The ethical considerations surrounding conducting animal behaviour research on wild animals are a complex and essential topic. Ethical principles vary among researchers, institutions, and countries, but several key points should be considered:
Ultimately, ethical animal behaviour research on wild animals should promote knowledge and conservation while respecting the rights and well-being of the animals involved. Ethical dilemmas may arise, and careful consideration, open dialogue, and adherence to ethical guidelines are essential in addressing these challenges.
Aristotle noted that one of the flaws of democratic culture was that when people find themselves politically "equal" they go on to imagine they are (or should be) "equal" in all respects.
The move toward a general equality in all things plays out in every democratic social atmosphere. And, it can be taken to absurd extremes. In the search for limitless equality, not only are men "felt" to be equal to women, or blacks to whites, but animals to humans, and even inanimate objects with living things. So now we hear talk of saving "the planet."
Ethical research on animals eventually boils down to the extent of our anthropomorphic projections of human worth and human feelings onto other creatures. And, to put it bluntly, how queasy we become when inflicting pain or death on other creatures.
Is this a social question? Do we raise our hands and let a majority decide if it is right to eat meat or raise chickens in tiny cages? Or, do we let individuals each make their own decisions in such matters?
Questions like this, presuppose that there is a "right answer" that should be accepted by all.
As we move toward a greater socialization in everything, and continue the ongoing limitation of individual choice and ability to vary from the standards of the group, some room should be left over for the minority of animal trainers, animal researchers, animal hunters, and the eaters of animals, who might disagree with whatever conclusions a majority of people might come to concerning this issue.
And we should keep in mind that all "ethics" are, in the end, ethics decided by humans for humans. And what makes something ethical, is that is benefits mankind. When we slap and kill the mosquito that is drinking our blood, the inequality between the life of the animal and the life of the person becomes clear.
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