Animal rights is a topic you hear about more frequently as time passes. It has a plethora of followers, but as with any social issue, it has its fair share of naysayers. Since its awareness was made popular in 1966 by the Animal Welfare Act, laws in the United States started being put in place to protect animals of all kinds. Animal rights could be defined as rights that protect the lives and wellbeing of animals. It includes, but is not limited to, domesticated animals, like pets and farm animals, wild animals, zoo or circus animals, research animals, and wild animals. As time has passed, more people have started agreeing with this movement. Petitions, parades, and charities that focus completely on animals and their rights are held daily.
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This area is the one with the most laws and regulations, so it is understandable we think of it the most. Laws to protect the wellbeing of these domesticated animals can be found at federal and state levels in the United States of America. Though the laws are in place to protect the animals, more often than not, the punishments for harmful acts are minimal. For instance, in 2007, Michael Vick (Atlanta Falcons, Philadelphia Eagles) was charged with running a dogfighting operation. This case was played out in the news over time, because of Vick’s career. Vick plead guilty to charges brought against him, and wound up serving twenty-three months in prison. To anyone, twenty-three months may seem like a fair amount of time, but compared to what Vick did, it was not fair at all. Some animal rights activists speculate he served that amount of time only because of his fame. Vick was charged with federal offenses, and the maximum time served for that type of offense is five years (Associated Press 1). While this is only one scenario, this has happened repeatedly in the past, and will continue to happen in the future due to the offenders getting off easily. If a person was charged with forcing children to fight each other to their deaths, he would not be spending a measly five years in prison. Though there are major differences between the two, an animal doesn’t deserve to be pushed …show more content…
Most laws are directed toward animals that are endangered or threatened. Endangered animals are animals whose population is low enough to be in danger of becoming extinct. Threatened animals are animals whose population is close to being considered endangered. These animals are protected more than other wild animals because of the dangers of extinction. America has the Endangered Species Act (ESA) which protects endangered and threatened animals with a variety of means. The ESA prohibits possession, purchasing, selling, or transporting endangered or threatened animals. The ESA also protects an endangered species’ natural habitat from being touched by humans (Hodges 1). In 2012, a man was charged with trading endangered marine mammal parts. He was caught trading sperm whale teeth, which earned him an estimated amount of $70,000. This man, Richard Ertel, was only sentenced to one month in prison, house arrest for a month and a half, supervision for two years, and a fine of $40,000. The sperm whale is an endangered species, and it is perplexing to think this man got off with only a month of jail time and a fine of a fraction of what he made by selling and trading the teeth (NOAA 1). The whales that died or lost their teeth are worth much more than the easy punishment Ertel got off with. He should have been in prison for much longer and should have been made to pay back every single penny he made by selling
This area is the one with the most laws and regulations, so it is understandable we think of it the most. Laws to protect the wellbeing of these domesticated animals can be found at federal and state levels in the United States of America. Though the laws are in place to protect the animals, more often than not, the punishments for harmful acts are minimal. For instance, in 2007, Michael Vick (Atlanta Falcons, Philadelphia Eagles) was charged with running a dogfighting operation. This case was played out in the news over time, because of Vick’s career. Vick plead guilty to charges brought against him, and wound up serving twenty-three months in prison. To anyone, twenty-three months may seem like a fair amount of time, but compared to what Vick did, it was not fair at all. Some animal rights activists speculate he served that amount of time only because of his fame. Vick was charged with federal offenses, and the maximum time served for that type of offense is five years (Associated Press 1). While this is only one scenario, this has happened repeatedly in the past, and will continue to happen in the future due to the offenders getting off easily. If a person was charged with forcing children to fight each other to their deaths, he would not be spending a measly five years in prison. Though there are major differences between the two, an animal doesn’t deserve to be pushed …show more content…
Most laws are directed toward animals that are endangered or threatened. Endangered animals are animals whose population is low enough to be in danger of becoming extinct. Threatened animals are animals whose population is close to being considered endangered. These animals are protected more than other wild animals because of the dangers of extinction. America has the Endangered Species Act (ESA) which protects endangered and threatened animals with a variety of means. The ESA prohibits possession, purchasing, selling, or transporting endangered or threatened animals. The ESA also protects an endangered species’ natural habitat from being touched by humans (Hodges 1). In 2012, a man was charged with trading endangered marine mammal parts. He was caught trading sperm whale teeth, which earned him an estimated amount of $70,000. This man, Richard Ertel, was only sentenced to one month in prison, house arrest for a month and a half, supervision for two years, and a fine of $40,000. The sperm whale is an endangered species, and it is perplexing to think this man got off with only a month of jail time and a fine of a fraction of what he made by selling and trading the teeth (NOAA 1). The whales that died or lost their teeth are worth much more than the easy punishment Ertel got off with. He should have been in prison for much longer and should have been made to pay back every single penny he made by selling