Animals.

In a recent article that I've read by Victoria Braithwaite she discusses that fish feel pain. Fish have pain receptors all along their mouth so we know for a fact that they experience pain, but the real question is do they consciously suffer? As a biologist, Braithwaite uses much of her scientific knowledge to explain her beliefs. She says that fish have very similar brains to humans, specifically the function of two of their forebrain area. She claims that they have the mammalian amygdala and hippocampus which are areas that associate with emotion,learning, and memory. She then suggests that if fish have these brain parts then what's to stop them from suffering when they are caught? If fish have pain receptors, I feel that they do suffer from the scientific evidence provided within the article. Another argument shown is that if fish do suffer, then should we continue fishing them for sport or strictly for food? There are laws on bird hunting within the United States so what is it that makes them different from fish having laws protecting their lives? This also leads back to the article by Jeremy Rifkin where he discusses that pigs are proven to be depressed animals when they are separated from each other. He says that if pigs were played with for just a minute a day then they would be at ease. Although millions eat pork on a daily basis, if these creatures experience a strong human emotion such as depression should we continue isolating them in pens or continue to harvest them on a daily basis? This argument also interferes with Ed Yong when he states that chimpanzees are practically human beings since both species have intriguing amount of similarities when it comes to brain activity. In other countries such as United Kingdom and New Zealand, they are taking steps and have even made a few laws on protecting the primates from experimentation. Does that mean that the United States should follow in their footsteps and halt research and experimentation on primates as well? Even if we did, I think we would still be at a dilemma because we use chimpanzees to help test our medication on and even do research as to curing human diseases such as AIDS or cancer on them. Although we are at the top of the food chain, I believe that we should stop being so cruel to our animals because they have rights just as we do.