groupassignment introductory ethics topic animal rights is eating dog meat in vietnam ethical or unethical

At the same time, people in Vietnam has conducted many projects and movements to protect animals from animal cruelty.. The number of consumed dogs in Asia, China, Vietnam, Korean every y

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GROUP ASSIGNMENT: INTRODUCTORY ETHICS

TOPIC: ANIMAL RIGHTS — IS EATING DOG MEAT IN VIETNAM

ETHICAL OR UNETHICAL?

Members:

@ Mai Thái Bình An - 11200011

Nguyễn Thị Thu Hà - 11205105

Nguyễn Quang Huy - 11201798

Lê Nguyễn Thanh Tâm - 11203471

Table of Contents

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2 Issue AnnaÌySIS - Q1 1211211121 112111112111 01111 11111 11H kg Hà HH TH TH kg 0 11 ghe 4 PIN 2000000000721 000)0i 0n 4 2.2 Animal Rights & Animal Welfare 1n HH HH0 11 1110111111011 11 1H tu 7 2.3 Overview about Eattng dog me€at L1 1112011 11111111 1110111111111 11 11 1 HH HH kg 7

3,1 Defđne and apply Consequentialism, Utilitariansm and Ethical egoism 10 3.1.1 Defimtion of Consequentta]ism L1 11 11112111111111111111 1111111101 HH Hệ, 10 3.1.2 Forms of consequentialism: Ethical egoism and Ủtilitarianism - eee 10 3.1.3 Strengths and Weaknesses of ConsequentiaÏism c2: 11211 11 2112211 11 3.1.4 Consequentialism In Situation of Eating Dog Meat ccc cecectecteeeeteeees 11 3.2 Define and apply Deontology ccc n 12 3.2.1 Definition of Deontology ow cccccccceeeetettenetectentecteiesieeisecteeieenetieeteneenenes 12 E20 ‹<0 To oan a5 12 3.2.3 Strengths and Weaknesses of Ieontology : cc SH HH HH HH1 HH He, 13 3.2.4 Deontolòy In Situation Of Eating Dog Meat - ác cọc nnS H1 HH HH HH He, 14 3.3 Define and apply Virtue EtÍIC§ cà L1 9191191 10111111111111 1111111111111 1 11 Hệ 14 3.3.1 Delinition of Virtue EHIcs - 1 0011211121211 121 1111211121111 11111111 1111 1 re 14

Table of Figures

Figure Í The number of ceonsumed dòs 1n Asia, China, Vietnam, Korean every y€ar 3 Figure 2 The countries ban eating dog Im€aI - - St n1 11101112101 111 1t HH0 re 4 Figure 3 Number of times of eating dog meat by residents in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi COPA ccc ee een en en een nec LEE CLEC LELE ELEC LE EEE ELE E CERES REC ED ERE CEC tEC Cee CteCteeeteetetteteetenienieneee 9 Figure 4 Education level of people consuming dog and cat 1m€at - ác c1 1 1n re, 9 Figure 5 Occasions for catine dog meat án HH H1 1111111 112 110111011 1H 10

1 Introduction

1.1 The case backgrounds

Plants and animals are two types of living creatures on the Earth However, unlike animals, plants are not incapable of feeling pain Through time, “‘animal rights” has always been a controversial topic

On the one hand, most people have conventional views, which are negative, about the way animals should be treated The reason for these opinions is that the purpose of animals’ existence is to be food, entertainment and many other instrumental functions Some people used to say that animals are not sentient, however, this statement is no longer gaining many people’s trusts Furthermore, some people say that animals and humans are not at the same levels, humans deserve the priority

On the other hand, some philosophers protect animals and state that they have their own rights The popular attitude towards animals is considered to be wrong Some animals can feel pain because they have a nerve system like that of humans In addition, animals have emotions as well Charles Darwin, the scientist famous for the Theory of evolution, agreed with Lamarck (a France scientist) that some useful emotions of animals will be passed on Moreover, people can see that animals also have souls and they are living creatures with feelings like humans

Despite many arguments, in reality, many animals are being abused and they have to suffer for human’s satisfaction Some ways people can make animals suffered: Firstly, some owners neglect their pets This act is considered as animal cruelty since it makes the pets starve, thirsty, lack of loves and cares which can lead to many illnesses or even make the pets die Some reasons for this act can be that the owners don’t have time for taking care of their pets, the owners cannot afford the cost for pet care, the owners buy or adopt pets without awareness of the commitment (two biggest commitments are time and money) and the owners may not know the way to train their pets properly

The next type of animal abuse can be using them for entertaining purposes The most popular example we can see is animals in the circuses, many types of animals such as monkeys, elephants, and bears are taught to perform tricks in order to amuse audiences The issue is that people use the technique named “training crush”, which means animals will be punished, left to starve, thirsty, and threatened to make these poor creatures obey In Vietnam, in some tourist attractions, people use elephants as transportations, which can help tourists have such exotic experiences and feel the regional culture However, people use metal sharp objects to hook into elephants’ ears

to control them as vehicles This act hurts their ears and their ears usually bleed Thirdly, animals are used for experimental purposes Some kinds of animals that people often use to conduct experiments on are dogs, mice, rats, monkeys, rabbits These experiments use chemicals which can lead to extreme pain for animals and make them have some health problems such as vomiting, rashes, cancer, bleeding and

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even death During the experimental period, animals are not given medicine to help relieve pains because people believe these external factors can make the results of experiment change Most animals in the research rooms are purpose-bred Some of them are caught from the wild while some of them come from animal shelters Animals in science labs have to undergo extreme pain in experiments In addition, they are kept in metal cages which make them feel alone, anxious and scared They panic because of the fact that they cannot hide or escape

Finally, animals in the food industry are treated badly and after that they are killed They have to eat many kinds of chemical foods to gain weight, sometimes, they are crammed with food For example, to have Foie gras (a luxury and expensive French dish made from gooses’ livers), people cram upto 10kg of food into gooses everyday Another instance is dairy cows in the milk industry These cows have to produce as much as milk they can, people use machines to take out all of their milk To have milk, dairy cows have to be pregnant People force cows to have baby cows many times in their lives In addition, bull baby dairy cows will be killed for food since they cannot produce milk

In the world, animal nghts have been discussed widely At the same time, people in Vietnam has conducted many projects and movements to protect animals from animal cruelty Many people in Vietnam and Asia generally eat dog meat, which

is not very popular in Western countries In the past, many foreigners have raised their voice and tried to stop Vietnamese from eating dog meat, however, it seems to be very hard to change this In recent times, many Vietnamese support stopping eating dogs while others think that it is a part of Vietnamese tradition, so it is an enormous challenge for people to determine the ethical issues in eating dog meat

1.2 Data for the case

According to the Humane Society of the United States, about 10 billion cattles such as chickens, pigs, ducks, sheeps, and turkeys were killed for food in 2015 The above number does not include the marine animals and wild animals which are poached illegally

In 2014, the U.S recognised more than 100 million animals die for being used

in experiments However, the number was not precise since most of the animals used are mice, there were so many other animals such as birds, snakes, rabbits

Every year, approximately 40 million animals are killed for their fur in the world For more details, about 30 million animals come from farms and another 10 million are caught from the wild

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Figure 1 The number of consumed dogs in Asia, China, Vietnam, Korean every year About the eating dog meat problem in Vietnam, according to experts working in protecting animals projects, it is hard to give precise figures about the number of dogs killed for food In recent years, the amount of dog meat consumed has decreased compared to that in the past, however, this figure has started to increase in the Central

of Vietnam recently

Human Society International and Soi Dog point out that, in 2021, Vietnam is in the top 2 of the countries consuming the biggest number of dogs in Asia The total number of dogs eaten in Asia is approximately equal to 30 million In the top | is China with about 10 million dogs consumed every year Next is Vietnam and Korea in the top 2 and top 3 with the numbers of dogs consumed are respectively 5 million and

2 million In Hanoi, there are about 24 dog butcheries and on average, about 1.079 dogs are killed every day The experts say that dog meat markets in China and Korea are more complicated than those in Vietnam The reasons are that Chinese have dog meat festivals and Koreans have many dog farms

Figure 2, The countries ban eating dog meat

In Asia, some countries have banned people from eating dog meat such as Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan and Philippines

1.3 The debate issues

Through the information and figures above, it is clear that people have various opinions about animal nghts Vietnam also cares about animal mghts, however, Vietnamese and foreigners still concern about the problem of eating dog meat The numbers of dogs killed for meat every year in Vietnam is still high and the dog meat market is quite hard to control

People with mere thoughts still cannot determine if it 1s right or wrong if others keep eating dog meat since each person has their own point of view Some philosophical theories in Ethics such as Consequentialism, Utilitarianism, Deontology and Virtue Ethics can provide numerous perspectives for people

All of these issues lead our group to come to the questions:

1 Ls eating dog meat in Vietnam ethical or unethical?

2 How can we analyze these issues in diverse perspectives?

2 Issue Analysis

2.1 Definition of Animals rights

There are about 10 to 15 million species of living things on our planet today All living things are essential for a complex, carefully adjusted network called the

biosphere In contrast, the Earth's biosphere is made up of a multitude of ecosystems — including plant and animal species and their natural habitats No one can fully know how species interact with each other in the same ecosystem, but the disappearance of one species will cause a chain reaction, affecting many other species Especially for species that play an important role in the ecosystem, their extinction can lead to unpredictable consequences

Also related to the debates about the subject of rights mentioned above, there is a growing opinion that not only human beings, but also animals (animals) have rights Animal rights are increasingly supported and advocated by many individuals and organizations around the world to be codified As early as the eighteenth century, authors like Humphrey Primatt (1776), John Lawrence (1796) wrote works about the need to respect animal rights Those involved in the animal rights movement believe that the fundamental interests of animals should be considered as much as the interests of humanity Animals, especially primates, domestic animals should not be treated solely as property, used for food, clothing, research, or entertainment for humans The idea of animal rights is supported by legal scholars such as Cleveland Amory and Lewis Gompertz Animal law is taught at 119 of 180 law schools in the United States, in eight law universities in Canada, and is regularly taught in philosophy colleges or courses in practical ethics The modem animal rights movement in the United States reached a major milestone in the 1970s with the publication of Peter Singer's "Animal Liberation.” So he argued that it was ethically important for non- human animals to feel pain, and that this fact needs to be much more equal Treatment

of non-human animals and humans He also spread the term "speciesism"” and explained what would happen if non-human animals were not considered the same as humans

In this area, many countries around the world have regulations prohibiting the torture, ill-treatment, and killing of animals without reason, especially domestic animals (dogs, cats ) In 2008, Spain became the first country to recognize the rights of human primates (apes) by establishing a comprehensive legal framework to protect this species, which stipulates All acts of killing (except in self-defense), torture, and detention of this primate are considered illegal

On the international scale, the system of international treaties to protect animals and biodiversity is increasingly rich In 2003, at the Manila Conference on Animal Welfare, delegates reached an agreement that five kinds of freedoms should be guaranteed for animals (freedom from hunger and thirst; freedom from fear; freedom from fear), stress; freedom from pain, disease; freedom of expression through normal behavior) Although the issue of animal rights is still controversial, its protection and humane treatment are still controversial with animals is increasingly seen as a criterion for assessing the level of civilization of societies

Basic entitlements are the conviction that creatures reserve a privilege to be liberated from human use and abuse, yet there is a lot of disarray about what that implies Basic

entitlements are not tied in with placing creatures above people or giving creatures sumilar privileges as people Likewise, basic entitlements are altogether different from creature government assistance

Animal rights, also known as animal emancipation, is the idea that the most

fundamental rights of animals should receive the same attention as similar human rights Proponents approach the issue from different philosophical points of view but agree that animals should be viewed as non-human natural persons and members of the moral community, and should not be used as food, clothing, research objects, or entertainment They argue that people should stop treating sentient beings as property, even if the property is treated with kindness

Animals are viewed in a variety of ways We should avoid being harsh to animals, according to Thomas Aquinas, because mistreatment of animals might lead to cruelty

to humans He explains why animal abuse is not inherently wrong Similarly, René Descartes believes that animals are ours to employ in any way we see fit Animals, after all, he claims, are not sentient—they are machines, like mechanical clocks, devoid of feelings and unable to experience pleasure or suffering As a result, Descartes maintained, only the broad ability to adapt to a wide range of circumstances, particularly the capacity to respond creatively through the use of language, provides a sure test for the presence of an immaterial soul associated with the normal human body But, according to Descartes, no matter how human-like an animal or machine's form or activities were made to appear, it could always be distinguished from a real human person by two functional characteristics He maintained that, while an animal

or machine may be capable of executing any one task as well as (or better than) humans, each human person is capable of a broader variety of activities than anything without a soul Few people today agree with Descartes that animals do not feel pain, but the belief that animals have no (or poor) moral standing is still widely held Animals are different species from humans, they have no perception, are not as important as humans, so they must be treated differently from humans Other treatment includes the fact that humans can act as they please with animals without being seen as violating the rules of morality because morality is only for humans Right comes only from the ability to think, Or at least from the ability to feel pain Animals do not have the ability to think and feel pain like humans, so they cannot be the subject of rights Is

it right to experiment on animals, to raise and kill them for food, and to inflict unnecessary pain and suffering on them? Do they have a right to the same? How should we treat them? Such questions are essentially about the moral status, or moral considerability, of animals

If it is normal for lions to eat other animals, then it should also be considered normal for humans to eat other animals If the nghts of animals are acknowledged, domestic animals will become extinct, because farming Animals are essentially depriving them

of their freedom Animal experiments provide practical, even indispensable, benefits for the protection of human health Therefore, animals cannot be recognized as having rights through which they will have to stop using animals as experimental subjects If

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animals are not eaten because they have the ability to feel pain, plants also have feelings so it's also not ethical to eat them Animals don't have rights because they don't have obligations If animals have rights, then when their rights are violated, What mechanism will protect them? Can a violation of their rights be brought to court? 2.2 Animal Rights & Animal Welfare

These are two different concepts In general, the term ‘animal rights' conveys the belief that humans have no right to use animals for their own purposes 'Animal welfare’ represents the belief that humans have a right to use animals, as long as animals are treated as humanly as possible.The basic entitlements position on manufacturing plant cultivating would be that we don't reserve an option to butcher creatures for food regardless of how well the creatures are treated while they are alive, while the creature government assistance position should see specific awful practices killed For instance, some creature government assistance supporters could need a prohibition on fur, while others could accept that fur is ethically satisfactory assuming the creatures are killed

"altruistically” and don't languish over too lengthy in a snare "Creature government assistance” may likewise be utilized to portray the speciesist view that specific creatures ( dogs, cats, horses) are more deserving of protection than others (fish, chickens, cows) With regard to the raising of animals on farms, animal rights advocates might argue that

we have no right to slaughter livestock for meat, even if the animal is still alive How humanitarian Meanwhile, animal welfare focuses on ending and eliminating cruel and cruel treatment of animals.” Animal welfare” describes a broad spectrum of views, while animal rights are more absolute

It can be seen that animal rights are an absolute concept that is higher than animal welfare However, the supporters themselves may also have mixed opinions Some argue that the use of animal hair should be completely banned Meanwhile, many people consider the use of animal hair to be ethically acceptable, as long as the killing is as humane as possible and the animal does not suffer much from being trapped for too long 2.3 Overview about Eating dog meat

Actual situation of dog meat consumption in Vietnam

For a long time, dog meat has been considered a popular dish in many Asian countries such as Korea, Korea, China and Vietnam A statistic shows that the majority of people who eat dog meat do not care about their origin and output Not only that, there are many people who run after money, ready to steal dogs Recently, according to CNN, people have uncovered the way to smuggle dogs from Northeast Thailand to our country This wire indirectly kills 200,000 poor dogs every year (Anh, 2013)

There was a survey on people consuming dog meat in two big cities of Vietnam, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (Market Strategy and Development Co, 2021)

Hanoi capital Source: Fourpaws, 2021

Consumption frequency: 38% of respondents have eaten dog meat (60% in Hanoi and 14% in HCMC) Moderate consumption (average at least once a month) in Hanoi is about 11% and 1.5% in Ho Chi Minh City

Figure 4, Education level of people consuming dog and cat meat