Should the park be maintained as a way to preserve the gorillas, or should it be given to the people for farming?
Repose 1
The Utilitarian belief that biodiversity is essential to global health of our human world leads to allowing the gorillas to keep their land as a refuge. This includes concern for the gorillas’ animal rights and is in contrast to concern for the gorillas’ welfare (animal welfare). Peter Singer’s belief of animal liberation would apply especially to each gorilla’s rights considered equally to humans. Others that are concerned for animal welfare argue that if the gorillas’ habitat is destroyed, they have no asylum. Their first consideration is this welfare, as it would give them an intrinsic right to sanctuary. Therefore equal consideration gives the gorillas precedence over the humans desire to build, as the land is the gorillas’ preserve.
The Parc des Volcans gorillas are not being killed outright, such as was done with hunting of gray wolves in Yosemite. If Utilitarian ethics concern for animal rights are applied in the case of the gray wolves, the view is that their killing is cruel (and humans that are cruel to animals may therefore be more cruel to other people, so it should not be allowed). Further consideration is the extirpation (local extinction of wolves) that occurred until their endangerment led to them being reintroduced. Also considered is that the loss of the wolves put Yosemite’s ecosystem at risk (loss of beavers, water quality, and trees due to too many deer). In addition, this impacted people’s ability to enjoy and benefit from the park – an anthropocentric criticism. However, according to our textbook, “Utilitarianism has to provide an account of whose interests or happiness matters” (MacKinnon, pg. 96). In this case, the wolves interests do not matter, human interests do. This concern for animals requires humans to find ways to co-exist.
Response 2
1. Should the park be maintained as a way to preserve the gorillas, or should it be given to the people for farming?
The park should be maintained as a way to preserve the gorillas. Since once we start to take the resource from natural, in this case, using the park to the farm to feed more population, there will be more and more people who need to be feed as the population grows. Although we might start with the concern about gorillas, we won’t have a choice to choose to leave more population starving as the population grows up. Consequently, it would lead to a lack of resources for gorillas, which might lead to the extinction of gorillas. The animal sentience and welfare approaches claim that “Nonhuman animals can be considered individuals who have interests and rights, and from the animal rights perspective, there is a direct duty to respect the rights of animals, and perhaps to prevent them from being harmed.”(Fiala and MacKinnon chapter 17-2) As sentient creatures, they also have the right of their own, we should be respectful and share the resource in a way that won’t harm them in the future. Farming might be the best solution in the short run to solve the huger of a large population, but we should always consider the consequence in the long-run. If possible, it might be more environmentally friendly if any other country would like to deliver their food to support people in Rwanda, and carry out the planned parenthood policy to reduce the new-born population. Although in the short run it might cost a lot, however, if we look at the case in the long term, it is always better to have a population size that is suitable for the resource of the land rather than use up all the resources and waiting in despair.
2.To what extent, if any, do humans have an obligation to look for new and creative ways to meet their own needs in order to protect the interests of animals?
Humans should always keep a balance of their needs and the interests of animals, otherwise, we would eventually hurt our benefit. That is while we try to get resources from the natural, we should never take more than what we need. According to anthropocentric approaches to animal ethics, “Learning to care for animals and treat them well is a natural and normal part of human experience…Our moral duties to animals are indirect—the treatment of animals matters in terms of its impact or potential impact on human beings.”( Fiala and MacKinnon chapter 17-2)
This approach not only claim kindness as one merit of humanity, but also mention the serious consequence that might bring up because we hurt the benefit of animals. In the case of taking the park from gorillas, more and more gorillas might die as fewer and fewer resources are available for them. While if the worst case happens, which is they go extinct, we couldn’t predict what’s going to happen. It might be the animal that used to be the prey of the gorillas grows out of control and eventually breaks the balance of nature. Sooner or later, as one species who rely on the food chain, we will be impacted negatively.
Response 2
1. Should the park be maintained as a way to preserve the gorillas, or should it be given to the people for farming?
The park should be maintained as a way to preserve the gorillas. Since once we start to take the resource from natural, in this case, using the park to the farm to feed more population, there will be more and more people who need to be feed as the population grows. Although we might start with the concern about gorillas, we won’t have a choice to choose to leave more population starving as the population grows up. Consequently, it would lead to a lack of resources for gorillas, which might lead to the extinction of gorillas. The animal sentience and welfare approaches claim that “Nonhuman animals can be considered individuals who have interests and rights, and from the animal rights perspective, there is a direct duty to respect the rights of animals, and perhaps to prevent them from being harmed.”(Fiala and MacKinnon chapter 17-2) As sentient creatures, they also have the right of their own, we should be respectful and share the resource in a way that won’t harm them in the future. Farming might be the best solution in the short run to solve the huger of a large population, but we should always consider the consequence in the long-run. If possible, it might be more environmentally friendly if any other country would like to deliver their food to support people in Rwanda, and carry out the planned parenthood policy to reduce the new-born population. Although in the short run it might cost a lot, however, if we look at the case in the long term, it is always better to have a population size that is suitable for the resource of the land rather than use up all the resources and waiting in despair.
2.To what extent, if any, do humans have an obligation to look for new and creative ways to meet their own needs in order to protect the interests of animals?
Humans should always keep a balance of their needs and the interests of animals, otherwise, we would eventually hurt our benefit. That is while we try to get resources from the natural, we should never take more than what we need. According to anthropocentric approaches to animal ethics, “Learning to care for animals and treat them well is a natural and normal part of human experience…Our moral duties to animals are indirect—the treatment of animals matters in terms of its impact or potential impact on human beings.”( Fiala and MacKinnon chapter 17-2)
This approach not only claim kindness as one merit of humanity, but also mention the serious consequence that might bring up because we hurt the benefit of animals. In the case of taking the park from gorillas, more and more gorillas might die as fewer and fewer resources are available for them. While if the worst case happens, which is they go extinct, we couldn’t predict what’s going to happen. It might be the animal that used to be the prey of the gorillas grows out of control and eventually breaks the balance of nature. Sooner or later, as one species who rely on the food chain, we will be impacted negatively.
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