Animal Rights: General Aspects

Many things in life reach extreme situations. With regard to what the rights of animals are, there are people who even mistreat them, while others place them on the same level as human beings. Both positions are negative for both the animal and us.

As in all things, in balance or in the middle way, virtue is located, so we are going to approach a subject that brings with it certain complexities:  how to know what are the rights of animals of inviolable character? In this article, we’ll talk about some general aspects.

However, before we get into the discussion of what animal rights are established by law, let’s look at the harm done to our pets when they are treated as people.

An animal can never be compared to a person

All of us who love animals want them to be well, feel happy and have a full life, but treating them like human beings is a serious mistake. Why?

Humanizing animals is also considered a form of animal abuse for several reasons:

• They need a leader. Dogs are herd animals, so if we educate them using the same principles we have, they will miss this natural characteristic they have. They won’t know their place at home, which will cause problems in the coexistence and internal level of the animal.
• It is not appropriate to pamper animals excessively. It is true that caressing, caressing and pampering are very necessary for animals, but when there is excess, it can cause them harm, ending up putting them in a position where they put other instincts that are very necessary for our animals in the background.
• Stress. An animal that is not treated as such will begin to experience stress and instinctual and emotional deficiencies that will certainly be very difficult to repair.

• Far from reaching the goal of making the animal a happy being, the excess of affection and humanization will achieve exactly the opposite: a stressed, unhappy and unbalanced animal.

So what are the fundamental rights we must fulfill in order to achieve our goals?

Animal rights according to the law

Animals have several rights recognized by law that we must fulfill. Furthermore, failure to respect these rights can lead to various penalties for human beings, including imprisonment.

The following attitudes are considered as animal abuse:

• Not providing food in sufficient quantity and quality  for animals, whether domestic or livestock.
• Touching animals  with any instrument other than to stimulate, but to punish or hit.
• Forcing animals to work  for long hours without being allowed to rest, especially under adverse weather conditions.
• Keep animals working when they are not in perfect physical health.

• Using drugs to stimulate  animals without therapeutic purposes.
• Use the animal’s motor traction to propel vehicles in a way that exceeds the animal’s strengths.

The following are the actions considered as acts of cruelty:

• Vivisection. It consists of dissecting a live animal, an act that is always prohibited, except in situations where it has scientifically demonstrable purposes.
• Mutilation. Cutting off any part of the animal’s body, whether tail, ears or other extremities, is punishable by law and is considered a violation of animal rights.
• Performing any type of  surgical operation without reason or without the necessary qualifications  to do so.
• Abandonment.
• Killing a pregnant female.
• Hurting, hitting, torturing or running over an animal, causing unnecessary suffering.

• animal fights

As you can see, no excess in relation to animals is good. On the one hand,  humanizing an animal  can be considered a form of abuse, but that does not exempt humans from giving them the love, affection and respect they deserve. On the other hand,  there must be common sense rules that are part of the rights of animals  and that, if not complied with, can be punished with the rigor of the law.

So  give your pet the place it deserves, but don’t humanize it. Respect your pet’s rights and instincts. Love and care for it, always striving to stay away from extremes that can harm animals.