Another debate topic to consider

Here is another debate topic for 2A1 – all students are to carefully consider their position on the motion and then comment on the blog. You are free to choose either side of the debate, but remember that you cannot be on both sides.

The motion is as follows:

‘This house believes that animals have rights.’

I look forward to reading your comments!

8 thoughts on “Another debate topic to consider”

  1. I am for the motion that animals have rights. Millions of years ago humans and animals had everything in common. We were uncivilized and didn’t know much about the world; to be honest it would be hard to differentiate between humans and animals. The only reason we evolved and animals didn’t is that we have pose-able thumbs.The moral option is to give animals rights. The opposition might try to trick you with if we give animals rights they’ll just kill us more then they do already. True animals kill a lot of humans, but humans kill humans the most. Do they have rights? So why shouldn’t animals?

  2. I disagree with this motion because if animals had the intelligence to want rights they would protest for them just like the women’s rights movement and the black rights movement of the 50s and 60s . Animals have never had rights so why should that change ?

  3. I believe that all animals should have rights. I believe this because, like humans, they are living beings that can feel pain and emotions. I think that they should be let have a long, free range life in a field and when they reach an old age they could be killed for their produce. I don’t think that animals should be kept in a confined space or should have their young taken away from them. After all how would you feel if your children were taken away from you?

  4. Good evening chairperson, time keeper, members of the proposition and members of the opposition. We are here to discuss the motion that ‘This house believes that animals have rights’ and I am for the motion. I think animals should have rights because its totally immoral to mistreat them considering they’ve done nothing wrong.

    In a lot of places animals are treated cruelly and are put under a lot of pain and given a slow death, an example of this is some trawlers catch a type of shark and cut off its fins then put it back in the water. This is really immoral because they just take the fin of the shark and sell it but the shark now has to try and swim with one or even no fins which could lead to death. I think this has been stopped but I am sure there are some fishermen who still do it and get away with it.

    I think animals that are used as a source of food for us should really be treated fairly because they are giving us food to eat and some can be luxuries for us. I think in most places farm animals are treated properly and this should be the exact same with fish, dogs and other animals that are used as a food source. They are treated well and live a long enough life and are then slaughtered but it’s important they are fed properly and treated properly before being slaughtered.

  5. Animals have the right to live a full and healthy life like humans. Just because they can’t say yes or no to being shot or experimented on, does it mean it’s right to do so? Animals should have equal rights to humans regarding experimentation but I think killing/farming them for food is only nature/life and is fine to do so.

  6. This is a very interesting motion and the arguments put forward so far are intelligent and have been reasonably well thought out.
    I have a question for those who support animals’ rights. If animals are to have rights, could you name those rights, please. If the right to life is one of them, does that mean that that we should all become vegetarians? If the right to live in their own natural habitat is one of them, then does that mean the end to all zoos as we know them?
    So if you could identify the rights that animals have, what would be the implications and consequences of protecting and guaranteeing those rights?
    Good luck with the arguments on both sides.

  7. I am for the motion that animals have rights. Animals should have rights because all over the world animal cruelty exists. Like in China they skin dogs while the dog is still alive. Once they finish skinning it the dog is still alive for ten minutes. People should be ashamed to see this cruelty in the world. Animals should be given rights like the right to live at least half their life expectancy – that way the animal would not be slaughtered after birth. Also another right animals should have in my opinion is the right to have a humane death like being put down with a drug which is painless.

  8. I am for the motion that animals have rights, animals have the right to be treated well, to be well feed and kept in a clean area with plenty of space. However this should not be taken to extremes; animals are and always have been a source of food for people. Sadly animals must be used to test new medicines and in lab work, other wise we would have to do this dangerous work on humans. Surely you are willing to exchange the freedom of some animals for the good of mankind? However Sean’s point about the fur industry in China is slightly different. The reason these animals can’t be killed in a humane way is because these people can simply not afford it. They can either work in a factory owned by a western company for a measly wage which will hardly support their family or they can start their own fur farm and feed and educate their family only at the cost of an animal’s comfort. This is sad, but surely you are not going to try and compared the value of a human life to that of an animal. Animals are also kept in zoos for scientific reasons. Zoos help to educate people about animals and their habitat. Many zoos also try to breed endangered animals .

    Thank you for taking the time to listen to me.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *