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Jose Torres

Judith McCann

English 1302

3 March 2023

Animal Conservation and Animal Rights

Animals play a fundamental role in the ecosystem as a whole. They are the ones that

balance out the earth and provide us with the nutrients that humans need to survive. It is no

stretch to say that without animals, there is no mankind. This is why it is important to protect

these animals’ ecosystems, in order to ensure our safety. Through efforts of animal conservation

and sustainable manufacturing of goods, mankind can ensure a safe environment for years to

come. This idea though is not met eye to eye especially when it comes to the greedy. Poachers,

fishers, big businesses, and pollution are all threats to the fragile ecosystem of animals.

Although the future may seem dark there are still many journalists who are fighting every day to

protect this fragile ecosystem. This ecosystems are protected by animal rehabilitation facilities,

and the data they provide ensure the safety of other animals. Animals in the wild aren’t the only

ones that should be protected, Through the help of animal rights activists, the products become

safer to consume and they produce less pollution. Although many animal rights acvtivist are

scrutinized and many laws are passed to prohibit their work they still play a fundamental role in

protecting animals. Through the efforts of animal rehabilitation centers and animal rights activist,

the world can become a more safe and more environmentally friendly place.

1. Animal Rehabilitation Centers

Animal rehabilitation centers play a major role in protecting animals who are at risk of

extinction. They help with a variety of animals which are crucial to the balance of our ecosystem.
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Not only that but these animals represent the state of the ecosystem itself. And as stated by

Montesdeoca, “Seabird population changes are good indicators of long-term and large-scale

changes in marine ecosystems…”, these changes are not only just felt within one species, it is

felt through many of them. (Montesdeoca, et al.) The status of one species of animal serves as a

great indicator of how the other species as a whole are feeling. That is because the environment

the species is in is what truly affects it. The text further emphasizes this by analyzing more than

11 types of seabird species. (Montesdeoca, et al.) In the beaches of the Gran Canaria Island they

were subjected to things like light pollution, crude oil, fishing gear interactions, and poisonining

just to name a few. (Montesdeoca, et al.) Montesdeoca is not the only journalist that connects the

well-being of animals to the environment itself. A study on the 4 R’s of conservation, it states

this, “Data collected during encounters provide information on population biology, behavior, and

other aspects of a species’ biology.”( Pyke, et al.) Animal rehabilitation is not only about saving

animals, it is about collecting information on how to save even more animals. This type of

information can be applied to many different types of species. A strong example of this is in the

article titled, “Outcomes of 4819 Cases of Marine Animals Presented to a Wildlife Rehabilitation

Center in New Jersey, USA” in which they talk about the vast amount of animal cases that are

taken care of by one animal rehabilitation center. (Gallini, et al.) The list of animals that they

have studied consists of many types of phocids, cetaceans, and chelonians.(Gallini, et al.) While

these names seem like very little they are actually a classification of a group of seals, whales, and

sea turtles that fall under similar classifications. This shows how versatile information on one

species can be. While they might not be the same species they do have similar characteristics that

researchers can take note of. This can further improve the way conservation efforts are made and

can pave the way for newer discoveries.

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2. Animal Rights Activist

Animal rights activists practically work on par with animal conservationists They both

believe that all life especially wildlife should be cherished. The only difference that they have is

that animal rights activists care about the life of wild stock as well. They work hard to ensure

that animals are not mishandled, abused, or poorly slaughtered. Furthermore, they also work hard

to combat the effects of the animal industry as a whole. Pollution and poaching are one of the

products of these industries. In an article on the fur industry, it states, “ factory breeding requires

twice the amount of energy needed for that of artificial fur…”. ( Choi et al.) In that same article,

it also states the condition that the animals are in as well. “Alligators, whose skin is used for

handbag manufacturing, are bred in a single tank, locked, and slaughtered at the age of three by

being shot…” is just one of the descriptions provided by the same article. ( Choi et al.) The

fashion industry is not the only culprit when it comes to animal abuse, the animal product

industry is just as guilty. In a journal on the dark secrets of the factory farms, the horrors that

journalists had to go through were described. The journal states that “Calves were lifted by their

tails, violently pulled by their ears, kicked, thrown, and flipped into transport trailers...”. (

Fiber-Ostrow et al.) In that same article, it also names instances where the calves that were

thrown landed on their necks and were left to die. ( Fiber-Ostrow et al) These are just but the

many things that animal rights activists have to deal with but on top of that more laws are being

passed to restrict their work. The United Nations Committee on World Food Security stated that

all products should follow the 5 freedoms. ( BUDZIK et al.) These freedoms are ensured by

animal rights activists but not by the states or big industries. More and more laws are being

passed that limit the work that animal rights activists do.
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Work Cited

BUDZIK, Anna. “The Need of Supervision and Control over Transport of Slaughter Animals as

the Part of Growing Awareness of Animal Rights and Sustainable Development.”

Scientific Papers of Silesian University of Technology. Organization & Management /

Zeszyty Naukowe Politechniki Slaskiej. Seria Organizacji i Zarzadzanie, no. 158, July

2022, pp. 95–119. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.29119/1641-3466.2022.158.7.

Choi, Yeong-Hyeon, and Lee Kyu-Hye. "Ethical Consumers’ Awareness of Vegan Materials:

Focused on Fake Fur and Fake Leather." Sustainability, vol. 13, no. 1, 2021, pp. 436.

Fiber-Ostrow, Pamela, and Jarret S. Lovell. “Behind a Veil of Secrecy: Animal Abuse, Factory

Farms, and Ag-Gag Legislation.” Contemporary justice review : CJR 19.2 (2016):

230–249. Web.

Gallini, Stefan H., et al. “Outcomes of 4819 Cases of Marine Animals Presented to a Wildlife

Rehabilitation Center in New Jersey, USA (1976-2016).” Scientific Reports, vol. 11, no.

1, 2021, pp. 2182–2182, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-81634-5.

Montesdeoca, Natalia, et al. “A Long-Term Retrospective Study on Rehabilitation of Seabirds in

Gran Canaria Island, Spain (2003-2013).” PloS One, vol. 12, no. 5, 2017, p. e0177366–,

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0177366.

Pyke, Graham H., and Judit K. Szabo. “Conservation and the 4 Rs, Which Are Rescue,

Rehabilitation, Release, and Research: Conservation and the 4 Rs.” Conservation

Biology, vol. 32, no. 1, 2018, pp. 50–59, https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12937.

Shea, Matthew. “Punishing Animal Rights Activists for Animal Abuse: Rapid Reporting and the

New Wave of Ag-Gag Laws.” Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems, vol. 48,

no. 3, 2015, p. 337–.

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