Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Unfortunately, the costs of implementing the licensing and education program for pet ownership qualification would likely exceed any revenue generated by licensing fees or civil penalties for violations. Nevertheless, in principle, the idea is worth considering.
The two most important goals of any pet ownership licensing requirement would be (1) to ensure that new pet owners are aware of their pet's needs, and (2) enforcement of violations. In that regard, violators and those convicted of animal cruelty could be permanently prohibited from future pet ownership. Less serious violations could be addressed by temporary restrictions and requirement for animal sensitivity training as a necessary precondition to future pet ownership eligibility. This would make particular sense where neglect results from innocent ignorance rather than willful criminal or violent animal abuse.
One of the most difficult conceptual problems with addressing animal abuse through licensing requirements is illustrated by the fact that mere licensing is not a guarantee against undesirable conduct: many states already require dog and/or cat licenses, but nothing about that procedure prevents licensed pet owners from neglecting or abusing their pets. Consider that drivers licenses are required in all 50 states, but serious driving violations occur every day.
Another conceptual difficulty is defining abuse in the context of animal ownership, when we routinely raise and process animals for human consumption.
Granted, some animals (like dogs and cats, for...
Similarly, what are the obligations in connection with owning an animal as a pet that many people do consume in this culture?
Pigs, for example, are widely considered to be even more intelligent as pets than dogs (Moussaieff-Masson, 1995). Surely, their moral right to humane treatment should not depend on whether another species designate them as a "pet" or as a "food."
Finally, it is difficult to impose licensing requirements for pet ownership when no license is required to become parents of another human being. Pet licensing in some form is a very useful idea, but ultimately, when it comes to compassion and morality, even toward animals, education and moral cultural values will always be more important than enforcement through legislation and penal consequences.
References
Coren, S. The Intelligence of Dogs: A Guide to the Thoughts, Emotions, and Inner Lives of Our Canine Companions. (1995) New York: Bantam
Dodman, N.H. (2002) if Only They Could Speak: Stories about Pets and Their People. New York: W.W. Norton
Moussaieff-Masson, J. (1995) When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals. New York: Bantam.
Schmalleger, F. (1997) Criminal Justice Today. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Animal Rights Introduction to the ESA According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law (1996) the Endangered Species Act (ESA) obligated the government to protect all animal and plant life threatened with extinction. Included in this category are endangered species, which is defined as any species "which is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range." Also protected are threatened species, which are defined as any species "which is
To be an “experiencing subject of a life” means to be something that is here, now, alive, in this world, being part of the grand mystery that is life. So basically anything that exists has life—from people to birds to trees to grass to even water and rocks. There is a grace and power and beauty and soul that is woven through all of it. To disregard something as not
Animal Rights & Testing The author of this report has been asked to contrast, compare and analyze three articles that all relate to basically the same thing, that being the status and rights of animals. As part of the analysis, there will be an agreement on the points with which the author of this report agrees, a critical thinking of how the authors attempt to refute each other, the key elements
Right to Carry Handguns for Self-Protection: The right to carry handguns for law abiding citizens has been a continual social and political debate about the restriction or availability of firearms within the country. Actually, the right to carry handguns has developed to become one of the major controversial and intractable issues within the social and political environments in the nation. The main reason attributed to the development of this controversial issue
Ross (1988) notes the development of Romanticism in the late eighteenth century and indicates that it was essentially a masculine phenomenon: Romantic poetizing is not just what women cannot do because they are not expected to; it is also what some men do in order to reconfirm their capacity to influence the world in ways socio-historically determined as masculine. The categories of gender, both in their lives and in their
Human Rights The concept of Human Rights has a long history of over two thousand years and its origin can be traced to the moral philosophies of Aristotle and the Stoic philosophers. The theory of human rights, however, has broadened in concept over the centuries and its contemporary form reflects the development in human thought over time. In the present day world, Human Rights aim to secure for individuals the necessary