The Animal Legal Defense Fund is a nonprofit organization that is raising awareness for animal rights. In our society animal brutality is far too normalized and that needs to change. The ALDF is working to show congress an abundant amount of support for legislation that will fight to protect animals and show that they are beings in our society that are entitled to basic rights. By creating an Animal Bill of Rights and enforcing it, animals can be protected from unsafe environments, entertainment agencies, and unnecessary laboratory experiments.
Many people may argue that meat is a necessity in life when in fact, this is incorrect. Statistics show that there is no nutritional need to eat animal products, all of our dietary needs can be satisfied off of an animal-free diet. Eating meat can only hurt you in the long run, the consumption of animal products has been linked to cancer, diabetes, and heart attacks. In 2014, 32.5 million cattle were killed for meat consumption. Knowing that animal products are not essential to survival, 32.5 million innocent cattle were held in torturous environments then killed for the sole purpose of pleasure. With an Animal Bill of Rights, unnecessary killing of defenseless animals would end.
There are millions of wild animals living in captivity around the world. From aquariums to zoos to circuses, animals are held in captivity for the sole purpose of entertainment. Corporations like SeaWorld are apart of a billion-dollar industry based off of the suffering of wildlife. Killer whales and orcas are the largest animals held in captivity; in the wild they live their life traveling in pods, consisting of a mother, her daughter, and her daughters young. By taking one orca from the wild, you disrupt a whole pod. While trying to adjust from a life in the ocean to a tank not nearly as large as necessary, orcas can become confused.
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Jacques Cousteau, a scientist who studied the sea and all forms of life in water said that life for a captive orca “leads to the confusion of the entire sensory apparatus, which in turn causes such a sensitive creature a derangement of mental balance and behavior.” Due to these inhumane living conditions, orcas in captivity rarely live past 10 years old, when in the wild they are expected to live into their 50s. With an Animal Bill of Rights in place, animals in captivity for entertainment purposes would be shut down. Animals are also treated without compassion in laboratories.
References
- Animal Legal Defense Fund
- World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
- The Humane Society of the United States
- American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)
- Animal Law – Online Resource for Information on Animal Law
- Mercy For Animals – Nonprofit Organization Promoting Compassionate Food Choices and End to Animal Cruelty
