Imagining a world shared with zombies is difficult, but since I’m a Walking Dead fan, it’s more imaginable. If zombies acted exactly like they acted in the Walking Dead, where they are lifeless bodies looking for humans (and animals) to feed on, then I do not think they would have any rights. They would be worth nothing to society and their “lives” should not be comparable to a live human or animal’s life. I think that seeing a loved one turn into a zombie would be devastating, but they would not be human anymore, so they would not have any value. Looking at Singer’s argument, zombies are not conscious, cannot reason, and do not have any morals. You cannot train a zombie like you can a dog or cat. This shows that animals have a much higher level of thinking and can be much more easily controlled and helpful to people overall. Since zombies cannot think and do not benefit society in any way, how are they useful? Maybe if zombies were not as harmful to society we could find an ethical way to treat them, but the most sensible way to treat them if they existed would be how they do in the Walking Dead – by killing them in their tracks before they can “add to the fire” and turn more people into zombies.
I agree with what you are saying, and I think your argument for the most sensible way to treat them is similar to how we think of treating very sick animals, that is by putting them down. It happens to many animals every day, and although it may seem cruel at first to intentionally kill a house dog, we consider it to be overall the most humane thing to do. We think that we should not let these animals, to whom we cannot explain their suffering, endure their incurable misery for longer than they have to. I think this is similar to the way we would have to treat zombies. Since we would not be able to explain their miserable lifestyles to them as a result of their lack of intellect, hopefully we could find a relatively humane way to put them down. Interestingly enough, however, we would never consider putting a human down, humane. I think this is an interesting example of how we obviously value our own lives above the lives of other species, or at least recognize that we have higher intellect and thus deserve better treatment.
Going off of the comment about never considering putting a human down as “humane,” I think there are people who would disagree with this. Recently in the news there has been the woman who moved to Oregon in order to end her own life before she was consumed by her terminal illness. While the issue is still controversial, the Death With Dignity Act in Oregon shows how it is becoming acceptable to end a life in some circumstances.