’t give us the right to treat animals as if they are nothing. Would you want to be treated that way by a more dominant species just for their benefit? It is clearly unfair. If you pull your cat’s tail, it yells because it hurts. Animals experience pain. They go through the same pain that we would if we were subjected to painful, deadly experiments. Whether it’s a dog, cat, rabbit, mouse, chimpanzee, or human, pain is something we all feel.

As you look at the text of “A Change of Heart about Animals,” answer and then discuss the following questions:

Animal Intelligence Intelligence is defined as the ability to acquire and apply knowledge. Psychologists have exploited this concept in many ways to try and determine whether non-human animals are capable of intelligence. From social learning it is logical to assume that, since non-human animals are able to both acquire and use new behaviours, they must be intelligent in some way. Heyes stated that there are 6 types of behaviour which suggest intelligence. These are imitation, self-recognition, social relationship formation, role-taking, deception and perspective taking.

Animals can feel pain just as humans do. When scientist talk about the similarities between humans and animals they do not consider the similarity of the pain. Believe it or not animals

I think every single day we are personally connected with animals. We eat animals for food, wear animal skins for clothes, own animals as pets, use animals for recreation, and experiment on animals to test drugs and consumer products. We are aware of this, yet we naturally give little thought to the overwhelming number of animals that we use in these ways, and what the animals themselves might be suffering as we use them for our purposes. While no non-human animal on this planet has the cultured rational abilities that we do, many, however, have mental capacities that enable them to experience pain, suffering, and anxiety

The article “A Change of Heart About Animals” written by Jeremy Rifkin informs readers that animals feel emotions very much similar to humans and should be given more rights. I agree with Rifkin’s statement, but to a certain extent.

Rifkin states that “The current studies open up a new phase, allowing us to expand and deepen our empathy to included the border community with whom we share the earth with”. As evidence there are so many new studies about animals and how they all feel and think so now that we all know that they do, why keep keep hurting them? Just because a fish can’t tell you they are feeling the pain people are causing them or show emotion , doesn’t make it okay to do it. Animals do think, I wonder what they think of us. In an article telegraph discusses a topic about four teens that stole a dog from his home and tortured it for hours in one of the most worst cases an RSPCA inspector had ever seen."These youths admitted feeding him drugs, kicking and punching him, and wringing and breaking his neck before dumping him”. The four teens were given 12 months probation and are not allowed to have any pets for 5 years and were given a fee. That was all that was given to the teens after they did cruel stuff to that poor dog. Animals should have animal rights because cases like these are not acceptable or right.

Some people believe that animals have feelings just like humans . Yes, this may sound a little weird, but it’s true and every day there are animals dying from big game hunting That's why big game hunting is unethical and endangering the well being of animal species.

Jeremy Rifkin had made such impact on readers through his article “A Change of Heart about Animals”. Not only did he inform us the reality that animals do have feelings, he also unbounded the label we had long given to the animals, thus fully altered our perspectives about these fellow creatures. In regard to the influence, I myself am not excluded. As a matter of fact, since I was a kid, I have started raising pets. As long as it seems, I have built myself an assumption about these domestic animals as they don’t differ much from humans’ natural behavior in life. They have feelings, family and awareness of surroundings.

In other words, Rifkin believes we need to stop abusing animals and start thinking how animals feel. Animals feel love, Experience stress. Everyone needs to realize we need to stop mistreating animals and come to the fact that they feel what we do.

There are many animals who deal with abuse everyday, and that is not okay. If an animal is neglected or abused the pet will be taken away and the caretaker will be charged $1,500. Animals are very loyal, such as dogs, dogs are one of the most loyal animals you can own. When abused, they don’t know where they went wrong. They only know that you are mad at them. Animals, such as humans, shouldn’t be abused or neglected. Most animals who are abused or neglected are usually abused unintentionally, but the second most are abused on purpose. The people who abuse animals on purpose sometimes deal with mental illnesses, were abused as children, or have a hard time dealing with stress or anger. Animals are just like humans who have been abused. They are usually skittish and shy. People tend to see animals differently than humans, but they are the same in my eyes. For example, if I locked you in my basement, starved, and beat you, I’d be charged with attempted murder and kidnapping. Pets have the same rights as you to live freely, but people don’t see it. You are able to live on your own and take care of yourself, but they

To begin, Animals do feel the same pain as any human would feel when being hurt. All animals have feelings but aren't able to expressed them the way humans express them. In the article “Hooked on a myth” published by the LA Times and written by Victoria Braithwaite reads as follows, “When a sharp object pierces the human body, specialized nerve endings called nociceptors alert us to the damage…..fish have the same two types of nociceptors that we do”(Braithwaite 1). Fishes have the same nociceptors that we do. What makes us think that the other animals do not have it? This can let us know that animals feel the pain humans do. We need to take in consideration of the animals that are not able to express what they feel like humans can and stop

Do animals feel joy, love, fear, anguish or despair? What ere emotions, and perhaps more importantly, how do scientists prove animals are capable of emotion? Sea lion mothers have often been seen wailing painfully and squealing eerily as they watch their babies being eaten by killer whales. Buffaloes have also been observed sliding playfully across ice, excitedly screaming “Gwaaa.” Emotions are defined broadly as psychological phenomena that help in behavioral management and control. This is a challenging question to researchers who are trying to determine the answer to this question. Through current research by close observation combined with neurobiological research, evidence that animals exhibit fear, joy