Animal Welfare - Questions and Answers

1. Take a look at the DPI website on pest animals. What makes these
animals pests?
Pest Animals are the animals that are generally harmful to human concerns.
Some examples of pest animals are feral pigs, wild dogs, mices, feral goats,
deers, foxes, rabbits, etc. There are many reasons or factors that makes
these animals pests. That are as -
● The living conditions of these pest animals,
● These are not domestic ones to shelter them,
● They may be harmful to humans in many ways,
● The general nature of these animals makes them pests.

2. Having understood that quite a wide variety of animals may be classified

as pests, do you think we treat these pests differently? Have a look at
the following article from the daily mail;
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5881711/Animal-cruelty-pest-control-
New-Zealand-man-sends-possum-flying-solid-punch-face.html
Sometimes, it often happens that we keep losing our control on ourselves. It
generally happens when we don’t control our senses and passing the
judgement without knowing the whole story. As per the article from the daily
mail, we can understand that we often treat pests differently.
Depending on the situation and nature of the animal, we need to treat them
accordingly. We can do this by observing the pest animals and then treating
them nicely so that they can understand that we are helping them without us
being harmed.

3. Is this animal cruelty or pest control? Do we treat pests we like

differently, then pests we don't like? Where is the evidence? Is this
valid?
Sometimes, it is animal cruelty. And sometimes, it is pest control. Yes, we
treat pests we like differently, then pests we don’t like. This is the general
human nature like the things we like and we don’t like, we treat both of them
 differently. This is because animal cruelty occurs when we think and conclude
that all pest animals are harmful to humans. Whereas, pest control is just
when we want control our industry or business concerns being wasted. This
may not be valid in some situations because we need manage pest animals
and treat them equally.

4. Define ‘biotechnology’ and list at least four examples. (Related to

animals)
Biotechnology (related to animals) or Animal biotechnology is a technique
used to modify the pest animals genetically for the suitability in terms of
agriculture, pharmaceutical applications, or industrial based works, etc.
Examples of Animal Biotechnology are (According to Isaaa.org) -
● In-Vitro Fertilization, popularly known as IVF.
● Artificial Insemination (AI).
● Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT).
● Embryo Transfer (ET).

5. Describe at least one ethical issue surrounding the use of biotechnology

in: food, environment, and humans respectively. Why are scientists
concerned about genetically modified fish entering natural
environments?
Protecting the human related clinical subjects in trials, Food Safety, and
Ecological Harm are the ethical issues surrounding the use of biotechnology
in terms of humans, food, and environment respectively.
It is considered that scientists are concerned about genetically modified fish
entering natural environments because, although they are fishes, they are
genetically modified and formed from other animals or species. They may be
harmful to the sea environment and other water bodies (According to the
Center for food safety).

6. What is the EnviroPig? What problem does it aim to solve?

EnviroPig is a pig that is genetically engineered or bioengineered pig that is
suitable for excreting fewer pollutants or less phosphorus. The project got
started a decade ago by observing the need for quality agriculture and
 industries emitting less pollutants. It aims to solve the problem of phosphorus
coming from the pigs themselves. With this EnviroPig, factories and other
manufacturing units can save on a lot and have measures such as feeding
ingredients that are changed and nature consisting of dry compost, etc.
(Vince, 2021).

7. We have briefly discussed this before, but after your reflections on

biotechnologies answer the following - Would you eat meat grown in a
test tube? Why or why not?
No. I would not eat meat grown in a test tube. The reason is that the test tube
meat consists of the modified ingredients that come from two or more different
animals which is even more harmful than the meat from one animal. We may
or may not know the animal nature and its observation under our surveillance.
Generally, eating meat is not good for health. The test tube meat may contain
any disease that might affect the body. This is in general and based on the
nature of the environment where the meat is made and modified from the
animals, it is better not to eat it.

8. Some people are concerned that, if an animal’s gene is removed from

the animal and placed into a different animal or plant, that gene may
behave unpredictably. The idea that genes are separate entities from the
rest of the organism is controversial. Do you think that genes should be
treated as separate from the rest of the organism, or should they always
be taken in the context of the animal or plant in which they live? What
evidence do you have for your argument?
It may happen that in some cases when an animal gene is removed and
placed in a different animal body, it may behave differently. We may not be
sure. Anything may happen. Genes can be treated as separate from the rest
of the organism when they are being genetically modified. We can take this in
the context of genes being shifted to the organism. They may behave
according to the nature of the body they are being shifted to and sometimes,
they may not.
9. Do you think that genetically modifying a lab rat to prefer life in a cage,
or creating a featherless chicken to control internal temperature, is the
best way to ensure its welfare? Are there other options that could be
considered?
Genetically modifying a lab rat or any other pest animal may sometimes work
in the favour of us and sometimes, it may not. Anything would be possible.
Rat are the delicate ones. They may behave differently in one body and their
genes may behave in a different manner when they are being genetically
modified into some other body. We can take the other options like handing
them over to the other care taking entities without treating them harshly. In
this way, your factory will also be saved and the life of the rat is also saved.

10. If a pig is used to grow human organs for transplant, the species barrier
will be broken, and it could be argued that the pig is not a pig at all.
However, humans are given legal rights that pigs are not given. How
many human organs, or which human organs, do you think would be
needed to make that pig eligible for legal rights?
This may not be possible for the transplant. We need to carefully observe and
look at the past examples before diving into the thought of the transplantation.
This could be harmful to the industry, humans, and the pig.

11. Do you agree that the latest biotechnologies, like genetic modification,
are mere extensions of a domestication process that has been going on
for thousands of years? Why or why not?
Genetic modification is considered as the extensions of a domestication
process. This is because the process is being carried out for many years now,
and the genetical modification is being useful for the industries and agriculture
process.

12. Is genetic modification ‘unnatural’? Either way, is ‘natural’ always

better?
Yes, genetic modification is ‘unnatural.’ This is because of the usage of test
tubes in the laboratories. ‘Natural’ will always be better in terms of other
modifications.
References

Biotechnology for the livestock industry (no date) Isaaa.org. Available at:
https://www.isaaa.org/resources/publications/pocketk/40/default.asp (Accessed:
August 31, 2022).

Center for food safety (no date) Center for Food Safety. Available at:
https://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/issues/309/ge-fish/ge-fish-and-the-environment
(Accessed: August 31, 2022).

Vince, G. (2021) “Synthetic biology - a call to meddle better,” Nature, 598(7881), pp.
408–409. doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02848-1.