Animal Rights

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ANIMAL RIGHTS

Do we owe animals some rights,
Where do our rights and theirs collide?
In nature, strength will win all fights,
So in our labs too many died.

As guinea pigs they all were used,
Experiments of every kind;
So terribly were they abused,
Relief from pain not in our mind.

And when for food we do some breed,
Man's profit our criterion;
So for their welfare there's no need,
To much extremes our methods run.

With grisly details well concealed,
We smugly, simply close our eyes;
When expose' abuse revealed,
We then hear many pious sighs.

Some cite "dominion" from our God,
Insisting they don't have a soul;
Majority will merely nod,
So profit stays the only goal.

Some activists will scream with rage,
Attack the labs and those with fur;
They loose the victims from their cage,
And think their efforts loftier.

We think of them as lunatics,
Who take the law into their hands;
This is no way to problems fix,
Afraid of all such lawless bands.

Discussion is now overdue,
The benefits of research weighed;
The painful methods we'll review,
With sympathy too long delayed.

Should ethics all these actions guide,
Should man made laws now intervene?
Or does each man himself decide,
Which leads to suff'ring too obscene.

Sol the Sage

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