The Moral Equation:

Observations of animals, whether in the wild, in captivity, or in experimental cages reveal undeniable evidence that they perceive physical pain and discomfort as well as pain as acutely as we do (Tangley 2000). Anecdotal evidence of numerous well documented instances seems to suggest that many animals also experience emotions such as grief from of loss of companionship (Moussaieff-Masson 1995).

Not uncommonly, it is scientists and medical researchers themselves who first notice responses and behaviors in laboratory animals that, in the extreme, challenge their previous assumptions about what "rights" animals have not to be subjected unnecessarily, or for no worthwhile purpose, to excruciating pain (Winter 2002). It is possible, for example, to justify infecting animals with cancer for the purposes of learning how to treat human cancer while opposing recreational hunting, or other reasons for using animals. For example, in parts of China it is possible to...
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