Animal Rights: What are animal rights?
In an earlier stage of our development most human
groups held to a tribal ethic. Members of the tribe
were protected, but people of other tribes could be
robbed or killed as one pleased. Gradually the
circle of protection expanded, but as recently as
150 years ago we did not include blacks. So African
human beings could be captured, shipped to America
and sold. In Australia white settlers regarded
Aborigines as a pest and hunted them down, much as
kangaroos are hunted down today. Just as we have
progressed beyond the blatantly racist ethic of the
era of slavery and colonialism, so we must now
progress beyond the speciesist ethic of the era of
factory farming, of the use of animals as mere
research tools, of whaling, seal hunting, kangaroo
slaughter and the destruction of wilderness. We must
take the final step in expanding the circle of
ethics.
Pete SingerIn essence
Animal rights are the fundamental rights of animals
claimed on their behalf by human beings.
Animal rights is the name given to the ideology that
advocates the right to humane treatment that is claimed on behalf of animals on the basis that
animals have the moral right not to have their basic
interests violated, and that they should have legal
entitlement to such rights, most particularly the
right not to be harmed and exploited for human use.
The term animal rights refers to the concept that
animals are entitled to certain fundamental rights...
Read more about the definition of animal rights, the
difference between animal rights and animal welfare,
why we should grant animals rights and much more,
includes videos from prominent animal rights
advocates and quotations:
Animal Rights:
What are Animal Rights
Animal Rights: Our Statement
Read our statement concerning our personal
interpretation of Animal Rights:
Animal Rights: Our Statement
Animal Rights and Why they Matter
Why do animals
rights matter. Why should we treat animals differently,
with respect and with the recognition that they too have
the right to life? Why is it important to review the way we think
about the creatures with whom we share this world,
particularly the animals which we use and abuse for
food, clothing, labour and entertainment.
The human
animal is a very inconsistent creature in many ways and
none more so than his attitude to his fellow
creatures...
Read Animal Rights and Why they Matter, which contains information and
anecdotes concerning the importance of granting rights
to animals and the rights to which animals should be
granted
Animal Rights and Why they Matter
If a group of beings from another planet were to
land on Earth - beings who considered themselves as
superior to you as you feel yourself to be to other
animals - would you concede them the rights over you
that you assume over other animals?
George Bernard Shaw
Animal Rights: Factory Farming
It is my hope that
our descendents will look back
at our inhumane system of factory farming and other
animal exploitation with shock and horror and uncomprehending revulsion, much in the same way that we
now look back on the atrocities that we as a species
have carried out on one another throughout the ages and
into the present day...
This is a section containing in-depth information concerning
the atrocities of factory farming and other
exploitations. Included is a general
introduction concerning the cruel and abusive
treatment of factory farmed animals including
separate sections on the inhumane treatment of
poultry, cattle, pigs, sheep, aquatic animals and
bees.
Animal Rights: Factory
Farming
Animal Rights Issues
This section focuses on various animal rights
issues.
Animal Rights: Various Issues
Animal Rights Quotations
The assumption that animals are without rights and
the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral
significance is a positively outrageous example of
Western crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion
is the only guarantee of morality.
Schopenhauer
A selection of Animal Rights Quotations from
scientists, ethicists, religious leaders,
philosophers and famous people past and present
Animal
Rights Quotations
More animal rights issues will be added in due
course including the history of animal rights,
information concerning animal experiments, hunting and other abuses.
Animal Rights: A History
Animal Rights: A History,
provides highlights of some of the events and people
that paved the way towards our modern day concept of
animal rights. From ancient times to the present
day, this section highlights the lives and writings
of the advocates of animal rights, those who have
made some contribution to helping humanity think
differently about the millions of species of
sentient life with whom we share this world. To view
them as creatures with their own rights to live out
their lives as nature intended and not as
commodities for the use and exploitation by human
beings.
Animal Rights:
A History
