Interspecies Etiquette An Ethics Of Paying Attention To Animals Essay

Say that a dog is killed in a hit-and-run incident; the car runs the poor animal over and soon flees the scene without any care about the animal laying lifelessly on the street—an animal that could have belonged to a loving family who treated the animal as a family member. In a situation like that—we as humans have a moral obligation to pull off to the side of the road and make sure that the animal is okay or to call the owners and inform them of what has happened to their pet but instead we walk away when an animal feels pain or is injured. The reason why things like this happen is because it is basic human nature to see non-human organisms as lesser beings and we, as a whole, tend to feel entirely superior to those who are not as intelligent or complex. The lack of concern for how we test, mistreat and abuse these animals’ cause a lot of issues for those who work towards getting animals equal rights. It is a widely controversial issue in the world, yet we turn a blind eye and ignore it as if it does not exist—as if we are not …show more content…
The morally ethical practice of paying attention requires more than just politeness and observation; it requires dedication and understanding—something that humans seem to lack when it comes to animals. Warkentin agrees that “just paying attention” is not what humans should do but we should, instead, we need to actually be concerned about animals. However, we tend to indulge into a sense of denial when it comes to the cold hard truth about how animals are being treated in the most extreme cases. With things such as environmental degradation, species extinction and the violent abuse and painful testing done on animals; it is hard for people to agree that those things do exist in the