• Question: What are your views on animals rights?

    Asked by kitsune to Antonia, Douglas, Hugh, Matt, Tom on 17 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by sparker, powerpork.
    • Photo: Antonia Hamilton

      Antonia Hamilton answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      I think animals have some rights, but not the same rights as people. It all depends on how smart the animal is. So a chimp should have more rights than a rat who has more rights than a fish who has more rights than a locust who has more rights than a c. elgans (a microscopic worm). So testing drugs or doing research on chimps is wrong, but testing drugs on rats can be done ethically (if you use the mimium number of rats and minimise suffering). If we didn’t test new medication on rats, we wouldn’t have the new drugs that can help people with cancer and Alzheimer’s and all sorts of other horrible diseases.

    • Photo: Douglas Blane

      Douglas Blane answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      I feel quite strongly about this. We treat animals very badly. I’m vegetarian and have been most of my life.

    • Photo: Hugh Roderick

      Hugh Roderick answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      I don’t work with animals and I wouldn’t want to but I do see the need for some animal testing. But it has to be justified and it has to be humane and my understanding of the regulations that scientists who do work with animals have to follow to be allowed to use animals in their research is that they are set up to ensure that that is the case.

    • Photo: Tom Hardy

      Tom Hardy answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      I’m a big animal lover, but I’m also a country boy at heart so I shoot and fish and forage for food. I think it is possible to stand up for animal rights but also understand their place on the Earth. For example, I take part in wild food evenings where we promote the use of wild food like rabbits and pigeons as food and teach people about foraging for free food, like wild garlic and sloe berries.

      If I catch a fish or shoot a rabbit, I eat it. I don’t take part in shooting or fishing for the fun of it. I think it is important to understand where food comes from.

      I also eat organic. My parents have a small holding and I have a passion for chicken keeping, I have rescued battery caged hens to give them a good life in the country.

      I don’t agree with animal testing for things like cosmetics or perfumes, but I also accept that some medical studies that could potentially help millions of humans may need animals to test on.

    • Photo: Matthew Hurley

      Matthew Hurley answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      It is our responsibility to care for the animals around us – they should be treated with respect, free from pain, leading stimulating lives. If you’re talking about animals in research the above still holds true. I think animals in research have a very important role and many of the medicines we have today were developed with the help of animals. However, research with animals should always be done when there is no other alternative, the scienitific question is important enough (and judged as important by other people not involved in the same research) and that the research is completed to a high standard so that the question is answered properly the first time. The fewest number of animals should be used and the the ‘simplest’ animal used as possible (a mouse not used if a worm will do). This is a thorny issue and people have very different views.

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