Do You Believe Animals (domesticated or otherwise) have rights?

everything has right, the right to live, the right to free choice, the freedom of religion.

I am not a vegitarian by any means but I do believe animals should have rights, and treat them as such...except for the ones i eat and mosquitos and flies. For the most part i try to at least eat animals that werent tortured before being killed, i have seen the meat.com or .org flick and didnt agree with the way our food is maintained prior to death was appropriate at all. Animals should be tortured or kill without just cause.

Well, considering the fact that most people believe that humans have rights, and, well, humans =are= animals, I'd have to say pretty much =everyone= does to some degree.

That aside, I believe that 'animals' (I will for the time being consider the term 'animals' to include every eukaryotic and multicellular entity =except= humans) are, while not necessarily possessing of the same 'rights' (the concept is so abstract and open to different interpretations as to almost render it useless here) as humans, equally entitled to the the planet and everything on it. I can see no way to justify placing humans on a morally or spiritually higher ground than animals, the fact that we have ascended to the top of the food chain is not due to some inherent righteousness in us, it is simply the result of our evolutionary history.

So I don't think humans have the right to abuse and mistreat animals. We must, as per our evolutionary history, occasionally kill them for our own survival, that's simply a fact of life, cold though it may be. But we shouldn't for any reason do this in a cruel or inhumane way. I am fully against the misuse and cruel treatment of animals, almost to the extent that I don't approve of keeping them as pets.

In short, sure, we eat them, and occasionally wear them, but that in no way entitles us to abuse this capacity. We should not only strive to treat them with the same respect we would like to see shown us, we should labor to protect all life on this planet and the environments in which it lives. I suppose, in a way, it's our responsibility.

I don't know if animals have rights in the same manner as human beings... but at the same time I think that unnecessary cruelty to animals is wrong. I'm rather more concerned about the damage we're doing to the biosystem (like through sustained overfishing and pollution) as a whole though than whether people wear fur or test cosmetics on rabbits. It does worry me the way that we raise livestock for food - largely because poor conditions, over crowding and using chemicals to promote growth threatens the health of those eating the animals as well as being unneccessarily cruel.

I'm pretty against rabid animal activists though and I'm sick of them attacking labs and similar sorts of things - animals certainly don't have more rights than human beings and they seem to forget that nature is pretty cruel to animals too. At least we tend to do things to derive some benefit from it and in the wild most animals tend to suffer a worse fate than they do at the hands of people.

When you ask about animal rights, I think you are referring to the way we treat them and not necessarily that they have rights comparable to ours. We clearly are above all other animals. But that doesn't mean it would be OK to treat them anyway we want. Actually I consider it to be more of a problem with our sense of responsibility, when it comes to animals, than a problem with animal rights. But it is also clear that we couldn't survive without animals. So we should also think about how animals are managed. If we were to stop eating beef, for example, All the cattle would die of disease and starvation due to a lack of funds to keep them. Soon there wouldn't be any domesticated cattle. The reason why there are so many cattle is that we kill them and(manage them) so that we will have food. Now if you are referring to the rights and treatments of household pets, I believe the owner has the duty to keep their animals healthy and happy. That means physically and mentally, Animal rights only exist when we act responsibly. They don't have the ability to get them on their own.

Evan R

Every dog owner I know knows what the needs of their pets are based on their actions, which vary widely from one dog or cat to the next. So clearly dogs don't have a language. There are certain things that will make them bark and there are things that will make them whine, There are things that will make them wag their tail or put it between their legs. You can't tell me that people don't try to understand their pets. Your reply to the question is sensationist garbage and isn't even factual.

I believe so, as in they have just as much a right to live as we do. Remember that humans did not bring animals to this world and domesticated or otherwise, we have to respect and recognize their impact on our planet. Of course there are acceptions, such as out of desperation for food and the person has nothing else to eat. But the majority of Americans have access to markets and other food so for most people, the eating of animals isn't necessary so I would only hope that our country as well as the rest of the world eventually come to realize that.

There is a textbook by a guy named "Beatley" (last name) that covers all sorts of ethical issues in environmentalism. You might want to pick it up (paperback - about 200 pages) and give it a look.

I teach Environmental Planning to undergrads. at a University, and I always melt at least one student's mind when i relay the following thought on environmental ethics:

- The reason why we humans put ourselves up on the pedestal is for many reasons. Some do it because the bible says so. Others because we seem smarter than animals. others because we have opposable thumbs and we can make guns, cattle prods, etc... Well I can't disputs the first and third things, but if you want to talk about intelligence then remember... Assuming that a dog's first language is "dog," realize that all dogs in the world have picked up a little human language. They can't speak it, but when they hear their name, or "heel" or "sit", etc..., they know what to do. Whereas I don't know ANY human that has learned to speak one word of dog!

Nope, thye have no rights. Nothing that cannot reason has rights-small children included. With rights come responsibilities.

What they have is protectors. As the reasoning creatures we have a duty to not abuse animals. They are living things, so torture is wrong. But theyre animals-theyre made of meat for a reason-eat away, just dont put them through hell first.

I believe it should be stated another way. It is the duty of anyone in charge of the care of animals to do it humanely. It is also our duty to be sure we are not destroying animal species with poor environmental practices.

Similar to humans - No.

The yes answer can have serious repercussions. For example, if animals do have rights, who can speak for them? They are not sentient beings so who will articulate their demands? Also, what rights do you grant and what species will be included? For example, will only vertebrae be granted rights but ugly looking insects will not?

But there are laws created so that humans can not abuse animals.

I know an animal has a life.....

any living thing, once born has the right to live