Key Elements of the Animal Protection Program - Business Plan Example

Animal Ethics Key Elements of the Program As a head of the BC SPCA, the main focus of our program is to make the lives of animals safe and secure, and free from any cruelty. The main objective of the program is to protect animals from unnecessary cruel practices and neglect. The key elements of the program include marketing and awareness programs through which we aim to educate people regarding animal abuse and neglect. Through our awareness campaigns we inform people that animal cruelty and neglect is no less criminal than hurting human beings. Our program also includes adoption options for worthy individuals who can take care of pets. Our campaigns are also aimed at influencing public policy regarding animal abuse, neglect, and other issues. We also focus on farm animals and the issues they face in farms as we try to educate farm owners and handlers regarding better practices of dealing with different animal issues. We have established a hotline so that people can easily report cases of animal abuse and neglect. We also use other incentive like pet competition to increase awareness of people regarding animal abuse and neglect. These are the different methods through which we help animals live in a protected and safe environment. Outline of Ethical Ideas of Writers Animal ethics is a subject that is now increasingly becoming a center of attention for many philosophers and writers. Many people have written significantly on the ethical issues regarding animals. Some of the ethical ideas of different writers will be discussed below. Barbara Smuts Barbara Smuts is a researcher and anthropologists famous for her work with animals especially baboons and chimps. She has written significantly on animal ethics and her experiences with animals. Smuts argue that animals have a self of their own and therefore they should be treated as conscious beings. She, from experiences, argue that human beings can relate to animals in a way that animals also have a conscious mind and have a ‘self’ very much like human beings. She argues that animals should be treated as equal to human beings because they also have a presence very similar to human beings. Smut argues that animals are social beings and through constant attachment and interaction a level of understanding can be achieved with them. This is why animals have a ‘self’ which is similar to human beings, and therefore they should be treated equally to humans. Bernard Rollin Rollin argues that it is important to clear misconceptions regarding animal ethics as many misunderstand the notion of ethics completely. Animals are also living beings and, therefore, they cannot be subjected to torture or cruelty. Rollin is particularly concerned with general perception of public regarding subjecting animals to pain for benefit to the overall humanity. He argues that with the advancement in technology human beings have started to disregard animal ethics and have made life difficult for animals According to him much of the suffering from which animals go through is unintentional today and this is what we as a society have to counter. The view expressed by Rollin is particularly interesting because he does not take a radical approach and does not argue against using animals for purposes that are beneficial to humans. His main idea of animal ethics is to make sure that animals are not subjected to pain or injury that is unnecessary and they should be allowed to live their lives in a natural habitat that suits them. Tom Regan Regan thinks that any kind of use of animals in testing, hunting, and any other commercial use are not ethically permissible. He believes in a moral theory that entails animal rights in a very straight forward manner. Animal rights, according to him, can only be realized if use of animals for research and commercial use is abolished. Sacrificing animals in the name of human benefit is not justified in a similar way as it is not justified to sacrifice human beings for the good of other humans. The only way to secure the rights of animals is to clearly maintain a stance against use of animals in research and in agriculture and in hunting. Regan, therefore, takes a very extreme approach in terms of animal ethics. Coordination of Programs with Ethical Ideas of Writers The program and its objective are in many ways related to the ethical ideas of writers. However, there are some areas where program fails to correspond to the ideas of writers. This will be elaborated further below. Smuts argument is that animals should be treated equally to human beings because, according to her, they have a self which is very similar to human consciousness. The program is also designed to make sure that animals are treated equally to human beings and are not neglected or hurt unnecessarily. The many campaigns we run are particularly in line with the philosophy of treating human beings in a better way. The hotline for animal abuse is also a step towards this objective. This is why the program is well coordinated with the ethical ideas of Barbara Smut. Rollins talks about how animals should not be hurt without any reason as they are also living beings. He argues that the advancement in technology has encouraged people to disregard animal ethics. He is against unnecessary hurting of animals and says that it can be avoided. The program is centered to protect animals from abuse and neglect which is why it is very well coordinated with the ethical ideas of Rollins. Regan has taken an extreme position in animal ethics and has argued that all kind of animal use of human purposes should be ended. This is not we have advocated in our program. We only campaign to make people aware of animal rights and how they should avoid animal neglect. The focus of our program is not to abolish the use of animals for commercial and research purposes. This is an area where the program is not coordinated with the ethical idea of a writer. Critical Analysis The main flaw of the program is that it does not aim to end animal suffering and abuse. It only aims to reduce unnecessary abuse and suffering of animals. The program does not influence public policy in order to end use of animals for research, hunting, and commercial purposes. We only aim to persuade people to make sure that animals are kept in the best environment and are nourished according to their needs. This according to ethical ideas of some writers is not enough because the main problem is the view which people take regarding animals. People do not consider them as equals to human beings in the strictest sense. No one would ever dream of sacrificing a human being for the interests of other human beings. This is why human trails are only undertaken after years of drug testing, mostly on animals. This moral distinction between animals and human beings is the cause of the problem and this is not included in our program as we only focus on animal abuse and neglect. The program can be made more ethically satisfactory by starting campaigns to stop the use of animals for all commercial purposes. This is what is missing from the program. People should be educated that animals are equal in all ways to human beings, and therefore there use in research or hunting is not morally permissible. No one would ever dream of using human beings for their pleasure of hunting and therefore the same should be the case with animals. Also the program can attempt to influence policy makers regarding this problem. References Regan, T. (1985). The case for animal rights. Pages 13-26 in P. Singer (editor), In Defense of Animals. Harper & Row: New York Rollin, B.E. (1993). Animal production and the new social ethic for animals. Pages 3-13 in Food Animal Well-Being 1993 -- Conference Proceedings and Deliberations. USDA and Purdue University Office of Agricultural Research Programs, West Lafayette, USA Smuts, B. (2001). Encounters with animal minds. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 8(5): 293-309 Read More