WHY WE HELP ANIMALS, NOT HUMANS

let’s try to answer the most irritating and annoying question: why do you help animals while you can help humans?

there are many serious problems in our world that deserve our attention; cruelty to animals is one of them. no organization or group of individuals can fight all moral and social crimes at once; while there are 712 Lebanese NGOs, only 8 of them are related to Animal Welfare and Wildlife Conservation. (source – excluding non-registered groups/independent individuals). helping any suffering soul and living creature, humans and animals, are not two mutually exclusive matters…

reason #1: when you help animals, you do help humans.
there are no benefits whatsoever to any community of having large populations of starving, abused, injured and terrified dogs and cats in the streets. the people who volunteer in shelters and who rescue animals from the streets are the anonymous heroes who, every single day, make their communities a better place to live in.

reason #2: manifesting your greatest human potential.
the problem with the world isn’t too many people helping animals. the problem with the world is too many people doing nothing, to help anybody at all. helping a defenseless and voiceless living soul is a great manifestation of your own humanity.

reason #3: helping the ecosystem.
it is our duty, as the most intelligent beings on the planet to protect every single life form or organism, on this earth. we have our conscious to protect those that are weaker than us. in a matter of fact, each organism on earth has a unique place in the life chain that actually helps contribute to the ecosystem in its own special way. for us as humans, it becomes a great responsibility and obligation to protect the animals, plants – the life in its whole.

reason #4: understand the link between animal abuse and family violence.
a correlation between animal abuse, family violence and other forms of community violence has been established. child and animal protection professionals have recognized this link, noting that abuse of both children and animals is connected in a self-perpetuating cycle of violence. when animals in a home are abused or neglected, it is a warning sign that others in the household may not be safe. in addition, children who witness animal abuse are at a greater risk of becoming abusers themselves.
by helping the abused animals, you are also protecting your children and families from violent people.

reason #5: animals don’t need rights.
animals just like humans have their own rights. you don’t need to give the rights to any living creature, you simply need to not take it away from them.

reason #6: establishing a collective moral alert.
the argument that animals should be treated properly can be based entirely on the need for humans to behave morally. human beings have an awareness of moral ideas and understand the difference between right and wrong. causing pain and suffering is morally wrong, whether the victim is a human-animal or a non-human animal. this is not because it violates the rights of the victim, but because causing pain and suffering is inherently wrong.

these are the basic reasons why we help animals.