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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 everyday to

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

and the data they provide ensures 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 activists are

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

protecting animals. By analyzing multiple studies from around the world anyone can get a deeper

understanding of how much these individuals do. Similarly researching these topics can show the

hardships that one must endure to save the life of animals. Through the efforts of animal

rehabilitation centers and animal rights activists, the world can become a more safe and more

environmentally friendly place.

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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.

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 Gran Canaria Island, they

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

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,

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

and can pave the way for newer discoveries.

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 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. From the 1970s all the way through the 2010s laws
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known as Ag-Gag laws would limit journalists when it comes to investigating businesses. ( Shea,

et al.) From Kansas all the way to North Dakota, many lawmakers are starting to enforce such

laws. ( Shea, et al.) These laws obstruct the truth of what is really happening in the factory farm

industry. It is the job of these industries to ensure that their food is coming from a sanitary

environment but instead of showing the truth they close their veils. That is why animal rights

activists sneak into facilities to expose the truth. Unfortunately, some laws that were passed

require animal rights activists to fork over any evidence to the police. ( Shea, et al.) Sadly, if

more and more of these laws pass the curtains will never be open.

It takes a lot of hard work in order to balance out the environment. Animal

conservationists and animal rights activists aren’t the only ones that can help. Everyone can

make a change and everyone can be conscious of the environment. By understanding the effects

of pollutants and the effects of the animal factory industry the human race can work to become

more enlightened. Only through compassion and empathy can change happen and not just for

animals, but for the whole world.

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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–.