Dear Editor:

In the article A Change Of Heart About Animals by Jeremy Rifkin, the author calls
upon the reader to take into consideration how we treat animals. Rifkin addresses the
issue of animal abuse within and outside of the food industry. He argues that animals have
the ability the feel emotions just as humans do and should be considered when making
harmful decisions that impact the lives of these animals. As someone who respects the
lives of all living creatures, I strongly support Rifkins ideas because I disagree with the
mutilation and neglect of innocent animals. I believe that we, as humans, should respect
the lives of the creatures that play such an important role in our world and lives.
One of the strongest arguments that Rifkin states in his article is that animals, feel pain,
suffer and experience stress, affection, excitement and even love (2). This has such a
huge impact on my heart because it brings to life the fact that animals are able to
experience and process emotions just as humans do. It saddens me to think that we are
not only slaughtering but neglecting these creatures, as well. Although we don't mind
ignoring these animals, neglect is a very cruel form of abuse. In order for humans to
survive and maintain our sanity, we require a touch and interaction. According to the
article Survival Needs, on the website Boundlessanatomyandphysiology.com empirical
evidence has shown that touch is essential to early growth and development of healthy
humans.
Many people will argue that animals are dumb and, therefore, their emotions should be
disregarded; however, Rifkin brings up some very important points about animal
intelligence. He uses specific evidence of a gorilla named KoKo who was taught sign
language and has mastered more than 1,000 signs and understands several thousand
English words (8), KoKo brings importance to our society because she helps represent
that animals are capable of learning and growing just as a human would. Rifkin even
states On human IQ tests, she scores between 70 and 95 (8), That is extremely close to
a human's IQ. Knowing that animals have the capability to learn, feel, and express
emotions, why would we continue to disregard that all and continue to mindlessly and
abuse these animals just because they aren't deemed domesticated?
So what makes us so superior that we can decide what lives and what dies, whether it be
for food or fun? We think that we are the only species that has the ability to feel, express
emotions, and even think logically. Rifkin brings up another example of two birds named
Betty and Abel. These two birds were put through testing to see if they were able to
logically make decisions. In the end of the experiment, the two birds were able to display
that they were able to think logically and be self-aware. Rifkin himself writes,

Tool-making and the development of sophisticated language skills are just two of the
many attributes we thought were exclusive to our species. (9). Rifkin makes it a point to
include this in the hopes that we, as the reader, can understand there is not that much of a
difference between us and animals. Although there is no arguing that there is a divide
between humans and animals, it is important to keep in mind all of the human-like
characteristics that we have in common. Maybe it's time, as Rifkin says, for a change of
heart about animals. What is it that you can do to stop the mistreatment of animals?
Sincerely,
Kaetlin Rich