Do animals matter to you?

[dwndrgn]

They do to me. That's why I signed this petition when I got this email. And why I figured I'd share the info with you guys, in case they matter to you as well.

The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) is asking for your help, ASPCA supporters. The UK-based group has launched the “Animals Matter To Me” campaign, which represents the biggest-ever global animal welfare initiative linking the entire animal welfare movement under one strategic goal—global recognition that animals are sentient beings, capable of feeling pain and suffering. As such, WSPA is seeking 10 million signatures to let governments of the world know that we are serious about achieving a Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare at the United Nations.


Why should you sign the petition?

You can help us achieve recognition and protection of animals around the world by joining a global voice of 10 million in support of our campaign.
Animals and our treatment of them matters to everyone, including you. Tell your government that animals matter to you.

[HoopyFrood]

Signed! Woop!
Animals definitely do matter to me...I gave up eating meat at the start of this year because I don't want to eat animals anymore. In the present day, it's very easy to live comfortably without meat. I've always cared about animals welfare, and it is time that people realised that these are sentient creatures that feel pain and suffer just like humans.

[Rane Longfox]

I have two problems with these kind of petitions. Firstly, they're so filled with rhetoric, it's almost impossible to find out what exactly they're campaigning for, and secondly, that they're applying human emotions to less developed species, which in most cases is simply ridiculous.

[Stormpirate]

Animals matter to me, yes. I am a huge animal lover (though I do eat meat). But I have yet to see any drastic changes happen due to these petitions. I've signed a few in my time, but I haven't heard any reports that "The White House today signed into law making it illegal to hunt _____ (or whatnot) due to a petition signed by over ten million U. S. citizens." I'm not saying that it won't help, I just haven't seen any evidence of it yet.

But seeing species become extinct during my time -- that's horrible.

[BookStop]

Originally Posted by Rane Longfox

they're applying human emotions to less developed species, which in most cases is simply ridiculous.

Did you read the petition? I didn't see anyone applying human emotions to animals (although many studies have proved animals do indeed have emotions). That aside, the petition calls for simple awareness that animals are suffering at the hands of people. I agree that the petition seems a bit vague, and I'm not sure what they will accomplish, but it certainly doesn't seem like it could hurt anything to sign.

[Azathoth]

I won't sign it for the same reason as Longfox - it's way too vague. In Germany, catch-and-release fishing is illegal, because it "causes the fish too much pain"...more or less, the government has been convinced by several animal right's groups that fish have feelings too (which is absurd, as anyone who knows even the slightest thing about fish can tell you). And this petititon sounds suspiciously similar in ideology to those groups, so, uh, no.

[HoopyFrood]

It's not about the fish having feeling, as in what we understand to be "feelings". It's about feeling pain, that instinctive and basic reaction that all creatures have. We don't put up with allowing humans to feel unnecessary pain, so why should animals suffer?

[jackokent]

I wouldn't normally sign petitions for the same reasons as Range and Azothoth, they are vague and they dont' seem to do much good.

However I am a sucker where animals are concerned (especially organutans) and kind of think if any thing could help then give it a go. So I broke my golden rule and signed.

[Rane Longfox]

Yes BookStop, I did read through the page you linked to, and I really did try to find a list of goals, or anything that would give me a better idea of what they were trying to do. All I got was the title - Animals Matter to Me.

Well, I suppose animals do matter to me - I need to eat, and animals are vitally important in providing food and drink for me. I need medicine when I'm ill, the vast majority of which is tested on animals. Call me odd, but I'd rather a rat dies because the medicine is counter-productive than my unemployed human friend Jimmy who signs up for clinical trials as a source of income.
If it was more specific - say, petitioning for stronger laws against cruelty to domestic animals, I would sign it straight away, but I just see this vague hippy philosophy of "The animals have feelings to, dude" and it just doesn't ring true.

The closest I could find to a specific point on the site was about batch farming on cattle. Now, this example I think shoots them in the foot. When it comes to nature over nurture, it's been proved time and time again, with both humans and animals, that nurture wins. They have all these rants about cramped conditions, and how the farms don't meet the animal's "rights and needs", except of course, the cattle have never known different, so the argument is simply not applicable. Animals feel pain, naturally, but they don't have the range of emotions we humans do.

[Marky Lazer]

Only when well-done

[Rane Longfox]

On another note, I find this quote very bizarre:

Originally Posted by HoopyFrood

We don't put up with allowing humans to feel unnecessary pain

Because gosh, theres absolutely no unnecessary human pain and suffering going on in the world right now, is there?

[/sarcasm]

[HoopyFrood]

I did not state in any way that there wasn't, I meant that we don't accept it, morally. Yet with animals, it doesn't seem to particulary matter. Mass slaughter animals, that's fine. Do it to people, there's usually a great deal of attention.

[Rane Longfox]

Oh yeah, all those animal genocides going on all the time. How could I forget?

I assume then, you think killing animals for food counts as cruelty?

[HoopyFrood]

I believe it has gone beyond the point of "killing animals in order to survive", especially in western civilization. There are far more animals being killed than what is needed for the population's consumption.

[Rane Longfox]

So meat should be rationed to the absolute minimum protein requirement for each person?

Meat is tasty, and it's good for you - of course it's popular!

If we didn't eat so much meat, we wouldn't breed so many animals... it's kind of circular. The cow would most likely be extinct by now if we didn't breed it for food and leather.