Crissy Bairski (Huscher)

Professor Shae Long-Kish

English 111
12, February 2016
My Rights and the Beasts
We know we cannot be kind to animals until we stop exploiting them -- exploiting
animals in the name of science, exploiting animals in the name of sport, exploiting
animals in the name of fashion, and yes, exploiting animals in the name of food.
Csar Chvez. Using animals for food is a natural practice and I will always believe that.
Animals cant have a say in whether or not they have rights. I absolutely love sitting
down with my husband and enjoying a juicy steak because this is my right and i have a
say in what my rights are. Animals for food is natural just as is using plants, it helps
overpopulation, and it keeps our economy running.
An essay by Gary Steiner titled Animal, Vegetable, Miserable argues about the
use of animals for human consumption. Steiner questions whether or not it is humane
and ethical for a animal to be used in such a way. He tells of a story called The Letter
Writer written by Isaac Bashevis Singer. Singer writes about a mouse and man. The
man in the story believes that the mouse has an ability to achieve abstract thinking. He
feels as if the mouse can feel a connection to him through love and gratitude (Steiner).
Steiner tells his audience of this story because he claims that people arguing against
him think that animals cannot think abstractly (Steiner). How are we to know and to
determine whether animals can feel love, fear, or gratitude? The Bible talks about
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animals being created for food. In Genesis 9, God granted Noah with the animals for
food as long as they dont bear a youngling. Then God blessed Noah and his sons,
saying to them, Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and
dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on
every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are
given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just
as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything(NIV Real life Devotional Bible
for Women, Genesis 9) If animals were put on this earth for a purpose then what exactly
is that purpose to vegan. Are they questioning their God? Our ancestors from B.C, and
A.D. up to today never questioned the use of animals. I question why we are trying to
change what is natural and biblical and go against our religion if we are good Christians.
A problem we face when we can't hunt something for food is called
overpopulation. Many people hunt deer, rabbit, squirrel, coyotes. My husband and i do
and this saves us on average 2,000 in meat costs. There is an organization that many
hunters are a part of called Quality Deer Management. This ensures that the population
of deer does not increase to drastically and it also keeps the population of deer at a
certain amount so they don't become extinct due to hunting. If they were to
overpopulate the plants in wildlife would became sparse because deer are herbivores.
We would have to take desperate measures to ensure that there would be enough plant
life. Building would have to be tore down for plant life to grow. This goes for any living
animal used for

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food such as cows, sheep, deer. ect. no we do not eat household animals because they
have been normalized to be made into house pets that keep us company. Without the
use of animals for food we may not be able to exist. The world could become non
existent because all of the natural resources would be used up by animals.
In an article posted by the North American Meat Industry, They state that the
meat industry is the largest industry and that in 2014 meat and poultry sales reached
$186 billion. The United States in that same year had a population of 320 million. There
are a ton of jobs in this industry. If we had to eliminate this from our career list many
other industry would shut down or slow consequently. Jobs such as farming and the
feed industry would not be in such high demand causing a huge downfall in the
economic growth.
With these points we can conclude that animals should not have rights and we
can use them for our needs like eating. Animals have always been used for human
needs, since biblical times. The use is required in order to keep the world balanced both
population wise and economically. If you think animals have a right then i want to hear
when they told you so. Maybe then will I stop eating meat and using them for my
breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

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Work Cited

Steiner, Gary. Animal, Vegetable, Miserable. New York: The New York Times, 2009.
Print.
TerKeurst, Lysa. NIV Real Life Devotional Bible for Women. Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
2012. Print.
"The United States Meat Industry at a Glance." North American Meat Institute. N.p.,
2015. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
<https://www.meatinstitute.org/index.php?ht=d/sp/i/204/pid/204>.