I was especially intrigued with the article “Hooked on a
Myth” by Victoria Braithwaite. She shared her opinion on the myth of whether or
not fish feel pain. She said that we should adopt a precautionary ethical
approach and assume that fish do suffer. In my AP Environmental Science class
we have been trying to keep five fish alive in an ecosystem column we built. I
cannot help but notice how indifferent I am to the sight of a dying or dead
fish. When I was younger I had a couple of fish I really cared for and every
time I saw their little orange bodies floating at the top of the water, I would
bawl my eyes out. I was so aware and sensitive to how fish felt. I considered
their life equal to my life as a child. Even though I do acknowledge that fish
suffer and are affected by pain, I am not so sure whether they can “feel” it.
On the other hand, I have a nine year old cat that I completely identify as an
amazing “conscious” being with human-like emotions and feelings. I know when
she is suffering from the sight of the bottom of her food bowl and her
loneliness is palpable when there is no one with an open lap for her. I guess I
do exempt fish from the standards I have for other animals. It was strange for
me to think about animals, like fish, being conscious in the way humans are. Braithwaite
says that we don’t even know for sure what it means to be conscious ourselves
so how can we expect to detect it in a fish? Sometimes I make conclusions too
fast and believe things too readily. It is easy to accept information as fact
as soon as it is shared with me, especially in a world of modernization and
advanced technology. I need to embrace deep-thinking and the act of pondering
because I do too much fact-finding and one right-answer questioning in my day. Yesterday,
I am happy to say, I got hooked on a myth.
i feel ya Kinsey ! I have a pet too and i really don't like talking about animal rights because i start thinking about my own pet. it's different when you have a pet because you get so attached with him or her that it's hard to make a decision especially on this topic. I guess it depends on what kinds of animals were talking about. I mean fish is small compared to cats and dogs and those are big enough to feel pain and suffer so it's difficult to make the decision if animals DO actually feel pain.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about seeing your cat feel that pain of when she doesn't have any food. My cat does the same thing. And I understand what you mean, I feel the same what about fish, when i see a fish dead I don't really think of the pain that they must have felt before they died, I am still unsure if they even felt anything. But when i see a dead animal in the middle of the road, I always think of how sad it is and what it feels like to be ran over. I hate to see them lying there not moving, it always brings me pain, but with fish it's different.
ReplyDelete