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How should animal cruelty be dealt with?

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How should animal cruelty be dealt with?
It shouldn't be punished at all 4%  4%  [ 2 ]
Community service, banned from having pets, fined perhaps 49%  49%  [ 24 ]
A prison sentence 29%  29%  [ 14 ]
Torture 12%  12%  [ 6 ]
Execution 6%  6%  [ 3 ]
Total votes : 49

donnie_darko
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28 Jan 2012, 9:10 pm

Personally I think forced community service is probably the best way. Also maybe some kind of registry, though I kind of worry about government registries in general. Maybe the shelters should have a blacklist of people who can't adopt.

I think prison time would probably do nothing, aside from make anyone who's abused an animal become more criminal. And while a lot of people like the idea of torture and even the death penalty, I find that way too harsh as much as I hate animal abuse.

I think companies that abuse animals should be punished heavily financially as well.

And here's for a can of worms - do you think Michael Vick should be forgiven? I actually would say yes because he seems truly sorry for what he did. Also, anyone who eats meat can't really feel too self-righteous about animal cruelty since they are indirectly sponsoring it (yes, that includes myself).



Tadzio
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28 Jan 2012, 11:26 pm

Hi donnie darko,

They at least should be required to watch restaurant commercials of Miss Piggy eating pork-chops.

All carnivores should be compassionate carnivores. But better than compassionate conservatives.

Generally, "Kosher" meat does taste better, with minimized animal brutality.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1nFSF-sUaE[/youtube]

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28 Jan 2012, 11:28 pm

My vote went to torture, but I am heavily biased by a deep love of animals.


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28 Jan 2012, 11:56 pm

The difference between most animals and human beings is trivial. Most animals have eyes, ears, depending on what kind they also have some kind of hands, feet, also most of them have a liver, spine, kidney, lung, nose, brain, they feel fear, pain, sadness, anger and other emotions, depending on what kind of animal etc etc. The only major difference is in the human beings heightened sense of awareness and capacity for intellect. Any perceived superiority about human beings to any other animal is pure arrogance and ego. And about the concept of "people", as pertaining to human beings only, I don't know what to make of this, but there should be a new generalized term to replace it that extends to all creatures.

Just my thoughts.



abacacus
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29 Jan 2012, 12:01 am

NextFact wrote:
The difference between most animals and human beings is trivial. Most animals have eyes, ears, depending on what kind they also have some kind of hands, feet, also most of them have a liver, spine, kidney, lung, nose, brain, they feel fear, pain, sadness, anger and other emotions, depending on what kind of animal etc etc. The only major difference is in the human beings heightened sense of awareness and capacity for intellect. Any perceived superiority about human beings to any other animal is pure arrogance and ego. And about the concept of "people", as pertaining to human beings only, I don't know what to make of this, but there should be a new generalized term to replace it that extends to all creatures.

Just my thoughts.


Vertebrate should work, or just animal.


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donnie_darko
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29 Jan 2012, 12:29 am

NextFact wrote:
The difference between most animals and human beings is trivial. Most animals have eyes, ears, depending on what kind they also have some kind of hands, feet, also most of them have a liver, spine, kidney, lung, nose, brain, they feel fear, pain, sadness, anger and other emotions, depending on what kind of animal etc etc. The only major difference is in the human beings heightened sense of awareness and capacity for intellect. Any perceived superiority about human beings to any other animal is pure arrogance and ego. And about the concept of "people", as pertaining to human beings only, I don't know what to make of this, but there should be a new generalized term to replace it that extends to all creatures.

Just my thoughts.


I agree. However, I would argue that hurting another human is worse than hurting another animal not because we are superior to them, but because we have somewhat more of a responsibility to treat our own species with kindness. Just like killing your sister is a bit worse than killing a random stranger.



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29 Jan 2012, 12:38 am

Depends on the animal, depends on the cruelty.



donnie_darko
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29 Jan 2012, 12:39 am

Tequila wrote:
Depends on the animal, depends on the cruelty.


True. Like killing ants, even if it's for fun, probably isn't worthy of anything more than a verbal telling off. But killing a whale is imo almost as bad as killing a human in a way.

Or killing an endangered animal imo is more serious than killing a cow or even someone's pet.



ruveyn
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29 Jan 2012, 6:42 am

social shunning.

People should make their loathing and contempt of animal cruelty known to the person who does such cruelty.

ruveyn



Burzum
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29 Jan 2012, 10:14 am

donnie_darko wrote:
True. Like killing ants, even if it's for fun, probably isn't worthy of anything more than a verbal telling off. But killing a whale is imo almost as bad as killing a human in a way.

Or killing an endangered animal imo is more serious than killing a cow or even someone's pet.

You're venturing out of the realm of animal cruelty and entering the realm of hunting endangered animals.



b9
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29 Jan 2012, 10:40 am

Tequila wrote:
Depends on the animal

no it does not. every life has a right to live. there is no life that is less valuable than any other life.


Tequila wrote:
depends on the cruelty.
no it does not. any cruelty is an abomination because it is causing sadness and grief and pain to something that is living.


whatever. you are smarter than me and you will get the agreement from other posters, but i know in my own mind that cruelty is evil, and i will never endorse it.

i am off to sleep now and i do not need to hear your reply because i expect it will cause me to have to argue further, and in my reality there is no argument.



mar00
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29 Jan 2012, 10:45 am

Do you know just how expensive your meat would be if animals were handled 'humanely'?
People who hate animal abuse and eat their steak too are hypocrites.



phil777
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29 Jan 2012, 12:04 pm

mar00 wrote:
Do you know just how expensive your meat would be if animals were handled 'humanely'?
People who hate animal abuse and eat their steak too are hypocrites.


Probably so, but in doing this (breeding for food and other ressources), we pretty much assure their survival and continuity.



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29 Jan 2012, 12:22 pm

b9 wrote:
every life has a right to live. there is no life that is less valuable than any other life.

So the life of bacteria is worth as much as any human life?

b9 wrote:
Quote:
depends on the cruelty.
no it does not. any cruelty is an abomination because it is causing sadness and grief and pain to something that is living.

Right, and some forms of cruelty cause more grief and pain than others. Cruelty is a continuum - Can you tell me at what point something becomes cruel? Is a light touch with one's fingertip cruel, if it causes a minimal degree of grief? Is it deserving of the same punishment as cutting off the animal's legs?

b9 wrote:
in my reality there is no argument.


Image



mar00
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29 Jan 2012, 12:36 pm

phil777 wrote:
mar00 wrote:
Do you know just how expensive your meat would be if animals were handled 'humanely'?
People who hate animal abuse and eat their steak too are hypocrites.

Probably so, but in doing this (breeding for food and other ressources), we pretty much assure their survival and continuity.

Which is meaningless. We change breeds all the time with soon to be followed genetic modification so actually we destroy certain varieties of spiecies. Don't mean to offend but this argument has no value, only from human standpoint perhaps. Animals don't get to have their sex anymore!



heavenlyabyss
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30 Jan 2012, 6:49 am

I didn't read the responses here in order to remain unbiased, but I voted community services.

I love animals, but I don't think jail or torture or the like is going to accomplish much of anything. Now if animal cruelty offenses are repeated over and over again, I believe jail time might be warranted. I hate to see animals suffering and people who abuse animals regularly are usually bad people at heart.

I just don't think a single animal cruelty charge is worthy of imprisonment. We should try to correct the behavior rather than punish aimlessly.