Should Apes Have Human Rights?

Should Apes Have Human Rights? Should apes have human rights based on sign language? In todays society apes are considered to be animals and are given no rights even considerably close to humans, in fact, they have no rights to begin with. But rarely is the question asked, should apes have rights based on sign language and other communication skills? Absolutely not. Rights are a human concept, based on the idea of individuals, who, acting independently or having the freedom to do so should be treated equally by law. Animals dont act independent nor have the freedom to do so. They cannot take responsibility for their own actions, and they cannot like humans give enough effort to provide for or influence a society alone. In fact, they do not have a very well put together social group. Therefore, it makes no sense to give animals human rights just because they understand some parts of a human language and some sign language. But what about the questions of whether animals should have any special protection, such as protection from harm from owners or caretakers as they call them, or should they be kept from cages and set free in their natural habitat? Monkeys live together in social groups. All members contribute by helping to conserve, find, and defend food sources, raise their offspring, etc, just as people in a society do. But it isnt possible to live in a social group without some way or form of communication. Members of a social group need ways to influence and inform each other. This is what influences language. Monkeys have evolved many ways of communicating, including visual looks, auditory calls, etc. Some of their visual signals are very intriguing, like the long, curled tongue of the tamarin monkey, that signals to her mate when she wants to birth her babies. But visual signals only work if they can be seen. In the forest that most gorillas and apes live in, auditory and visual calls are a muc h more useful and powerful tool. Calls and vocalizations can also be changed through pitch, loudness, and duration, which means a vast list of messages can be transmitted through one ape to another. Alarm calls, territorial calls, food calls, personal identification calls, dominance calls, etc. these are the basic communication skills that animals need to successfully live in groups rather than be living on their own. But some developed more complex and specialized forms of auditory communication. Researchers and Specialists have spent years trying to learn how apes communicate and find out if they are able to learn human signals and language. In September of 1965 in West Africa the chimpanzee Washoe was born, and was one of the first apes to learn sign language as part of a research experiment on animal language acquisition. In the apes time on Earth, she learned exactly three hundred and fifty signs of communication. One day, one of Washoes caretakers who was pregnant missed work for a few months after she had an unfortunate miscarriage. Roger Fouts reviews the following situationPeople who should be there for her and arent are often given the cold shoulderher way of informing them that shes miffed at them. Washoe greeted Kat [Washoes caretaker] in just this way when she finally returned to work with the chimps. Kat made her apologies to Washoe, then decided to tell her the truth, signing MY BABY DIED. Washoe stared at her, then looked down. She finally peered into Kats eyes again and carefully signed CRY, touching her cheek and drawing her finger down the path a tear would make on a human (Chimpanzees dont shed tears). Also, when shown an image of herself, Washoe was asked what she saw and she signaled back Me, Washoe. This shows that apes are definitely capable of self-awareness. Another ape named Koko (born July 4, 1971) is a female gorilla born in the San Francisco Zoo known for learning a huge amount of signs, of a language that his caregiver Patterson calls gorilla sign language, or GSL. Kokos training began at the age of one, where she was exposed to human language, and by the time of her death, she understood over two thousand English words Koko is one of the few nonhuman animals that had pets. One year for Christmas Koko asked for a pet cat in 1983 so they gave her a lifelike toy cat, but Koko signed sad many times. So on her birthday in July 1984, she was able to choose a cat from a litter of abandoned kittens. Koko selected a gray cat and named him All Ball. According to Penny Patterson, Kokos owner, Koko cared for the kitten as if it was a baby gorilla, being very gentile and loving. Sadly, in December of 1984, All Ball escaped from Kokos cage, and was hit by a car. Later, Patterson said that when she signaled to Koko that All Ball had died, and Kok o signed Bad, sad, bad and Frown, cry, frown, sad. Recently, to celebrate her birthday in July 2015, Koko was presented another litter of kittens, Picking two of them, she named one Miss Black and one Miss Grey. These examples show that apes to can feel, and If we abuse apes, it goes against our human nature, because we know animals can feel pain and emotion to, and theres no good reasoning that this cant be law, yet not part of human rights. My argument is that we should always value the interest of humans over and above those of animals, which is why researching all animals- which can further medical advance and human knowledge is morally the best thing to do. Animal research could help to decide how smart monkeys really are, and how we should treat their kind as a whole. Based on Steven Wises research, it appears that animals such as apes possess certain cognitive abilities such as communication skills, attention, memory, judgement, problem solving, decision making, comprehension, etc., that make them smart enough to be free rather than in a cage at a zoo handled by humans to provide entertainment and big business. Steven Wise once said, For four thousand years, a thick and impenetrable legal wall has separated all human from all nonhuman animals. On one side, even the most trivial interests of a single species ours are jealously guarded. We have assigned ourselves, alone among the million animal species, the status of legal persons. On the other side of that wall lies the legal refuse of an entire kingdom, not just chimpanzees and bonobos but also gorillas, orangutans, and monkeys, dogs, elephants, and dolphins. They are legal things. Their most basic and fundamental interests their pains, their lives, their freedoms are intentionally ignored, often maliciously trampled, and routinely abused. Ancient philosophers claimed that all nonhuman animals had been designed and placed on this earth just for human beings. Ancient jurists declared that law had been created just for human beings. Although philosophy and science have long since recanted, the law has not. In conclusion, apes shouldnt have human rights, but they should be free and have rights of their own kind, made for their own kind, which should be bound by law, because they show several cases of self-awareness, communication skills, knowledge, attention, working memory, judgment, reasoning, problem solving and decision making, comprehension and production of language, etc. Several apes have shown these skills and though they may not be as smart as humans, they are smart enough and capable enough of living in their own society where they should be able to roam free instead of being shown off in a zoo or being sold as product Works Cited Barlow, Rich Something. Should Chimps Have the Rights of People? Bostonia. Rich Barlow, 19 Sept. 2013. Web. 07 Feb. 2017. OstlerKCL, Sophia. Should Monkeys Be Granted Human Rights? The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2017. Should Animals Have The Same Rights As People? Popular Science. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koko_(gorilla)#Koko.27s_pets Spearmint: Analgesic, Anti-Inflammatory and Antipyretic Spearmint: Analgesic, Anti-Inflammatory and Antipyretic Review: Yousuf, P. (2013). Analgesic, Anti-Inflammatory and Antipyretic Effect of Mentha spicata (Spearmint). British Journal of Pharmaceutical Research,3(4), 854-864. doi:10.9734/bjpr/2013/4640 Mentha spicata (Spearmint) is often used as an alternative treatment for inflammation, fever, and pain relief.   All of these problems can present symptoms such as cramps, headache, joint stiffness, and general aches and pains.   Inflammation, pain and fever can all be treated with over the counter drugs such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen, but these drugs can often have severe side effects if used long term.   Many essential oils have been used in aromatherapy and proven to be effective in treating pain relief, inflammation and fever.   The purpose of this study was to evaluate the analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antipyretic effect of Mentha spicata (spearmint). The test subjects for this study were young Swiss-Albino mice about 4-5 weeks in age with an average weight of 25-30 gm and adult Albino rats with an average weight of 100-130 gm.   The study was conducted at the animal house of the Department of Pharmacy, North Sough University, Bangladesh.   Subjects were kept for one week in standard housing at 25 degrees Celsius in order to adapt before testing proceeded.   Animals were also given standard food and water. Separate tests and methods were given for each of the items being looked at: anti-inflammation, fever and pain.   For the evaluation of anti-inflammatory effect, the method used was carrageenan induced rat paw edema.   This method induces acute swelling when a solution of carrageenan in saline is injected into the hind footpad of the subjects.   The rats were randomly divided into four groups, each with five animals.   Group I was the control group, and only given distilled water.   Group II was given Ketorolac (10mg/kg) as standard, and Groups III and IV were given the test sample at a dose of 250 and 500 mg/kg body weight respectively.   Thirty minutes after the oral administration of the test materials, 1% carrageenan was injected into the left hind paw of each animal.   The amount of paw edema was measured at  ½, 1, 2, 3, and 6 hours after administration.   For the evaluation of antipyretic (fever) activity, Brewers yeast-induced pyrexia was used.   Wister alb ino rats were selected, weighed and divided into three groups of five animals each.   All the test subjects were fasted 18 hours prior to experiment, but water was given.   Fever was induced by injecting 20 ml/kg of 20% aqueous suspension of Brewers yeast in saline below the nape of the neck.   Rectal temperature was taken immediately before and 18 hours after injection.   Prior to the experiment, the rats were maintained in separate cages for 7 days and the animals with approximately constant rectal temperature were selected for the study. Paracetamol (100 mg/kg) was used as standard drug for comparing the antipyretic action of extract. The extract at the doses of 500 mg/kg was administered intraperitoneally, one group was administered with paracetamol (100 mg/kg) control group was given 0.5 ml normal saline. The rectal temperature was measured at 1, 2 and 3 h after drug administration by using digital thermometer. Percentage reduction in rectal temperature was calculated b y considering the total fall in temperature to normal level.   Two methods of evaluation were used to test the analgesic effects.   The first was a hot plate test.   The temperature was regulated at 55 °  ± 1 °C. Mice were divided into four groups consisting of five animals in each group. The mice of each group were placed in the beaker (on the hot plate) in order to obtain its response to electrical heat induced pain. Licking of the paws or jumping out of the beaker was taken as an indicator of the animals response to heat-induced pain. The time for each mouse to lick its paws or jump out of the beaker was taken as reaction time (in seconds). Before treatment, the reaction time was taken once. Each of the test mice was treated with either distilled water (DW), Ketorolac (2.5 mg/kg of body weight) or methanol extract of Mentha spicata at the doses of 250 and 500 mg/kg body weight orally. Thirty minutes after treatment, the reaction time of each group of mice were again e valuated five times individually in one hour intervals.   The second test administered was acetic acid induced writhing test.   Writhing test is a chemical method used to induce pain by injecting acetic acid into the mice.   The acetic acid was injected into the body cavity to create the pain sensation.   Ketorolac (10 mg/kg) was used as a standard. The plant extract was administered orally in two different doses (250 and 500 mg/kg body weight) to the Swiss Albino mice after an overnight fast. Test samples and vehicle were administered orally 30 minutes prior to intraperitoneal administration of 0.7% v/v acetic acid solution at 10 ml/kg body weight. Animals were kept individually under glass jar for observation. Each mouse of all groups were observed individually for counting the number of writhing they made in 5minutes beginning 5 minutes after the injection.   The number of writhes in each treated group was compared to that of a control group (Distilled water). The hot plate test produced significant analgesic effect when using the methanol extract of Mentha spicata.   The extract significantly increased the reaction time of the mice when exposed to the heat.   The writhing test showed significant analgesic results as well and was comparable to that of the standard (66.66%).   The Brewers yeast proved positive effects of fever, and the carrageenan-induced paw edema proved that Mentha spicata is effective in treating inflammation. The authors conclude that Mentha spicata proves to show significant analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antipyretic properties.   They state that further investigation is necessary to find the active component of the extract in order to confirm the action in the development of a potent analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antipyretic agent. This study is lacking in the amount of mice tested.   I would like to see a more wide range of subjects tested as well.   Although the number of mice tested is limited, the study is still of interest. First, all the results were in favor of the testing purposes.   This is interesting because it means that the medicinal properties are probably correct and would therefore be a good alternative to treating such ailments. And second, most people will at some point or another in their life suffer from pain, inflammation or fever.  Ã‚   This treatment would be a good alternative to medications that can have potential bad side effects and therefore reducing additional ailments and complications that need to be treated.   References Yousuf, P. (2013). Analgesic, Anti-Inflammatory and Antipyretic Effect of Mentha spicata (Spearmint). British Journal of Pharmaceutical Research,3(4), 854-864. doi:10.9734/bjpr/2013/4640