Tatum Martin 04 February 2014 English 1- 1st Block Mrs.

Knowles

Animal Experimentation I chose the topic Animal Experimentation. This topic interested me because I love animals. I think animals are much like humans. They differ from us because they walk on four legs, eat and drink without their paws, and have tails. They have hearts, lungs, brains and etc, just as a human. I dont agree with animal abuse, or experimentation. I was drawn to this topic because of my love for animals. At home, I have 3 dogs that are all males. Ones a Pomeranian; ones a Pekingese, and the other a chocolate lab. The Pekingeses name is Shadow. My dad got a call one day from a friend and was told that the dog had been dropped off on the road by someone. My dads friend said shed keep the dog for us to pick it up, if we wanted. My mom went to pick the dog up, but when she brought him home, he was covered in fleas. It was as if he was coated in a jacket or two of fleas. It took several baths until the fleas were completely off of his body. I dont have first-hand experience with animal experimentation, but I disagree 100% with it. Ive heard of animals getting sick, and/or dying because something in the experiment goes wrong. Ive seen things about experimenting on animals on TV, many times. Animals go through being poisoned, having their bones broken, and etc. Once you break an animals leg off, theres no going back. You cannot break it then tell it to go back to normal. It doesnt work that way. Putting an animal through poison, or shocking them to see how far they can go, and not giving them any painkillers doesnt help them at all. It just kills them faster than usual. Most times they die. Ive seen this all on Animal Planet before. Its crazy.

Tatum Martin 04 February 2014 English 1- 1st Block Mrs. Knowles

In 1987, during the spring, a veterinary lab at the University of California at Davis was destroyed by a fire that caused $3.5 million in damage. The fire was caused by the Animal Liberation Front, or ALF, who committed to halting experimenting on animals. There are about 20 million animals that are experimented on and killed. Three-fourths are for medical reasons and the rest are just for testing many different products. Researchers estimate that eight million animals are used in painful experiments, and various reports show that at least 10% of these animals do not receive painkillers at all. There is a growing criticism of painful experimenting on animals. It has become a public debate on whether animals should be used for experiments or not. Many people believe that if its wrong to inflict pain on a human being, its wrong to inflict pain on an animal. Jeremy Bentham says, Can they reason? Nor can they talk? But, can they suffer? It is believed if animal experimentations stop, scientists will stop being able to discover much research. It doesnt matter if its inflicted on an adult, a child, or an animal, causing any pain to anyone or thing is evil. It doesnt matter if the animal is as tiny as a mouse or as big and a buffalo, all creatures have value and are very worthy of respect, no matter what they are or their size. Animals suffer just like humans, and can in fact feel pain just as much as a human can. Once scientists chopped off the legs of baby mice, just to see if they would learn to use their stumps to groom themselves. In other case, polar bears were put into a tank of crude oil and salt water to see if they would live or die. Many people believe if animal experimenting stops, it would put an end to scientific progress, and cause harmful consequences to society. Animals

Tatum Martin 04 February 2014 English 1- 1st Block Mrs. Knowles

deserve respect just as humans. They also deserve the right to be spared the pain they are put through during experiments. In conclusion, I am on the side of the people who disagree with animal experimentation. You wouldnt want acid, or any other kinds of chemicals on you. You wouldnt want someone to break your bones. You wouldnt want to be shocked or be tested in any way that most of these animals are. If you wouldnt want it done to you, why do it to another, even if it is an animal. I want to further research this topic, because I want to get more statistics and facts. I want to find out exactly how testing and experimenting on these animals helps with scientific research. I want to know how it helps discover new methods, and medications for humans. My question is if youre researching for humans, why not test humans? Is it because people respect animals less? The fact that there are many people, who agree with this, sickens me, but I am very glad there are people who disagree. .