Animal Cruelty essays

Animal Rights Organisations

As the number of zoos began to increase throughout the 20th century, concerns for animal rights also began to rise (Cengage, 2020). Therefore, the animal rights movement began with aims to stop cruelty toward animals (Cengage, 2020). There are many definitions of animal rights, however, one explained by Peta states, ‘We believe that every being with a will to live has the right to live free from exploitation and suffering.’ Therefore, many organizations formed to help against the exploitation of animals. Peta further explained that,

Animal rights are based on ethical and moral philosophy. It has been discussed by some of the world’s most influential thinkers, from historical figures such as Pythagoras and Leonardo da Vinci – who embraced vegetarianism – to Jeremy Bentham, the founder of the utilitarian school of philosophy, who famously identified animals’ capacity for suffering as the characteristic that gives them a right to equal consideration. (2020)

To further support the relationship between a rise in zoos and concerns for animal rights, Munro stated ‘although the animal rights concept originated in the nineteenth century England, the serious social and political movement was in the United States in the 1970s’ (2005, p.5). This provides further evidence that there was no major movement until the late 20th century when zoos became increasingly more popular.

Animal rights organizations are in place because ‘animals can’t fight for themselves’ as stated by Sentient Media (2018). There are around 7,000 organizations, with millions of members who help fight for animal rights (Freeman, 2008). Some organizations focus on all aspects of animal welfare, whereas other organizations focus their efforts on specific concerns such as captivity. Examples of organizations are listed below;

Compassion Works International

Compassion Works International focuses its efforts on animals held captive by the entertainment industry, also those held for testing, fur, and food (Compassion Works International, 2020). This organization was founded in America in 2013, where they focus on improving the strategies used within the animal rights movement (LinkedIn, 2020). To further support my investigation, this organization campaigned to end captive industries such as modern zoos and aquariums. (Compassion Works International, 2020).

Above, are images for Compassion Works International’s latest campaign ‘Freedom Matters’, an anti-captivity demonstration held on October 10th, 2020 (Compassion Works International, 2020). This is an annual event held outside locations such as Dallas Zoo and Mississippi Aquarium (Compassion Works International, 2020). They started their reasonings behind this campaign was to ‘help visitors of zoos and other captivity industries wake up to the fact that animals are no more suited to being jailed than you or I’ (2020). Propaganda theory has been used in figures five and six to persuade zoo visitors to avoid captivity industries by only including ‘freedom matters to all’. The use of this message along with photographs of individual animals demonstrates that they are only displaying selected information to influence the audience’s opinion on zoos. Furthermore, the composition of the photographs highlights them being confined, as the cage shadow is across the tiger demonstrating little freedom.

Captive Animals Protection Society

Captive Animals Protection Society commonly referred to as Freedom for Animals, is another Animal Rights Organisation that focuses its efforts on freeing animals out of their cages. (REFERENCE). The society was founded in 1957, and since then they have carried out research into the captivity industry, as well as running many awareness and educational campaigns to express their concerns on animal welfare. (Begg, 2020).

The images above are social media posts for one of their latest campaigns, ‘No More Zoo Secrets’, where the organization focuses on educating its audience on the issue of zoos and aquariums being bailed out by the government, using taxpayers money (Freedom for Animals, 2020). A quote by Freedom for Animals demonstrates the lack of transparency we have between zoos by stating, ‘Zoos claim to be all about conservation yet there is no requirement for them to publish how many animals they release into the wild. So what exactly are they doing?’ (2020). This further questions the nature of a zoo. Similar to ‘Freedom Matters’, Freedom for Animals represents the cruelty within zoos by using imagery of animals pressed up against their cages, suggesting they have little space to roam. This approach also highlights propaganda theory as they have selected the images to influence the audience that zoos do not provide adequate space for wild animals.

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