Ethics of the Human-Animal Relationship in the Covid-19 Pandemic Cover Image

Ethics of the Human-Animal Relationship in the Covid-19 Pandemic
Ethics of the Human-Animal Relationship in the Covid-19 Pandemic

Author(s): Cristin Coman, Diana Ancuta
Subject(s): Ethics / Practical Philosophy, Health and medicine and law
Published by: Center for Socio-Economic Studies and Multiculturalism
Keywords: Animal ethics; COVID-19; Animal coronaviruses; Pets;SARS-CoV-2; Anthropocentrism;

Summary/Abstract: The ethics of the human-animal relationship, called animal ethics, is complex and depends on many factors (habits, education, and religion). Both components of animal ethics, the human-animal relationship and the way animals are treated by humans, were affected in this pandemic.Coronaviruses are common in many species of animals andcan be transmitted from animals to humans as in COVID-19. After highlighting the initial cause of the disease as the virus transmission from animals to humans, many people suddenly gave up their pets abandoning them. Lockdownand loneliness have led to increased adoption of pets, but the occurrence of several cases of COVID-19 in them has quickly led to increased abandonment.Another human action in this pandemic was the mass killing of animals suspected of transmitting the virus to humans, just like otherdiseases, the victims now being animals raised for fur. The race for COVID-19 treatments/vaccines has led to the creation of many experimental models from rodents to non-human primates. These studies have led to an increase in the acceptance by the population of the use of animals for scientific purposes but also to a degradation of the moral status of animals that have become laboratory instruments in reporting.The analysis of animal ethics in the COVID-19 pandemic shows that the anthropocentric theory of the human-animal relationship dominates, and the relational theory of self-saving and those close to usis more current than ever. However, our relationship with animals must reconcile life veneration with the inevitability of killingthem

  • Issue Year: 4/2021
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 67-75
  • Page Count: 9
  • Language: English
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