Animals being treated with respect as if they have the same feelings 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. 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" (PETA, 2016). 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 abused by being experimented on with harsh chemicals and suffering from not only pain but trauma as well.

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 major values here from this author is the scientific community affirming its moral conscience and also advocate its promise to humanity. The author is credible because she is an M.D. (Medicine Doctor) No bias is present in her article. 

My third source is an article by M. Jaynes, "How Circus Elephants Are Sometimes Abused by Their Trainers". This article is about the way elephants are treated at the circus by the trainers. The article gives information about elephants being highly endangered and how cruelty has made them be even more highly endangered. Jaynes also discusses how sensitive elephants skin is. It is as sensitive as human skin.  The major values here from this author and article is the mistreatment of animals in the circus leads to harmful, physical as well as psychological effects on the animals. The author is credible because he is a writer that writes primarily about elephants, he is also interested in and studies other animal ethics issues. There is bias in this article. The author states that the animals are abused in the circus explaining how they get beaten, shocked, stabbed and are isolated.

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. 

