Animal rights defines that animals are of equal or similar importance to humans, and thus, animals must receive equal or similar treatment to that of humans. In this framework, animals are not to be killed or enslaved by humans, or even used by humans. (Richard D. Ryder, 1994).
The animal rights philosophy (encompassing animal liberation) includes some fundamental differences from animal welfare. It involves the idea that nonhuman animals are sentient beings -- that they have the capacity to experience pain and pleasure. And accompanying this belief is the idea that animals have certain inalienable moral rights, which humans should not violate. Like animal welfarists, most animals’ rights activists work to abolish cruel or abusive situations, thus eliminating animal suffering. However, some animal rights advocates believe that nonhuman animals have the right not to be used for any purpose by humans -- which animals are "not ours to eat, wear or experiment on." (Quaife Thomas. 1990) To implement this philosophy means the elimination of all uses of animals for food, clothing, leisure, or research purposes. People would adopt vegetarian diets; eliminate wool, leather, feathers, and fur for clothing or ornamental purposes; and abolish use of animals for leisure activities, such as in hunting, horse and dog racing, zoos, circuses, or aquariums.
“The philosophy of animal rights maintains that nonhuman animals are ‘subjects of a life,’ and as such have an intrinsic right to live free from human exploitation” (National Academy of Sciences. 1991).
Some animal rightists refer to the keeping of pets as “slavery,” while others believe it is a mutually desired and voluntary co-existence between species. However, the animal industries are difficult to defend using any conventional definition of animal rights. Any definition that permits animals to be killed (by experimentation, for food, or for sport) or to be..........
