Discuss the ethical implications of selective breeding in livestock and domesticated animals using examples Selective breeding, also known as artificial selection, involves identifying individuals with the desired characteristics and using them to parent the next generation. The variety of alleles in the population is deliberately restricted to a small number of desired alleles, leading to a population all of which possess the desired qualities. Different have differing views on the use of selective breeding in livestock and domesticated animals. A benefit that arises as a consequence of this process is that greater yields of milk, meat are produced, resulting in a cheap and reliable source of food for the growing population all year round. For example, cattle desirable characteristics of a high production of milk, a high fat and protein content, an udder that suits a milking machine and rapid delivery of milk are commonly used in selective breeding.
So, what are some of the good things that support the torturing of these poor animals? Let's see some of these animal testing pros that makes proponents of animal experimentation argue for use of animals in research. Animal testing helps in finding ways to help save lives of animals and humans by testing lifesaving drugs and processes. A few animals tend to react the same way like humans in response to certain diseases and allergies. This helps the scientists find a cure for certain diseases by studying these animals.
Risks involved The risk factors that comes along with keeping such animals are so high compared to the little advantages that people may claim to be getting from them. These animals are wild and keeping them might lead to some accidents which the owner would have to bear with. Because the owner cannot basically meet their needs, these animals may attack unexpectedly and cause great harm. They can also make the owner or anyone who access the premises contract some diseases such as TB, Herpes and even Rabies since taking care of them cannot be compared to taking care of the normal pets such as the dogs. The behaviors of the exotic animals cannot be predicted, one may not order and command their steps each minute and therefore can kill or maim within few seconds.
Zoos can be used to channel the public eye onto the increasing problems of extinctions of animals, and the entrance fee money that the public pays to them can be put towards building better enclosures for the animals in the zoo. Also, endangered animals that are bred in zoos can be integrated and released into the wild to increase the wild population of those species. However captive breeding can reduce the genetic diversity, as the gene pool is smaller, which may result in less individuals that are able to breed due to a reduction in the fertility. If the genetic diversity gets too low, then it can be irreversible. Also, by zoos drawing the public attention, this can divert people from seeing the real cause of the problem of the endangered species, which may be such as their habitat being destroyed, or an increase of predators in their environments.
Intensive rearing of livestock Intensive rearing of livestock is a farming technique designed to produce the maximum yield of animal products (e.g.. Milk, eggs, meat) at the lowest possible costs. This is so that the reduction in the cost of production can be passed onto the consumer, reducing the cost of animal food products and increasing their demand. However the use of intensive rearing can have many effects on the environment, mainly due to economic issues arising from the reduction in costs both to producers and consumers. Intensive rearing is designed to dramatically increase productivity.
Lot of people has that the factory faming spread diseases to other animals and it is unhealthy. Nonetheless, modern farming stops bad diseases by making the animals healthy. Furthermore, they use clean pesticides, antibiotics, vitamins and fertilizers to produce more and better quality animals. Therefore, costumers could buy meat into lower prices on supermarkets. In addition, promoters of factory farming say that the factory farming helps the economy of a country, creates more jobs, and lower borne illness.
However, if you do obtain the necessary traits, then these particular traits will be kept within the gene pool, and reproduction will continue keep these beneficial traits around. The theory of artificial selection is very similar to natural selection, however ironically some might call it unnatural selection. It is basically the process of humans breeding plants and animals together in order to either obtain or combine certain traits that wouldn’t normally combine in nature. This is also known as selective breeding which Happens with a lot of dogs. Not only are there a variety of different types of dogs already, but breading them together creates an even bigger number.
This isn’t the case most of dogs are deemed unadoptable because the lack social skills and forced in surviving on their own. Many of the dogs will never experience the touch of loving human that is there for their car and never feel the warmth of the fire as they chew on a bone. The education of people will give animals a chance to live. Most people look for certain dog breeds when adopting from a shelter which leaves the poor stereotypes of breeds to be euthanized, never given the chance to be a good dog. If people are willing to be educated of breeding demands and the care of dogs this will lower the risk of pets ending up in shelter to be euthanatized.
Take guinea pigs for example, it is hard to find 2 identical guinea pigs with the same color patches, as each and everyone has slight differences in the order of their DNA, which causes variation. Individuals with characteristics most suited to the environment are more likely to survive and reproduce because the genes that allow these individuals to be successful are passed to their offspring. Individuals that are poorly adapted to their environment are less likely to survive and reproduce. This means that their genes are less likely to be passed to the next generation. Given enough time, a species will gradually evolve.
The space the animals are confined in is small to increase efficiencies of such inputs as lighting and heating. Confining animals in such housing denies them fresh breathing air, which is made worse by the stench of decomposing manure (Phoenix and Lynn 229). Further, to reduce the spread of disease outbreaks, the animals are constantly given low doses of antibiotics that can cause development of resistant bacteria strains. Putting animals in close confinement causes animals to develop stress symptoms such as in chickens include biting or pecking one another. In order to