Question

.Is using animals for one's livelihood being cruel? Give reasons to support
your answer.​

Answer 1

This is a trick question because on one side we can say that using animals for our benefit isn't animal cruelty for we feed the animal too, but on the other hand we can also say that we are taking its freedom away and so now the animal is nothing but a machine which is surely animal cruelty.

If we go through History, we find that the first animals we had domesticated were by pulling wild animals from their wilderness and used to punish them so that they listen to us. For example, wolfs were the ancestors of dogs and they were forced to leave their habitat to live with us. The result was that their successors became less ferocious and more loyal so that they may not be punished and instead be rewarded with plentiful gifts.

This is an example of how we humans caused species to evolve based on our needs. Therefore the conclusion is that, if you are using an animal whose ancestors were never tamed, you'll probably need to become brute to it because it will try its best to return to the surroundings it is familiar with.

But if you are using animals which are currently being domesticated, you are not being cruel and probably helping them survive because these animals have learnt to be more tamable (they learnt to be more good at being tamed) and not be good at running from predators or being a predator themselves.