WMST 383 - Animal Rights: Analyzing the Ethics of Animal Shows

This essay examines the ethical dimensions of animal rights within the context of animal shows, focusing on the conflict between animal welfare and human entertainment. It delves into the various ways in which animal rights are compromised, such as forcing animals to perform unnatural acts and confining them to environments that differ significantly from their natural habitats. The research paper follows a positivism research philosophy, employing a descriptive research design and deductive research approach. Data is collected from secondary sources and analyzed qualitatively. The essay argues that animal shows often prioritize human entertainment and profit over the well-being of animals, leading to the abridgment of their rights. It also touches upon the importance of recognizing animal rights and the need for measures to ensure the survival and happiness of animals, referencing various scholarly articles to support its claims. Desklib offers a platform for students to access similar research papers and solved assignments.

Running head: ANIMAL RIGHTS IN ANIMAL SHOWS
Animal Rights in Animal shows
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ANIMAL RIGHTS IN ANIMAL SHOWS
The species on Earth are divided in to living beings and non-living beings. The main
difference in their criteria is that living things have the factor of emotions instilled in them. It
means that they feel certain emotions in the form of joy, happiness, pain and disappointment that
the other non-living things do not (Rowlands, 2016). As a result of this, a lot of importance is
paid to the living species on Earth. The growth and development of the human civilization is
therefore, dependent on how well the living species grow within their own respective field
(Laine & Vinnari, 2017). The living species can be further sub divided in to human beings and
animals, each of them having their own feelings and a host of emotions (Freeman, 2016). This
research paper tries to understand the feelings of the animals in the cases when they are
compelled to participate in certain activities of the zoo. In this scenario, the rights of the animals
and the way they are abridged in the context of the freedom of the human beings has also been
shown in this paper. The main objective of this research paper is to understand how the zoos lead
to the infringement of the rights of the animals. The thesis statement is that zoo entertainment
programs violate animal rights, and hence, must be put to a stop.
Often times it can be observed that the animals are subjected to a lot of distress as a
consequence of the activities of the human beings. This is due to the fact that the rights of the
animals are not recognized or hardly recognized in the human society. People are observed to be
more interested in the earnings of their income and for this, they are ready to use animals as
show objects. This, in turn, has a severe impact on the rights of the animals. There is a need to
research on the various ways in which the rights of the animals are abridged, one of which is the
organization of the animal shows in various parts of the world.

2ANIMAL RIGHTS IN ANIMAL SHOWS
The aim of the research paper is to understand the concept of animals as form of
entertainment whereby they are kept in the zoos while their rights as being living species are
severely abridged.
The objectives of the research can be stated as follows –
1. To understand the importance of maintenance and guaranteeing of the rights for the animals.
2. To critically examine the issue of zoos as platform of entertainment and the impact it has on
the animals who perform in the events organized by the zoo committee members.
3. To recommend various measures which would help the animal rights activists to ensure the
survival and happiness of the animals.
The research questions can be stated as follows –
1. How important is the element of animal rights and how can it be maintained and guaranteed to
all the animals of the planet?
2. What is the issue of zoos as platform of entertainment and what impact does it have on the
animals who perform in the events organized by the zoo committee members?
3. What are the various recommendations which would help the animal rights activists to ensure
the survival and happiness of the animals?
Rights constitute one of the most significant place within the sphere of human activity.
According to Garner (2016), in the twenty first century, there is a lot of emphasis on the
maintenance and the preponderance of rights. However, it is important to understand that rights
simply does not mean human rights. As stated by Scruton (2018), animals are also living species
and in this sense, they require some protection in the form of their own unique rights.

3ANIMAL RIGHTS IN ANIMAL SHOWS
However, as argued by Armstrong & Botzler (2016), it is the element of speech which
marks the major distinguishing characteristic between the human beings and the animals. In
other words, although both of them form part of the living species on Earth, the animals are at a
disadvantage than the human beings as they cannot speak out in coherent terms. As a
consequence of this, the animals are unable to effectively make their desires and needs heard by
the human beings (Milligan, 2015). This is important to understand because within the human
civilization, it is the people who forms the laws and the regulations. Thus, as stated by Maynard
(2018), the factor of animal rights came in to being much later than the element of human rights.
This goes on to show how the human rights take precedence over the animal kingdom and their
survival.
Animal shows are the places where gross violation of their rights and freedom is done.
According to Laine & Vinnari (2017), animal shows are organized by a certain group of people
who want to earn their source of livelihood. Since animals are different in their orientation than
people, it serves as an intriguing point to many people on Earth as to how they would react to
different situations. Under such a scenario, it can be seen that the animals are made to participate
in various endangering situations such as they are made to jump through hoops of fire (Wellman,
2018). Furthermore, they are made to walk in a certain manner which is quite different from their
original style.
All of these performances, in the words of Grandin (2015) constitute severe violation of
animal rights. Animals are living beings with feelings and emotions of their own. Due to the fact
that they are unable to voice such feelings or emotions, the human society has been unable to
comprehend them. Thus, as a consequence, the problem arises due to such incomprehensible
method of communication. According to Pelizzon & Gagliano (2015), the animal rights get

4ANIMAL RIGHTS IN ANIMAL SHOWS
suffered in the process. The human population is more interested in their source of livelihood.
They are driven by their desire of earning more income and arranging of animal shows provides
them with an opportunity to do so.
This selfish motive of the human beings, according to Kopnina & Gjerris (2015), poses a
problem for the animal kingdom. They are subjected to a lot of pain and traumatic experiences
where the animal show managers beat them in order to make them act or behave in a certain
manner. In the words of Wellman (2018), this is due to the fact that animals respond to
dangerous situations in a different manner than the human beings. For instance, their first instinct
when they are faced with danger is to run instead of finding an effective solution. Therefore,
according to Laine & Vinnari (2017), watching animals react to a way in a certain manner
similar to the human society excites the human population. As a consequence of this, the
entertainment sphere of animal shows is quite a lucrative business for the human population due
to this very reason.
Apart from making the animals perform against their wishes, according to Milligan
(2015), another area where the rights of the animals get violated is that they are made to live in
an environment which is very different from their homes. Animals usually prefer to live in the
wild areas, in the words of Scruton (2018). As a result when they are made to come and live with
the human society where they do not have easy access to the kind of food they eat. Moreover,
they are also separated from their family members which poses a lot of emotional burden and
pain on their parts.
Thus, the various literature review sources reveal that the human society engages in
animal shows because of their own selfish motives. However, the animals have to suffer as a
consequence of this as they are paraded around like show objects and made to participate in an

5ANIMAL RIGHTS IN ANIMAL SHOWS
atmosphere which is out of their comfort zone. As a result of this, the animal rights get severely
abridged when an animal show is organized in a certain place.
This research paper will follow a formal research methodology where by different
methods are applied to execute the research in an efficient manner. The positivism research
philosophy would be applied in the course of this research so as to give a scientific outlook to the
research. For this purpose, the descriptive research design and deductive research approach shall
be adhered to. The data would be collected from various secondary sources of literature which
would give the researcher an idea about the different opinions of the authors with regard to the
importance of animal rights. The information collected from the various sources would be
analyzed in a qualitative manner so as to give an in depth a comprehensive idea about the
research study under progress.
In this process of conducting a research, various ethical considerations shall also be taken
in to account. One of the ethical considerations which would be followed is that of ensuring the
validity and reliability of the data which is being collected from the various secondary sources of
literature. This would provide more depth to the study which is to be conducted.

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References:
Armstrong, S. J., & Botzler, R. G. (Eds.). (2016). The animal ethics reader. Taylor & Francis.
Freeman, C. P. (2016). Framing farming: Communication strategies for animal rights. Brill
Rodopi.
Garner, R. (Ed.). (2016). Animal rights: The changing debate. Springer.
Grandin, T. (Ed.). (2015). Improving animal welfare: a practical approach. Cabi.
Kopnina, H., & Gjerris, M. (2015). Are Some Animals More Equal than Others? Animal Rights
and Deep Ecology in Environmental Education. Canadian Journal of Environmental
Education, 20, 108-122.
Laine, M., & Vinnari, E. (2017). The transformative potential of counter accounts: a case study
of animal rights activism. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 30(7), 1481-
1510.
Maynard, L. (2018). Media framing of zoos and aquaria: From conservation to animal
rights. Environmental Communication, 12(2), 177-190.
Milligan, T. (2015). The political turn in animal rights. Politics and Animals, 1(1), 6-15.
Pelizzon, A., & Gagliano, M. (2015). The sentience of plants: animal rights and rights of nature
intersecting. Austl. Animal Protection LJ, 11, 5.
Rowlands, M. (2016). Animal rights: Moral theory and practice. Springer.
Scruton, R. (2018). Animal rights.
Wellman, C. (2018). The proliferation of rights: Moral progress or empty rhetoric?. Routledge.

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