Why should we care for animals

By Yuna , aged 12 from Why should we care for animals

South Hampstead High School 

As Mankind, we try to separate ourselves from animals. But the truth is, we are selfish. We think that because we are so intelligent and sophisticated, we are better than other animals but at the end of the day, we are no different from them.  
  
Animal testing was popularised in the 40s, and widespread throughout the 20th century to the present day. For the sake of making sure that our skin doesn’t break out using a lotion, or making sure that our deodorant lasts longer, we sacrifice the lives of millions of animals, dying in labs so that we, as mankind, can say we look good.  
 
In this piece I wanted to show that, with the woman applying cream on her arm and her reflection in the mirror showing a lab rabbit doing the same thing, that other animals are within us, and that they are suffering with us. In the background, there are family pictures of the humanoid rabbits, all beaten to a pulp by the lab experiments. I did them in black and white to show how much humans don’t care about them, and how we all turn a blind eye to animal testing. I also chose family pictures because of its familiarity and nostalgia, as most of us enter the house and see a family picture every day.  
  
My piece was loosely based on the “Save Ralph” movement, which was a short film about a humanoid lab rabbit. I remember watching this when I was 9 years old and being confused as to how naive Ralph (the rabbit) was. I now realise, 3 years later, that Ralph is a portrayal of what we want rabbits to be like, and how we want the mainstream media to feel about animal testing.  
In Christianity, Genesis 2:15 says, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” This shows us that in Christianity, humans were put into this world to take care of animals, but we have betrayed that over time.  
We as human were supposed to take stewardship for the animals and to take responsibility for them, yet we kill them every single day for cosmetic tests.  
I hope my piece reminds you that we are only hurting our equals in animal testing.