I believe that animals are exactly the same as humans, only they don't speak our languages, do you agree?!

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

I know right! It's so messed up how people do that to them. I agree with PETA. If they catch someone torturing an animal, they'll torture the person.

I agree that animals should be respected so that they are comfortable and happy, but I don't think they're exactly the same as humans, no. There are some rights that we have, like being able to work, drive, vote, go to school etc, that would be completely meaningless to animals, so we have a different set of 'rights' for a reason.

I wouldn't say exactly alike. We are ALL animals. But animals do differ. Some are mammals, others are reptiles, or birds, and so on. Some animals are carnivores, while others are omnivores or herbivores, with each of these having a different eating habit. All animals either eat animals or get eaten by animals.

I do not believe that other animals are exactly the same as humans. And the differences go deeper than physical appearance and language. A chicken that speaks a human tongue is still a chicken. But that certainly does not justify their brutal treatment. Animal cruelty is not justified, period.

pretty much. We're all animal species, with brain, blood, nervous system, reproductive organs and the ability to feel.
We're all social animals and we all have preferences, whether we're sheep, humans, dogs or elephants.

I agree completely. It makes me feel so horrified, sad, upset and mad when people hurt animals for no reason. Its a complete coward thing to do since animals are harmless and can't defend themselves like humans can.

I think there are other differences - cognitive abilities and culture, for example, but nothing that would justify abusing animals.

I know what you mean. And I'm glad the world has vegetarians because they cannot speak so we are their voices. My vegan cousin had told me that if a spider-monkey was our size, it would kick our a***s.

No because animals aren't vegans. They just eat what they like. A lesson to be learned from all these "cute" animals.

Nature

I agree.

In a great World, all animals would live in the wild where they belong and humans would stay away from them.

I think we're different, but that's no reason to treat them like sh*t. I think we're worse in some ways... the things we do *sigh*

Well said A Girl!

I can only imagine you have not spent much time out in nature.

Animals are NOT like humans at all. They are completely self centered (other than with their own offspring), frequently violent, and naturally territorial. Animals kill each other all the time.
When was the last time you saw two human males kill each other over a woman?

Animals do not willingly share, and I have never seen an animal stop to help another, less fortunate animal. They are not capable of pity or compassion. Animals prey on the weak.

Domestic animals are like children in the sense that they do not fully understand the human world they inhabit, and need human supervision all their lives in order to keep them safe.

Just because an animal needs an owner, that does not mean it must be treated badly. Many places have laws against chaining, and my own dogs have never been chained.

I believe humans are more valuable than animals but animals are still very valuable and have souls and feelings and familys and as living beings shouldn't be murdererd for taste buds and treated like objects as if they're only meant to provide food for us and the way animals are killed in factory farms and how dogs are treated in puppy Mills and how elephants and tigers are treated in circuses makes me want to cry and feel ashamed to be part if such a cruel species. Something that really sickens me is how some animals are treated as if they're better then others like cats and cows for instance. If you kick a cat it's considered animal cruelty and you go to jail but when you kill a cow it's somehow how ok. It also sickens me how ignorant people are because various individuals on this part of YA let's call them deer hunter and daisy think factory farming is a myth but if they actulley bothered educating them selves and watching YouTube and doccumentarys they may learn that they've been brain washed by the meat industry.

I absolutely totally agree, I am always having this argument with people about animal right and that they should be respected and not killed. But they just don't care :(
Could you imagine it if animals had the power to lock human up in small cages and kill them and torcher them?
Animals have just as much right to live on this earth as humans do!!!!!!
I love all animals I just don't know why humans cant leave them alone and let them get on with their life.
Also I am a vegetarian. :)

Personally I think animals are more intelligent than humans anyway. Like when you hear about animals knowing when a earthquake is coming and things like that.
I believe that one day animals will get their own back.

I agree. Humans are animals too, and we believe since other animals don't speak our language, they can't speak at all. Well other animals learn to understand people, but how many people actually take the time to learn how to understand other animals? Humans believe that we're the greatest species on this planet so we could do whatever we want to it and its inhabitants. B.S. This world was perfectly fine before we came and will be perfectly fine after we're gone (if there is a world left after all the damage we've done and will definitely still do).

Animals can communicate quite well. And they do. And generally speaking, they are ignored.
- Alice Walker

If a group of beings from another planet were to land on Earth - beings who considered themselves as superior to you as you feel yourself to be to other animals - would you concede them the rights over you that you assume over other animals? - George Bernard Shaw

I agree that animals should be taken care of like humans but it is hard to always treat a animal like a human because people are often busy trying to do a living and so on. Also animals "need" to be trained so that they don't ruin furniture, clothes, food and other things so people put them in cages to prevent them from ruining things while the Humans are gone. My Siberian Husky is in the cage when we are gone during the day and he is barely 1 years old and goes into the trash and chews up the garbage and puts it on the floor. So that is some reasons why people do that and also people put them on leashes because they don't want the animals to run away and potentially get hit by vehicles and plus many domesticated animals could not survive once released into the wild.

I have never understood why people like to insist that animals have to be the "same as humans". If they are not, does that make it any better to mistreat them.
I think that is a very ego centric comment to compare every living being to a human. That is reaffirming the idea that humans are the superior being, and the ideal compliment is to be human like.

I don't think all animals are the same as humans. That is not saying they aren't smart, or don't have feelings. That also is not saying that they deserve to be mistreated.

As to the idea that a the law should recognize animals as the same as humans? Ridiculous. For one thing, that would end humane euthanasia, since assisted suicide for humans is not legal.
You think running over a dog compares to running over a child?
I love my dogs dearly. But seriously, their death affects me and my significant other. The death of a child affects the entire community.

Should we call out search and rescue for every missing dog like we do for children?

When was the last time the tragic death of a dog tore a family apart?
The emotional effect of losing a loved one lasts a lifetime.
These are the things we look at when making laws and punishments.

It sucks when people mistreat animals, but they're not humans. There are humans starving to death and being traded in underground slavery stuff right now, so be more sad about that. The much more sad thing is that most people are going to hell, so believe on Jesus.

No but they taste delicious

yes, that's true.. we're the highest form of animals.

Yes, dogs are just like people in the fact that we are both mammals.
In the eyes of the law dogs are property. In the eyes of responsible owners they are dogs.
Dogs do not feel sadness, or happy or boredom, they do not have depression etc. They do not feel human emotions, theirs is primal, food, shelter and reproduction Dogs due not want to get pregnant it is embedded in them. Dogs do not know when they are being abused because they live in the present, no the past and not the future. They do not know that they are spoiled.
Looking for human emotions lead to untrained, unsocialized dogs. Their schedule is driven by hunger, when they have to pee/poop and sleep, anything else is controlled responses that are taught by consistency

No, I don't think animals are the same as humans. They are certainly not as intelligent, and I don't think they feel all the emotions we do, though they certainly (except for oysters- debatable) have emotions to some degree.
For example, mammals have centers in their brains that are stimulated by dopamine, and make you feel happy. Humans' and dogs' and guinea pigs' brains work the same way in this respect, so, yes, I think mammals feel happiness in the same way we do.

I think all life is a sort of continuum of complexity. Humans are the most complex creatures we know of, then to animals like primates, dolphins, and elephants, and as we go down we eventually get to animals like oysters, which don't even have a brain, and then to plants.
But complexity does not equal superiority, and just because our brains are more complex does not give us the right to harm animals.

In my opinion, the question should be not whether if they can think or feel on the same level as us, but whether they can suffer (I forget which philosopher said this first). It's simply not right to inflict pain on any creature than feels it.

I think a law would never be passed equating animals to humans.
One reason is that animals are harmed in our everyday lives- walk across your front yard? Drive your car? Order something online? Animals will be killed, even if they're 'just' bugs. Where would we draw the line? What's illegal, what's not? What if your brother has lice- they're animals, should using lice shampoo count as mass homicide?
Another reason, I think, is simply the unpopularity of such a law.

vegan

They are not the same as us, that is what allows us to dominate them.
We may share some of the same physical features such as eyes and ears etc but we are very different from them. The thing that defines humans and truly separates us is our superior intelligence, we have evolved to the point where we no longer require weapons such as teeth and claws in order to survive. Animals may be able to communicate in a way but it is souly based on instinct e.g. a certain noise may frighten away potential predators. Also animal emotions are very different, again they are instinctive, they don't feel things the way we do. Sure it's not right the way some people treat animals but they do because they can...
Animals are very, very different from humans.

I have no doubt that they feel pain, feel hunger, sadness and whatnot like us. I think we are slightly more evolved, and some other creatures are almost at our level (Some primates and dolphins) But I don't think most animals have the ability to reason like we do. I think that is what separates them. However I could be totally wrong. I've never been an animal, and im sure each animals has a different' level of intelligence.

I've got nothing against having pets, and eating meat. As long as our furry friends are well taken care of, and the meat we eat is treated with respect during it's live. but if animals are no different then people...Why do they rip us apart? I've seen some awful bear attacks, shark attacks, dog maulings. The truth is...Nature and it's course, can't be like a Disney movie. Life feeds on life, Whether you eat meat, plants, ex.

however that is no excuse to cause more suffering that is not necessary. I try to treat all life with respect, and only take what i need and nothing extra.