Is Animal Euthanasia an Argument For Human Euthanasia?
There are a number of arguments for euthanasia. One that is convincing for some is the argument for how we treat our pets.
Many of us have been in that unfortunate position of having to put a beloved pet to sleep. We had a really nice Siamese cat that had an adorable personality. We all loved him.
Sadly he suffered from a stroke. Because he was paralyzed on one side, he could not walk and would continually crawl in circles. He didn’t meow but had a continual moan that was terrible to listen to.
We made the difficult decision to have him put down as there was no possibility of recovery.
Some have suggested that if we show such compassion to our pets, we should surely do the same for our friends and family. Why should we let them suffer?
Here, I would like to argue against this parallel only and not against euthanasia in general. I would like to give some push back against the idea of our treatment of our pets should inform our treatment of humans.
A year and a half ago, one of our cats escaped our house. She was gone for a week. We were thankful that she showed up a week later but we were concerned that she might have gotten pregnant. Once we found out she was not pregnant, we made an appointment with the veterinarian to have her spayed.
We never asked our cat if she wanted to be spayed and she never gave any indication of wanting it.
It is considered a compassionate procedure to have cats spayed or neutered. It prevents unwanted litters of kittens on the streets. Owners are expected to do this.
If we are to treat people the same way that we treat our pets, why don’t we forcibly sterilize people. There definitely people who are not able to be good parents for a variety of reasons. Certainly forcible sterilizations have been done in the past.
Most would agree that sterilizing people against their will is not appropriate, even if it is a good idea for pets. If that is the case, perhaps we should look elsewhere than our treatment of pets for justification of euthanasia.
