Jack Yesner Week 2- Euthanizing the Innocent Animal
One day during the summer, on the drive back home from camp, my sister shared an unexpected fact: her friend’s dog died. I didn’t personally know my sister’s friend or her dog, so I couldn’t share the emotion she felt at the same magnitude. However, from what I did know about the dog, it was a healthy Great Dane and couldn’t have been more than six years old. “So why did it die?” I asked, merely out of curiosity. Apathetically, my sister replied, “Oh, they decided to put it down”. I was appalled. How could someone do that? How could someone take a healthy dog and end its life? Apparently, my sister’s friend had a new sibling born a short while beforehand, and the dog did not appreciate the split in attention. Twice the dog tried to bite the baby, which led to the parents’ decision to euthanize it. Still though, I couldn’t understand the decision. “How could someone do that to a living being?” I thought.
Later over the summer, another harrowing circumstance of animal euthanization rang a bell in my head that this is a surprisingly common occurrence. Over the past few months, Freya, a Norwegian walrus, playfully jumped on boats and maintained a close distance to humans. Most of the general population loved having an upfront contact with a rare animal, but the Norwegian government did not agree. They saw this phenomenon as a safety risk, as the walrus’s sharp tusks could impale a person and walruses have attacked humans before. Despite public outcry, Freya was euthanized.
A similar story that occurred in the past is that of Harambe the gorilla. Harambe lived in the enclosure at the Cincinnati zoo harmlessly for many years, and was a featured attraction. However, on May 28, 2016, a toddler crawled into the enclosure. Harambe never directly attacked the child, but the zoo authorities intervened and shot the gorilla dead.
Personally, I would never euthanize an animal for my own personal benefit. When I was born, my family was put in the same situation as my sisters’ friend in that we had a dog that did not take a liking to my presence. Despite this, my parents did not even think of killing it. They searched for someone to take the dog and give it a better life. Thankfully, my aunt and uncle agreed to adopt it and my parents could see it occasionally, but if they could not find anyone to take it, they would likely have given it to an adoption center. To me, the ultimate importance is the life of the animal, not the humans that invade its habitat.
Are the deaths of any of these animals justified? Is it moral to euthanize an innocent animal for the well-being of human people?
Your blog post made me sad. I care a lot about animals, so hearing people put down an animal is very upsetting to me. I understand it if the animal is very old and is suffering, but I don't believe a healthy animal should be.
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