Speciesism

Since we are allowed to write about anything I thought it would be interesting to share something I heard Thursday in my pre-vet class. This once a week class mainly consists of various speakers talking to us about anything to do with veterinary school or the business of veterinary medicine. Last week we had two speakers talk to us about animal ethics. I immediately thought this would be an excellent discussion. After all veterinarians have to deal with the question of ethics constantly. For example, if an owner who has recently moved comes in to the clinic and confesses they are no longer able to have a pet in their new living situation and demands the pet be put down because they are convinced no one can care for the pet like them, what are the veterinarian's choices? I was eager to hear what the speakers had to say. However the first speaker came as a shock.

He called us all "speciesists" and went on to say we were just as bad as racists and sexists. At this point I was taken aback. He said we were speciesists because we think one species is superior than all other species: the human species. This professor stated that by eating meat, attending rodeos and circuses, and experimenting on animals without their consent we are acting as if we are better than these animals. Because the animals never give their consent, we do not have the right to do such things. I'm completely against cruelty to animals, but some of the points he made didn't make sense to me. I don't attend or agree with rodeos, circuses, or experimenting on animals. Additionally I don't eat a lot of meat, but I don't have a problem with people who do. If we are speciesists because we eat animals then all carnivores are speciesists because they also eat other animals. In addition if all organisms are equal, if a shark attacks someone in the water and the said person dies do we put the shark in jail? Do we kill it? I believe that it is our job to care for the Earth and all the organisms that belong to it, but if a person was dieing and a bird was dieing I would probably choose to help the person first.