Course reflection

The readings, writings and research that I conducted over the course of this semester exposed me to some of the animal issues that are very strongly debated in our world today, including animal experimentation and the captivity of animals in zoos. Before this course if someone would have asked me if I thought animal experimentation was ok I would have either been neutral or slightly against it because I really knew next to nothing about how and why it is done. The essay “An International Perspective” by F. Barbara Orlans on page 338 explains how some of these tests are carried out, including the LD50 test, where a concentrated product is administered to a test animal to see how lethal the dose is. Many of the animals die painfully and as Singer says “we already have enough shampoos and food colorings. There is no need to develop new ones that might be dangerous” (AE 40). It seems like such a simple concept but until I read about it, it never crossed my mind. The same thing goes for zoo animals. Until i actually started looking into and reading about how animals are treated and confined in zoos, in never payed much attention to their behavior. For example, when i visited the philadelphia zoo, i never would have thought anything about the bear that was pacing to and fro at the same spot so much that there was no grass left in that area.

this class helped me to integrate personal experiences and new knowledge that i obtained form the literature i read, into the essays that i wrote to make them stronger and more credible.