2nd Expedition Q: Do animals have emotions?

1. Do we have an ethical responsibility toward animals?
Yes, definitely. We are all living beings. As a human, we feel pain, suffer, happiness, and other physical and mental sensations. Animals have their own life they have to live and humans have their own life too. We do not want to cross the line of each other’s life. Humans wouldn’t expect other human or animals to abuse their right of living. So do the animals.
Amy did her first semester English project on animal testing. She showed us a movie that has many pictures of animals suffered under various testing. They look painful and sad. I think it is quite selfish for humans to do that to animals just because we think we are superior.
If we buy a pet animal, it is our job to take care of it like our own child. Although I think having a pet animal is not so ethical for those animals, but if we really do have one, we have to take care of it. Treat them like humans.

2. Do animals have emotions? Give examples if possible.
I usually heard that when a dog shakes its tail means it is happy and welcoming people. Another example once I saw on the news, a photographer captured a moment when a bird is weeping for its dead partner. A bird got hit by the car and was lying dead on the road. Its partner was staying beside, trying to get the dead one to wake up, but sadly, the other bird will never wake up. What showed me that animals have emotions is that the dead bird’s partner did not fly away for thirty minutes. Therefore, I would have to say that many animals do have emotions, but there are too many kind of animals that I cannot tell if they have emotions.