TOPIC ANIMAL RIGHTS – IS EATING DOG MEAT IN VIETNAM ETHICAL OR UNETHICAL

NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ADVANCED EDUCATION PROGRAM ---***---GROUPASSIGNMENT: INTRODUCTORY ETHICS TOPIC: ANIMAL RIGHTS – IS EATING DOG MEAT IN VIETNAM ETHICAL OR UNETHICAL

NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ADVANCED EDUCATION PROGRAM

-*** -GROUPASSIGNMENT: INTRODUCTORY ETHICS TOPIC:

ANIMAL RIGHTS – IS EATING DOG MEAT IN VIETNAM

ETHICAL OR UNETHICAL?

Members:

Instructor: Mrs Nguyen Bich Ngoc, Ph D.

.

HA NOI, 2021

Table of Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 The case backgrounds 1

1.2 Data for the case 2

1.3 The debate issues 4

2 Issue Analysis 4

2.1 Definition of Animals rights 4

2.2 Animal Rights & Animal Welfare 7

2.3 Overview about Eating dog meat 7

3 Apply theories 10

3.1 Define and apply Consequentialism, Utilitarianism and Ethical egoism 10

3.1.1 Definition of Consequentialism 10

3.1.2 Forms of consequentialism: Ethical egoism and Utilitarianism 10

3.1.3 Strengths and Weaknesses of Consequentialism 11

3.1.4 Consequentialism In Situation of Eating Dog Meat 11

3.2 Define and apply Deontology 12

3.2.1 Definition of Deontology 12

3.2.2 Examples of Deontology 12

3.2.3 Strengths and Weaknesses of Deontology 13

3.2.4 Deontology In Situation Of Eating Dog Meat 14

3.3 Define and apply Virtue Ethics 14

3.3.1 Definition of Virtue Ethics 14

3.3.2 Examples of Virtue Ethics 15

3.3.3 Strengths and Weaknesses of Virtue Ethics 16

3.3.4 Virtue Ethics In Situation Of Eating Dog Meat 17

4 Group’s opinion about Animal rights (eating dog meat) and Extensions 17

4.1 Group’s opinion about eating dog meat 17

4.2 Extensions 18

5 Conclusion 19

Table of Figures

Figure 1 The number of consumed dogs in Asia, China, Vietnam, Korean every year 3

Figure 2 The countries ban eating dog meat 4

Figure 3 Number of times of eating dog meat by residents in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi

capital 9

Figure 4 Education level of people consuming dog and cat meat 9

Figure 5 Occasions for eating dog meat 10

1 Introduction

1.1 The case backgrounds

Plants and animals are two types of living creatures on the Earth However,unlike animals, plants are not incapable of feeling pain Through time, “animal rights”has always been a controversial topic

On the one hand, most people have conventional views, which are negative,about the way animals should be treated The reason for these opinions is that thepurpose of animals’ existence is to be food, entertainment and many other instrumentalfunctions Some people used to say that animals are not sentient, however, thisstatement is no longer gaining many people’s trusts Furthermore, some people say thatanimals and humans are not at the same levels, humans deserve the priority

On the other hand, some philosophers protect animals and state that they havetheir own rights The popular attitude towards animals is considered to be wrong Someanimals can feel pain because they have a nerve system like that of humans In addition,animals have emotions as well Charles Darwin, the scientist famous for the Theory ofevolution, agreed with Lamarck (a France scientist) that some useful emotions ofanimals will be passed on Moreover, people can see that animals also have souls andthey are living creatures with feelings like humans

Despite many arguments, in reality, many animals are being abused and theyhave to suffer for human’s satisfaction Some ways people can make animals suffered:

Firstly, some owners neglect their pets This act is considered as animal crueltysince it makes the pets starve, thirsty, lack of loves and cares which can lead to manyillnesses or even make the pets die Some reasons for this act can be that the ownersdon’t have time for taking care of their pets, the owners cannot afford the cost for petcare, the owners buy or adopt pets without awareness of the commitment (two biggestcommitments are time and money) and the owners may not know the way to train theirpets properly

The next type of animal abuse can be using them for entertaining purposes Themost popular example we can see is animals in the circuses, many types of animalssuch as monkeys, elephants, and bears are taught to perform tricks in order to amuseaudiences The issue is that people use the technique named “training crush”, whichmeans animals will be punished, left to starve, thirsty, and threatened to make thesepoor creatures obey In Vietnam, in some tourist attractions, people use elephants astransportations, which can help tourists have such exotic experiences and feel theregional culture However, people use metal sharp objects to hook into elephants’ ears

to control them as vehicles This act hurts their ears and their ears usually bleed

Thirdly, animals are used for experimental purposes Some kinds of animals thatpeople often use to conduct experiments on are dogs, mice, rats, monkeys, rabbits.These experiments use chemicals which can lead to extreme pain for animals and makethem have some health problems such as vomiting, rashes, cancer, bleeding and

even death During the experimental period, animals are not given medicine to helprelieve pains because people believe these external factors can make the results ofexperiment change Most animals in the research rooms are purpose-bred Some ofthem are caught from the wild while some of them come from animal shelters Animals

in science labs have to undergo extreme pain in experiments In addition, they are kept

in metal cages which make them feel alone, anxious and scared They panic because ofthe fact that they cannot hide or escape

Finally, animals in the food industry are treated badly and after that they arekilled They have to eat many kinds of chemical foods to gain weight, sometimes, theyare crammed with food For example, to have Foie gras (a luxury and expensive Frenchdish made from gooses’ livers), people cram upto 10kg of food into gooses everyday.Another instance is dairy cows in the milk industry These cows have to produce asmuch as milk they can, people use machines to take out all of their milk To have milk,dairy cows have to be pregnant People force cows to have baby cows many times intheir lives In addition, bull baby dairy cows will be killed for food since they cannotproduce milk

In the world, animal rights have been discussed widely At the same time, people

in Vietnam has conducted many projects and movements to protect animals fromanimal cruelty Many people in Vietnam and Asia generally eat dog meat, which is notvery popular in Western countries In the past, many foreigners have raised their voiceand tried to stop Vietnamese from eating dog meat, however, it seems to be very hard tochange this In recent times, many Vietnamese support stopping eating dogs whileothers think that it is a part of Vietnamese tradition, so it is an enormous challenge forpeople to determine the ethical issues in eating dog meat

1.2 Data for the case

According to the Humane Society of the United States, about 10 billion cattlessuch as chickens, pigs, ducks, sheeps, and turkeys were killed for food in 2015 Theabove number does not include the marine animals and wild animals which are poachedillegally

In 2014, the U.S recognised more than 100 million animals die for being used inexperiments However, the number was not precise since most of the animals used aremice, there were so many other animals such as birds, snakes, rabbits

Every year, approximately 40 million animals are killed for their fur in theworld For more details, about 30 million animals come from farms and another 10million are caught from the wild

Figure 1 The number of consumed dogs in Asia, China, Vietnam, Korean every year

About the eating dog meat problem in Vietnam, according to experts working inprotecting animals projects, it is hard to give precise figures about the number of dogskilled for food In recent years, the amount of dog meat consumed has decreasedcompared to that in the past, however, this figure has started to increase in the Central

of Vietnam recently

Human Society International and Soi Dog point out that, in 2021, Vietnam is inthe top 2 of the countries consuming the biggest number of dogs in Asia The totalnumber of dogs eaten in Asia is approximately equal to 30 million In the top 1 is Chinawith about 10 million dogs consumed every year Next is Vietnam and Korea in the top

2 and top 3 with the numbers of dogs consumed are respectively 5 million and 2million In Hanoi, there are about 24 dog butcheries and on average, about 1.079 dogsare killed every day The experts say that dog meat markets in China and Korea aremore complicated than those in Vietnam The reasons are that Chinese have dog meatfestivals and Koreans have many dog farms

Figure 2 The countries ban eating dog meat

In Asia, some countries have banned people from eating dog meat such asThailand, Singapore, Taiwan and Philippines

1.3 The debate issues

Through the information and figures above, it is clear that people have variousopinions about animal rights Vietnam also cares about animal rights, however,Vietnamese and foreigners still concern about the problem of eating dog meat Thenumbers of dogs killed for meat every year in Vietnam is still high and the dog meatmarket is quite hard to control

People with mere thoughts still cannot determine if it is right or wrong if otherskeep eating dog meat since each person has their own point of view Somephilosophical theories in Ethics such as Consequentialism, Utilitarianism, Deontologyand Virtue Ethics can provide numerous perspectives for people

All of these issues lead our group to come to the questions:

1 Is eating dog meat in Vietnam ethical or unethical?

2 How can we analyze these issues in diverse perspectives?

2 Issue Analysis

2.1 Definition of Animals rights

There are about 10 to 15 million species of living things on our planet today Allliving things are essential for a complex, carefully adjusted network called the

biosphere In contrast, the Earth's biosphere is made up of a multitude of ecosystems – including plant and animal species and their natural habitats No one can fully know how species interact with each other in the same ecosystem, but the disappearance of one species will cause a chain reaction, affecting many other species Especially for species that play an important role in the ecosystem, their extinction can lead to

unpredictable consequences

Also related to the debates about the subject of rights mentioned above, there is a

growing opinion that not only human beings, but also animals (animals) have rights Animal rights are increasingly supported and advocated by many individuals and

organizations around the world to be codified As early as the eighteenth century,

authors like Humphrey Primatt (1776), John Lawrence (1796) wrote works about theneed to respect animal rights Those involved in the animal rights movement believe that the fundamental interests of animals should be considered as much as the interests

of humanity Animals, especially primates, domestic animals should not be treated solely as property, used for food, clothing, research, or entertainment for humans The idea of animal rights is supported by legal scholars such as Cleveland Amory and

Lewis Gompertz Animal law is taught at 119 of 180 law schools in the United States,

in eight law universities in Canada, and is regularly taught in philosophy colleges or courses in practical ethics.The modern animal rights movement in the United States reached a major milestone in the 1970s with the publication of Peter Singer's "Animal Liberation." So he argued that it was ethically important for non-human animals to feel pain, and that this fact needs to be much more equal Treatment of non-human animals and humans He also spread the term "speciesism" and explained what would happen if non-human animals were not considered the same as humans

In this area, many countries around the world have regulations prohibiting the torture, ill-treatment, and killing of animals without reason, especially domestic animals (dogs,cats ) In 2008, Spain became the first country to recognize the rights of human

primates (apes) by establishing a comprehensive legal framework to protect this

species, which stipulates All acts of killing (except in self-defense), torture, and

detention of this primate are considered illegal

On the international scale, the system of international treaties to protect animals and biodiversity is increasingly rich In 2003, at the Manila Conference on Animal Welfare,delegates reached an agreement that five kinds of freedoms should be guaranteed for animals (freedom from hunger and thirst; freedom from fear; freedom from fear),

stress; freedom from pain, disease; freedom of expression through normal behavior) Although the issue of animal rights is still controversial, its protection and humane treatment are still controversial with animals is increasingly seen as a criterion for assessing the level of civilization of societies

Basic entitlements are the conviction that creatures reserve a privilege to be liberated from human use and abuse, yet there is a lot of disarray about what that implies Basic

entitlements are not tied in with placing creatures above people or giving creatures similar privileges as people Likewise, basic entitlements are altogether different fromcreature government assistance.

Animal rights, also known as animal emancipation, is the idea that the most

fundamental rights of animals should receive the same attention as similar human

rights Proponents approach the issue from different philosophical points of view but agree that animals should be viewed as non-human natural persons and members of the moral community, and should not be used as food, clothing, research objects, or

entertainment They argue that people should stop treating sentient beings as property, even if the property is treated with kindness

Animals are viewed in a variety of ways We should avoid being harsh to animals, according to Thomas Aquinas, because mistreatment of animals might lead to cruelty

to humans He explains why animal abuse is not inherently wrong Similarly, René Descartes believes that animals are ours to employ in any way we see fit Animals, after all, he claims, are not sentient—they are machines, like mechanical clocks, devoid

of feelings and unable to experience pleasure or suffering As a result, Descartes

maintained, only the broad ability to adapt to a wide range of circumstances,

particularly the capacity to respond creatively through the use of language, provides a sure test for the presence of an immaterial soul associated with the normal human

body But, according to Descartes, no matter how human-like an animal or machine's form or activities were made to appear, it could always be distinguished from a real human person by two functional characteristics He maintained that, while an animal ormachine may be capable of executing any one task as well as (or better than) humans, each human person is capable of a broader variety of activities than anything without a soul Few people today agree with Descartes that animals do not feel pain, but the

belief that animals have no (or poor) moral standing is still widely held Animals are different species from humans, they have no perception, are not as important as

humans, so they must be treated differently from humans Other treatment includes the fact that humans can act as they please with animals without being seen as violating therules of morality because morality is only for humans Right comes only from the

ability to think, Or at least from the ability to feel pain Animals do not have the ability

to think and feel pain like humans, so they cannot be the subject of rights Is it right to experiment on animals, to raise and kill them for food, and to inflict unnecessary pain and suffering on them? Do they have a right to the same? How should we treat them? Such questions are essentially about the moral status, or moral considerability, of

animals

If it is normal for lions to eat other animals, then it should also be considered normal for humans to eat other animals If the rights of animals are acknowledged, domestic animals will become extinct, because farming Animals are essentially depriving them

of their freedom Animal experiments provide practical, even indispensable, benefits for the protection of human health Therefore, animals cannot be recognized as having rights through which they will have to stop using animals as experimental subjects If

animals are not eaten because they have the ability to feel pain, plants also have

feelings so it's also not ethical to eat them Animals don't have rights because they

don't have obligations If animals have rights, then when their rights are violated, What mechanism will protect them? Can a violation of their rights be brought to court?

2.2 Animal Rights & Animal Welfare

These are two different concepts In general, the term 'animal rights' conveys the belief that humans have no right to use animals for their own purposes 'Animal welfare' represents the belief that humans have a right to use animals, as long as animals are treated as humanly as possible.The basic entitlements position on manufacturing plant cultivating would be that we don't reserve an option to butcher creatures for food

regardless of how well the creatures are treated while they are alive, while the creature government assistance position should see specific awful practices killed For instance, some creature government assistance supporters could need a prohibition on fur, while others could accept that fur is ethically satisfactory assuming the creatures are killed

"altruistically" and don't languish over too lengthy in a snare "Creature government assistance" may likewise be utilized to portray the speciesist view that specific creatures (dogs, cats, horses) are more deserving of protection than others (fish, chickens, cows) With regard to the raising of animals on farms, animal rights advocates might argue that

we have no right to slaughter livestock for meat, even if the animal is still alive How humanitarian Meanwhile, animal welfare focuses on ending and eliminating cruel and cruel treatment of animals." Animal welfare" describes a broad spectrum of views, while animal rights are more absolute

It can be seen that animal rights are an absolute concept that is higher than animal welfare However, the supporters themselves may also have mixed opinions Some argue that the use of animal hair should be completely banned Meanwhile, many people

consider the use of animal hair to be ethically acceptable, as long as the killing is as humane as possible and the animal does not suffer much from being trapped for too long

2.3 Overview about Eating dog meat

Actual situation of dog meat consumption in Vietnam

For a long time, dog meat has been considered a popular dish in many Asiancountries such as Korea, Korea, China and Vietnam A statistic shows that the majority ofpeople who eat dog meat do not care about their origin and output Not only that, there aremany people who run after money, ready to steal dogs Recently, according to CNN,people have uncovered the way to smuggle dogs from Northeast Thailand to our country.This wire indirectly kills 200,000 poor dogs every year (Anh, 2013)

There was a survey on people consuming dog meat in two big cities of Vietnam,Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (Market Strategy and Development Co, 2021)

Figure 3 Number of times of eating dog meat by residents in Ho Chi

Minh City and Hanoi capital

Source: Fourpaws, 2021

Consumption frequency: 38% of respondents have eaten dog meat (60% in Hanoi and

14% in HCMC) Moderate consumption (average at least once a month) in Hanoi is about 11% and 1.5% in Ho Chi Minh City

Figure 4 Education level of people consuming dog and cat meat

Source: Fourpaws, 2021

Education level: Most people who consume dog and cat meat have at least completed

high school education

Figure 5 Occasions for eating dog meat

Source: Fourpaws, 2021

Occasions for eating dog meat: eating dog meat “on occasions of general dining” was

the most frequent answer (35% of respondents), followed by eating dog meat on “drinkingoccasions” (34% of respondents) For women, eating dog meat as a main meal was the

“most frequent occasion” (46%) Next are the times when family or friends from thecountryside come to play (15%) For men, the main occasion to eat dog meat is whendrinking alcohol (48% of respondents), followed by "general eating occasions" (30%)

As can be seen in Vietnam, dog meat is not considered a special dish The above data hasconfirmed the fact that a large amount of dog meat has been consumed in Vietnam

Attitudes of Vietnamese about the situation of dog meat

Global animal welfare organization - Four Paws has conducted and published asurvey in the areas of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang from random groups ofpeople of different ages, genders, marital status and social backgrounds about the dog andcat meat trade in Vietnam Survey results show that up to 95% of Vietnamese people thinkthat eating dog and cat meat is not part of Vietnamese culture and want to take actionagainst the dog and cat trade Notably, the survey also showed that 88% of Vietnamesewould support a ban on the dog and cat meat trade

Vietnamese people today, especially the younger generation, do not support theconsumption of pet meat because more and more people keep pets, considering dogs andcats as an indispensable member of the family Pet owners in Vietnam are heartbrokenwhen their dogs and cats are robbed and brutally killed in slaughterhouses

Although the dog and cat meat trade is still rampant in Vietnam, surveys conducted

by FOUR PAWS have shown that only 6.3% of Vietnamese consume dog or cat meat, but88% of the public support the government to ban the trade of dog and cat meat

So along with the results of the latest survey in 2021 by Four Paws, we see that the majority of Vietnamese people do not eat dogs and cats and want the government to act