Date: Fri 22-May-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: SUZANN

Quick Words:

commentary-dogs-rights

Full Text:

COMMENTARY: On The Rights Of Dogs

BY SUZANNA NYBERG

We all know that puppies sold in pet stores come from puppy mills, crude

breeding farms that mass-produce puppies for the marketplace. We all know that

greyhounds at the Shoreline Racetrack in Bridgeport are raced to their death

and that dogs down at US Surgical in Norwalk have staples punched into them by

traveling salesmen. Much has already been written covering the facts of these

cases.

At heart of the debate on puppy mills and dog tracks and stapling dogs is the

idea of animal rights.

That dogs and other animals do have rights can be easily justified. This issue

is one neither of emotion nor of irrational beliefs, but one of pure logic.

If one can make the case for the rights of human beings, for the rights of

women, blacks, gays, the handicapped, prisoners, one can make the case for the

rights of dogs. To insist that dogs do have rights is not to demean humans,

but it to suggest that all be given their just due.

Human beings are animals. We get hungry and want to eat; we become drowsy and

need to sleep; our heart beats, our lungs take in oxygen, our bodies grow old,

and eventually, like all other beasts, we will die. Dogs, like humans, get

thirsty, frightened, even savage when not treated well. When a dog has a

broken paw it whimpers in pain just as a child with a scraped knee cries. Dogs

prefer some things over others just as humans do. Bart, the Bee dog, eats my

carrots, but spits out the string beans.

Dogs, like humans, have a wonderful sense of play. And dogs, unfortunately,

are so physiologically close to humans that they are used for medical research

more often than primates.

Because a dog understands, accepts, and rejects, a dog thinks and reasons.

When a dog's human companion returns, the dog barks, wags his tail, gives a

kiss. A dog knows who he is greeting. Anyone who has ever looked into a dog's

eyes knows that the dog sees through the civilized facade to glean what the

human being is all about. No one can say for sure what the mental life of a

dog is like, no one knows how different or how similar it is to our own, but

that a dog has one is a given.

Nor does anyone know if a dog has an immortal soul, but then no one knows if a

human has one either. A soul, immortal or otherwise, is a matter of faith, not

knowledge and not belief. In any event, why would a living entity have to have

a soul in order to be assured of a few basic rights?

Just as few in a democratic republic would argue that the very wealthy, who

control most of the wealth of the nation, are inherently superior to those of

modest means, no one can argue that human beings, who just happen to dominate

most of the planet, are inherently better than other creatures who reside

here. Human beings are not the only species who can do many things; in fact,

there is much humans cannot do.

Human beings live in an impoverished perceptual world; dogs live in a rich

one. Dogs have a greater sense of sight and sound, smell and taste. They have

special cones in their eyes that allow them to see at twilight and at night. A

dog can hear the rustling of a mouse's stomach in the grass 30 yards away and

can recognize the age and sex of another dog from one drop of urine in a

gallon of water. A dog can use his sense of smell and high intelligence to

track a man through a bustling city. If the dog were merely following instinct

he might follow other smells more interesting to a dog.

Dogs don't need words to communicate. Their facial expressions are so subtle

and nuanced that few humans can read them. They simply have different ways of

expressing themselves. Human beings who claim that dogs don't use language

must define thoroughly what they mean by language. There are many human beings

who do not or can no longer use language to express themselves, and yet that

does not remove their humanity from them. If language -- or intelligence for

that matter -- were the litmus test for granting rights there would be a

public outcry. Just because dogs cannot defend their rights as can other

groups can does not mean that they do not have them.

Dogs feel, and it is feeling, not thinking, that determines what being alive

is all about. Given how humans continually refine themselves out of existence,

medicating themselves at the slightest twinge, it might be more appropriate to

grant dogs more rights than humans.

Dogs have value unto themselves, regardless of the needs of others. The rights

of dogs are not contingent upon the needs of humans just as the rights human

beings enjoy are not contingent upon the needs of other humans.

Because we know what dogs are like, because we have information regarding

their physiology and psychology, it is unforgivable that we sell them, race

them, and experiment on them.

No one has the right to do something just because it may be economically

beneficial or pleasurable or even useful. Puppy mills and race tracks are not

questions of economic rights versus animal rights. When it comes to economics,

the notion of a right is not involved. The problem of selling, racing, and

experimenting on dogs is a moral one, a matter of right and wrong, good and

bad. Dogs have a right to good treatment, and they have a right not to be

injured, especially for economic gain. The need to make a living does not give

human beings the right to violate the rights of others. If we are the

creatures we purport to be then we must act in the best interests over those

whom we can control.

To recognize that dogs have rights means that human beings have to change the

way they treat them. To recognize that dogs have rights has wide-ranging, but

not deleterious, ramifications for certain parts of the economy. There are

many other things pet shop owners can sell to achieve financial rewards.

Gamblers at the Shoreline racetrack can bet on baseball games. No one is

asking any human being to harm himself; one is merely suggesting that human

beings stop harming others. Even if humans were being harmed as a result of

their not being able to exploit dogs, the harm they would suffer would be as

nothing when compared to the injury they inflict on these animals.

For those looking for a particular breed of dog, there are many breed rescue

groups in the state, and for those looking for fun, surely they can find other

ways in which to amuse themselves.