You ever watch that show on animal planet where the cops find the starving and abused animals and pets? I could not do that job as I would simply go ballistic on the owners.
Oh, me too! I'd freak out and probably wind up committing a crime in the process. How people can be that heartless is just... I don't even know!!
Perhaps the word "rights" wasn't best but I do think animals should have rights. Not the same ones we do, of course. But the right not to be treated with no regard to their safety? The right not to be abused? Yes, animals have those and I don't think they have many more.
Mammals have the ability to love. It's scientifically proven. In fact, if you have two dogs and one dies, the living dog will grieve for his friend. He won't eat, won't want to do things he usually enjoys, and he will mope. They go through deep pain when they lose someone they love. Have you ever heard the sound a dog or cat or other mammal makes when she finds her beloved companion dead? I've heard it's absolutely heart wrenching and I'm thankful I haven't heard it but I know people who have said it haunted them. So animals are capable of love because I've seen firsthand an animal genuinely forgiving his owner for some of the pain she put him through (at the vet, accidentally stepping on his tail, etc). I knew of one dog whose owner beat her and she still came back to him and lovingly forgave him. It was three years of painful abuse before she had enough and ran away. Also, God has used animals in countless ways to save human lives. Cats have alerted their owners to a fire in their house and then successfully led them out of it. I even heard of one cat who led one person out of the burning house and went back for another one. A pit bull recently took 2 bullets for his owner. And one remarkable Golden Retriever actually helped someone come out of a coma and assisted her in recovery.
So I believe that hunting animals for fun is wrong. Not to mention, killing for sport? God created those animals for us... but does that mean we can derive pleasure from stuffing them and putting them on our wall to prove we can use a gun?
I am not a vegetarian but I buy Kosher food as often as possible because it's more humane. I also am careful to buy cosmetics and related products that are not tested on animals. I am 100% against animal testing because science has actually come up with ways to avoid it and cut the cost in half. Only time we should ever test a product on an animal is if it's one made to be used by an animal (i.e. testing dog shampoo on a dog).
God put us in charge of the animals. When you're in charge of a group of children, you're expected to be responsible. Well God expects us to be responsible in ruling over the animals. And that means that abusing them is sinful.
And I only scratched the surface of my beliefs here!
