Expert: Stephen Vantassel - 3/11/2008

Question
why are innocent animals being harmed? yes i understand that you need to see if they cam be k with humans but animals should not be tested i think its abuse!! they should put a stop to this. you kill animals for stupid  reasons !! im not very happy about this . Dogs and cats should not be harmed leave them alone there nothing like humans in any way. bu please answer my question . why is this keep happening and is this ever going to end? thanks emily

Answer
Emily,

I understand that you are an empathetic person. This is an important quality for humans to have. But I take issue with the notion that one may only kill an animal if it is guilty.  After all, what constitutes a guilty animal? If you are opposed to killing an innocent animal, then what constitutes an innocent one?

I contend that humans have a responsibility to engage nature not just look at through a plate glass window. If death is part of nature, and humans are part of nature, then humans can play a role in death.

I can assure you that as long as humans are alive, animals will be killed. Just consider all the vehicles in the United States. Do you have any idea how many millions of animals die just because humans drive? What about high rise buildings? Do you know that over 20 million birds die each year from flying into high rise buildings just in the U.S. alone?  I would encourage you to read the writings of Aldo Leopold and begin to think about our relationship to nature in broader less individualistic ways.

If you truly care about the environment and its wildlife, as I am sure you do, then I would suggest that you would soon realize that environmentalism and animal rights are fundamentally opposed values.