What rights should domestic animals have?

I prefer a .22 short to the kittens' brains, though. Slightly less messy.

Sealing it in a 20 gallon bucket and waiting for it to stop shaking works, too.

Please, refresh my memory. Can't think of anybody who seriously thought torturing animals was a goodness or no big deal.

Too mean! Just pop 'em in the head, no suffering.

One of Dad's many stories of his youth in rural Franklin Lakes in the 30s involves a friend of his who got sick of the overabundance of cats in the area. Dad saw him walking down the main road one day with a .22 over his shoulder and a wheelbarrow piled high with dead cats.

PET RULES

To be posted VERY LOW on the refrigerator door - nose height.

Dear Dogs and Cats, The dishes with the paw prints are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food.
Please note, placing a paw print in the middle of my plate of food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.

The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack.
Beating me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn't help Because I fall faster than you can run.

I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort.

Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.

For the last time, there is not a secret exit from the bathroom. If by some miracle I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge and try to pull the door open.
I must exit through the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years --canine or feline attendance is not mandatory.

The proper order is kiss me, then go smell the other dog or cat's butt. I cannot stress this enough!

To pacify you, my dear pets, I have posted the following message on our front door:

To All Non-Pet Owners Who Visit & Like to Complain About Our Pets

1. They live here. You don't.
2. If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay
off the furniture (That's why they call it "fur"niture.)
3. I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.
4. To you, it's an animal. To me, he/she is an
adopted son / daughter who is short, hairy, walks
on all fours and doesn't speak clearly.


Remember: Dogs and cats are better than kids because they:

1. Eat less
2. Don't ask for money all the time
3 Are easier to train
4. Usually come when called
5. Never drive your car
6. Don't hang out with drug-using friends
7 Don't smoke or drink
8. Don't worry about having to buy the latest fashions
9. Don't wear your clothes
10. Don't need a gazillion dollars for college, and
11. If they get pregnant, you can sell their children.

Human beings have rights. Non-humans don't.

Yeah, if animals want rights equivalent to humans, they need to demonstrate an ability to not abuse those rights. As it is, animals still kill other animals, and they defecate every where.

If animals had the same rights as humans, they'd still be locked up in cages or under the care of humans.

Actually, if animals want rights as humans have, they need to demand and defend those rights as humans do. The day cats and dogs demand the vote, in their own voices and of their own initiative, I say they should have it. Until then, they're furry eating/shitting affection appliances. And they're at the top of the heap.

Could you please explain the variance between your opinion and the widely held belief that humans (without going into an abortion argument, post natal humans specifically) enjoy a "Right to Life"? Specifically, how does this "Right to Life" depend upon "the exclusive power to make a decision"?

Thanks in advance.

Anyone who tortures an animal in my presence has lost the right to remain uninjured and permanently disfigured.

Don't give a shit what anyone thinks about it. Happens around me, serious mayhem will ensue.

An unwanted "domestic" animal is in my yard. I eliminate the problem.

Murder? Or does that fall under lawful killing?

Better yet, do your "basic rights" of the animal trump my rights as a property owner?

I don't think the law even needs to get involved. What happens on your own property is nobody's business, and a stray is a stray.

Animals don't have rights, people have responsibilites, that they all to often don't live up to.

So the senile, mentally handicapped, seriously ill and people in comas now have no rights??

Oh, and anyone who abuses animals should automatically have to spend time in therapy because god knows what else they are or will be capable of. Killing animals to eat or provide food is one thing..doing it for fun or convenience is something else.

There are plenty of ways to keep animals off your property without resorting to killing them, too.

What Tamar and Phantom said. But if you kill the domestic animal in question, I don't think we can call it murder, as that was defined with humans in mind, wasn't it?

New laws and different punishments are required, and rights of animals should be very carefully defined - they can probably get too broad very fast. You can't just say 'animals have the right to live' as that would lead to implications for animals killing animals. Should we them speak of obligations for humans instead? A question of semantics, I think. When we speak of animal rights, does that increase or decrease the chance of them being respected? Is it better to speak of human obligations as it further defines what makes us human?

Does the basic right of the animal trump your rights as a property owner? I'd say yes, but I also see the distinction we make between domestic and other animals is arbitrary and based on emotion. What if someone keeps a snake as a pet, and it escapes into your garden? Can anyone blame you for killing it? What about countries were dogs and cats are not just seen as pets, but as food too? Can they be blamed for eating them? South Korea banned the eating of dogs in 1988 because of the Olympics and the fear of bad publicity. It's still a widely available dish, though.

I don't care about how it is described though, but animals should be protected against being unnecessarily harmed by humans.

What a coincidence. That was one of Normal Rockwell's most famous paintings!

Anyway, "three hots and a cot" is all I owe my pets IMO. And how do they repay me? Staying up all night playing poker!

But none as effective.

How do you get rid of termites without killing them? Fire ants? We've lived with them for years in this part of the country, and as far as I know, not one of us has figured that one out. Maybe you could enlighten us?

Complete gibberish. People incapable of exercising rights and animals can still have legal protections, but what distinguishes Person A's rights from mere limitations on Person B's power or right to act with respect to person A is person A's power to to make a choice or decision.

Without the power to make a decision, there is no right, just a restriction on someone else and a paternalistic mandate for the subject to behave a certain way, which is pretty much the opposite of a right. That paternalistic mandate may or may not be justifiable, and is especially likely to be justifiable in cases where other's rights are not substantially infringed and the subject is a person temporarily unable to exercise rights, but confusing it with a right is completely muddled nonsense that makes proper discussion of rights impossible.

A person has a right not to have sex, but with without the corresponding power of the ability to decide whether or not to consent to sex that would be no right at all, just a legal mandate for abstinence. A person has the right not to testify at his own criminal trial, but without the corresponding power to decide whether or not to testify in his own defense, that's not a right but a legal prohibition on his testimony. A person has the right to vote for the Democratic candidate for president in the United States, but without the corresponding power to decide to vote for another candidate or no candidate at all, that's no right at all but the Iraqi electoral system under Saddam Hussein.

I treat my dogs like severely retarded roommates or low-maintenance children in my care, and you do not want me finding out you were mean to them, but it's tough to get all sanctimonious about cruelty to domesticated animals with the king of hideous treatment I legitimize every time I eat a steak, pork chop, or chicken breast.

Lawful and within your rights, imo....though rather cold. Is there no animal shelters where you live that will come pick up a stray? None?

Tch, farmers.

All that chicken and pig slaughtering deadens their senses to killing.

S'why so many of them go feral.
You don't hear about it on the news, but I seen it.

When I was staying on a pig farm for a while, I was walking back from the showers or something and I accidently saw the guy killing a baby pig. He swung it really hard and smashed it's head on the ground. I had nightmares for a long time after that. It was one of the worst noises I've ever heard.

That's why I have never been into hunting. I prefer not to know my supper before I eat it.

Why was he killing a baby pig? Was it sick?

I don't know. I didn't stay much longer or talk to him to find out. I just wanted out of there.

This ham is fantastic, seriously.

Why is it my burden? Those dogs and many others were ditched near my farm. The one carcass I disposed of had recently worn a collar. Where's the blame for their deadbeat owners?

The same thing I was thinking. I think she was just dreaming.