Animals being treated with respect and with the same rights as humans is important and interesting to me because I am an animal activist. I've grown up and raised all different kinds of animals throughout my life from dogs and cats to horses, squirrels and chickens. I donate to all kinds of animal organizations such as the Animal Humane Society, Noah's Ark Animal Rescue and more. My personal experience with this issue is me growing up with animals all my life seeing how loving they are and how they do in fact have feelings.  Animals mean so much to my family and I. We have also rescued a lot of our animals and gave them the best life we could to make up for the life they had to live before. Being involved with animal organizations, I get emails daily about animals who have been abused and neglected and need donations. The animals my family have rescued had a lot of trouble around new people and in new places because of the trauma they went through which led them to have trust issues. My family and I had to love on them and work with them. Being so involved with animals gives me a good foundation to start from for this research.

To answer my research question, I will begin with the following three sources. The first source is an article by PETA, "Cruelty to Animals in Laboratories." In this article PETA, which is an organization involving animal rights, explains what animals go through and how they are treated while being in a laboratory "It is deprivation, isolation, and misery." This article informs people about how the animals are burned, shocked, poisoned, isolated, starved, drowned etc. The animals later then do not receive any pain killers they are just put back into a cage after experimentation. This article also includes video footage from inside laboratories where you can see the animal's reactions.  The major values and interests at stake for the article is the way animals get treated in laboratories and how animals do have feelings. PETA is interested in animal rights and wants the reader to feel empathy towards the animals and the way they are treated. Though there is no specific name for the author, this article is by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) which is still very credible because it is well known and the largest animal organization promoting animal rights. There is bias in this article about how the animals are mistreated.

The second source is a scholarly article written by Rachel Hajar, "Animal Testing and Medicine," This article tells about incidents that harm humans from the use of substances that were not tested on animals first. It also explains how the practice of using animals in labs has come under severe criticism by a lot of animal right groups. the animal cruelty issues have led to the 3Rs." The major values here from this author is the scientific community affirming its moral conscience and also advocate its promise to humanity (the 3Rs). The author is credible because she is an M.D. (Medicine Doctor) No bias is present in her article. 

The third source is by a young boy "Stop Circus Animal Abuse!". This article is about how the circus should be banned because of the way the animals are treated. The author talks about how Elephants are such special animals and the way they do things in the wild they can't do them being slaves in the circus. They remember things better than people do. They are a lot like people, they travel with families and raise their babies until they are adults. The article explains how in the circus the babies are stolen from the mothers and they are tied to ropes and chains by their ankles. Other animals like tiger's horses and camels are kept in very small cages with no room to move around. The interests at stake are animal rights and circus' being banned from having animals. The author is not very credible because he is a child but he is very involved with animals and is a member of the Ian Somerhalder Foundation. I think the author being a child makes the reader feel more empathy while reading the article. There is bias present in this article the author is against animals being in the circus because of how they are treated. 

My research question is a commonly arguable topic. It is arguable because animal cruelty is a major issue in todays society. The bible says we are stewards of this earth, meaning we need to take care of the living things around us. There are people who don't think animal's lives don't matter but a life is a life and people will argue that. In some of the sources I have found there are arguments about human lives being more important and valuable than animal lives and animals being treated the same way as humans. The different perspectives of the sources haven't changed my perspective on how animals should be treated like humans. I feel like my research question should be a little broader because my sources are about all different types of animal cruelty in todays society. 

