View source for Animal rights

{{Short description|Belief that animals have interests that should be considered}}
{{About|the philosophy of animal rights|current animal rights around the world|Animal rights by country or territory|a timeline of animal rights|Timeline of animal welfare and rights|other uses|Animal rights (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Shanghai-monkey.jpg|thumb|A man with a [[Captive animal|captive monkey]] seeking alms in [[Shanghai]] ]]
[[File:Animal Abuse Battery Cage 01.jpg|thumb|Chickens held inside a [[battery cage]] in a [[factory farm]]]]
{{Animal rights sidebar}}
{{Rights|By claimant}}
[[File:India, madhya pradesh, jina parshvanatha dalla tempèesta, 600-700.JPG|thumb|200px|upright|[[Parshwanatha]], the 23rd Tirthankara, revived [[Jainism]] and [[ahimsa]] in the 9th century BCE, which led to a radical animal-rights movement in South Asia.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=YAFPAQAAIAAJ&q=Parshwanatha+animal+rights|title= You are, therefore I am: A declaration of dependence|last1= Kumar|first1= Satish|date= September 2002|publisher= Bloomsbury USA|isbn= 9781903998182}}</ref>]]
[[File:ValluvarStatue SanctuaryAtTiruvallur.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|The c. 5th-century CE Tamil scholar [[Valluvar]], in his ''[[Tirukkural]]'', taught ''ahimsa'' and [[moral vegetarianism]] as personal virtues. The plaque in this statue of Valluvar at an animal sanctuary in [[South India]] describes the Kural's teachings on ahimsa and [[non-killing]], summing them up with the definition of [[veganism]].]]

'''Animal rights''' is the philosophy according to which many or all [[Animal consciousness|sentient animals]] have moral worth independent of their [[Utilitarianism|utility]] to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding [[suffering]]—should be afforded the same consideration as similar interests of human beings.<ref>DeGrazia (2002), ch. 2; Taylor (2009), ch. 1.</ref> Broadly speaking, and particularly in popular discourse, the term "animal rights" is often used synonymously with "animal protection" or "animal liberation". More narrowly, "animal rights" refers to the idea that many animals have fundamental rights to be treated with respect as individuals—[[Right to life|rights to life]], [[Right to liberty|liberty]], and [[freedom]] from torture that may not be overridden by considerations of aggregate welfare.<ref>Taylor (2009), ch. 3.</ref>

Many advocates of animal rights oppose the assignment of moral value and fundamental protections on the basis of species membership alone.<ref>Compare for example similar usage of the term in 1938: {{cite book
| year                  = 1938
| title                 = The American Biology Teacher
| url                   = https://books.google.com/books?id=gQbbAAAAMAAJ
| publisher             = National Association of Biology Teachers
| volume                = 53
| page                  = 211
| access-date           = 16 April 2021
| quote                 = The foundation from which these behaviors spring is the ideology known as speciesism. Speciesism is deeply rooted in the widely-held belief that the human species is entitled to certain rights and privileges.}}</ref> They consider this idea, known as [[speciesism]], a prejudice as irrational as any other.<ref>Horta (2010).</ref> They maintain that animals should not be viewed as property or used as food, clothing, entertainment, or [[beasts of burden]] merely because they are not human.<ref>That a central goal of animal rights is to eliminate the property status of animals, see Sunstein (2004), p. 11ff.
* For speciesism and fundamental protections, see Waldau (2011).
* For food, clothing, research subjects or entertainment, see Francione (1995), p. 17.</ref> Multiple cultural traditions around the world such as [[Jainism]], [[Taoism]], [[Hinduism]], [[Buddhism]], [[Shinto]] and [[Animism]] also espouse forms of animal rights.

In parallel to the debate about moral rights, law schools in North America now often teach [[animal law]],<ref name="Animal law courses">{{Cite web|title= Animal Law Courses|url= https://aldf.org/article/animal-law-courses/|website= [[Animal Legal Defense Fund]]|access-date= 2020-12-13|archive-date= 2020-12-04|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201204203520/https://aldf.org/article/animal-law-courses/|url-status= live}}</ref> and several legal scholars, such as [[Steven M. Wise]] and [[Gary L. Francione]], support the extension of basic legal rights and [[person]]hood to non-human animals. The animals most often considered in arguments for personhood are [[Ape|hominids]]. Some animal-rights academics support this because it would break the species barrier, but others oppose it because it predicates moral value on mental complexity rather than on [[sentience]] alone.<ref>For animal-law courses in North America, see [http://aldf.org/article.php?id=445 "Animal law courses"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613170018/http://aldf.org/article.php?id=445 |date=2010-06-13 }}, [[Animal Legal Defense Fund]]. Retrieved July 12, 2012.
* For a discussion of animals and personhood, see Wise (2000), pp. 4, 59, 248ff; Wise (2004); Posner (2004); [https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-257091/animal-rights Wise (2007)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080614152221/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-257091/animal-rights |date=2008-06-14 }}.
* For the arguments and counter-arguments about awarding personhood only to great apes, see Garner (2005), p. 22.
* Also see [[Cass Sunstein|Sunstein, Cass R.]] (February 20, 2000). [https://www.nytimes.com/books/00/02/20/reviews/000220.20sunstet.html "The Chimps' Day in Court"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170501195553/https://www.nytimes.com/books/00/02/20/reviews/000220.20sunstet.html |date=2017-05-01 }}, ''The New York Times''.</ref> {{As of |2019 | November}}, 29 countries had enacted [[Countries banning non-human ape experimentation|bans on hominoid experimentation]]; [[Argentina]] has granted captive [[orangutan]]s basic human rights since 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/23/world/americas/feat-orangutan-rights-ruling/|title= Argentine orangutan granted unprecedented legal rights|last1= Giménez|first1= Emiliano|date= January 4, 2015|website= edition.cnn.com|publisher= [[CNN Espanol]]|access-date= April 21, 2015|archive-date= April 3, 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210403030759/https://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/23/world/americas/feat-orangutan-rights-ruling/|url-status= live}}</ref>

Outside of [[primates]], animal-rights discussions most often address the status of [[mammal]]s (compare [[charismatic megafauna]]). Other animals (considered less sentient) have gained less attention—[[Welfare of farmed insects|insects]] relatively little<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Cohen
 | first1 = Carl
 | author-link1 = Carl Cohen (philosopher)
 | last2 = Regan
 | first2 = Tom
 | author-link2 = Tom Regan
 | title = The Animal Rights Debate
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=JPHtAAAAMAAJ
 | series = Point/Counterpoint: Philosophers Debate Contemporary Issues Series
 | year = 2001
 | location = Lanham, Maryland
 | publisher = Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
 | publication-date = 2001
 | page = 47
 | isbn = 9780847696628
 | access-date = 16 April 2021
 | quote = Too often overlooked in the animal world, according to Sapontzis, are insects that have interests, and therefore rights.
}}
</ref> (outside [[Jainism]]) and animal-like [[bacteria]] hardly any.<ref>
The concept of "bacteria rights" can appear coupled with disdain or irony:
{{cite book
 | last1 = Pluhar
 | first1 = Evelyn B.
 | author-link1 = Evelyn Pluhar
 | chapter = Human "superiority" and the argument from marginal cases
 | title = Beyond Prejudice: The Moral Significance of Human and Nonhuman Animals
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=S4VyLcBzek0C
 | series = Book collections on Project MUSE
 | year = 1995
 | location = Durham, North Carolina
 | publisher = Duke University Press
 | publication-date = 1995
 | page = 9
 | isbn = 9780822316480
 | access-date = 16 April 2021
 | quote = For example, in an editorial entitled 'Animal Rights Nonsense,' ... in the prestigious science journal ''Nature'', defenders of animal rights are accused of being committed to the absurdity of 'bacteria rights.'
}}
</ref> The vast majority of animals have no legally recognised rights.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Jakopovich|first=Daniel|date=2021|title=The UK's Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill Excludes the Vast Majority of Animals: Why We Must Expand Our Moral Circle to Include Invertebrates|url=https://onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca/asri/2021/10/17/the-uks-animal-welfare-sentience-bill-excludes-the-vast-majority-of-animals-why-we-should-expand-our-moral-circle-to-include-invertebrates|journal=Animals & Society Research Initiative, University of Victoria, Canada|access-date=2022-06-18|archive-date=2022-11-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129010538/https://onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca/asri/2021/10/17/the-uks-animal-welfare-sentience-bill-excludes-the-vast-majority-of-animals-why-we-should-expand-our-moral-circle-to-include-invertebrates/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Critics of animal rights argue that nonhuman animals are unable to enter into a [[social contract]], and thus cannot be possessors of rights, a view summarised by the philosopher [[Roger Scruton]], who writes that only humans have duties, and therefore only humans have rights.<ref name=Scruton/> Another argument, associated with the [[Utilitarianism|utilitarian]] tradition, maintains that animals may be used as resources so long as there is no unnecessary suffering;<ref name="Ethical">{{cite journal| author1= Liguori, G.| display-authors= etal| year= 2017| title= Ethical Issues in the Use of Animal Models for Tissue Engineering: Reflections on Legal Aspects, Moral Theory, 3Rs Strategies, and Harm-Benefit Analysis| journal= Tissue Engineering Part C: Methods| volume= 23| issue= 12| pages= 850–862| doi= 10.1089/ten.TEC.2017.0189| pmid= 28756735| s2cid= 206268293| url= https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/51950145/ten.tec.2017.0189.pdf| access-date= 2019-07-12| archive-date= 2020-09-15| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200915060144/https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/51950145/ten.tec.2017.0189.pdf| url-status= live}}</ref> animals may have some moral standing, but any interests they have may be overridden in cases of comparatively greater gains to aggregate welfare made possible by their use, though what counts as "necessary" suffering or a legitimate sacrifice of interests can vary considerably.<ref>Garner (2005), pp. 11, 16.
*Also see Frey (1980); and for a review of Frey, see [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1154902/pdf/jmedeth00155-0044.pdf Sprigge (1981)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160219072849/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1154902/pdf/jmedeth00155-0044.pdf |date=2016-02-19 }}.</ref> Certain forms of animal-rights activism, such as the destruction of [[fur farming|fur farms]] and of [[animal testing|animal laboratories]] by the [[Animal Liberation Front]], have attracted criticism, including from within the [[animal-rights movement]] itself,<ref>Singer (2000), pp. 151–156.</ref> and prompted the [[U.S. Congress]] to enact laws, including the [[Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act]], allowing the prosecution of this sort of activity as [[terrorism]].<ref>
{{Cite book
|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=I_jh4VBi_HYC
|title= The SAGE Encyclopedia of Terrorism, Second Edition
|first= Gus|last= Martin|date= 15 June 2011
|publisher= SAGE|via= Google Books|isbn= 9781412980166
}}
</ref>

==History==
{{Main|History of animal rights}}

==In religion==
{{See also|Animals in Islam|Christianity and animal rights|Animal rights in Jainism, Hinduism, and Buddhism}}

For some the basis of animal rights is in religion or [[animal worship]] (or in general [[nature worship]]), with some religions banning killing of any animal, and in other religions animals can be considered [[unclean animal|unclean]].

[[Hinduism|Hindu]] and [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] societies abandoned animal sacrifice and embraced [[vegetarianism]] from the 3rd century BCE.<ref name="Garner 2005, pp. 21–22">Garner (2005), pp. 21–22.</ref> One of the most important sanctions of the [[Jainism|Jain]], [[Hindu]] and [[Buddhist]] faiths is the concept of [[ahimsa]], or refraining from the destruction of life<!-- ([[#Reference-idRegenstein1991|Regenstein 1991]], p.&nbsp;234)-->. According to Buddhist belief, humans do not deserve preferential treatment over other living beings.<ref name="Grant">{{cite book |last1=Grant |first1=Catharine |title=The No-nonsense Guide to Animal Rights |url=https://archive.org/details/nononsenseguidet0000gran |url-access=registration |date=2006 |location=New Internationalist |isbn=9781904456407 |page=[https://archive.org/details/nononsenseguidet0000gran/page/24 24] |language=en|quote=These religions emphasize ''ahimsa'', which is the principle of non-violence towards all living things. The first precept is a prohibition against the killing of any creature. The Jain, Hindu and Buddhist injunctions against killing serve to teach that all creatures are spiritually equal.}}</ref> The [[Dharmic faith|Dharmic]] interpretation of this doctrine prohibits the killing of any living being.<ref name="Grant"/> Ancient [[Tamil language|Tamil]] works such as the [[Tolkāppiyam]] and [[Tirukkural]] contain passages that extend the idea of non-violence to all living beings.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://ivu.org/congress/wvc57/souvenir/tamil.html | title = Vegetarianism in Tamil Literature | last = Meenakshi Sundaram | first = T. P. | date = 1957 | website = 15th World Vegetarian Congress 1957 | publisher = International Vegetarian Union (IVU) | access-date = 17 April 2022 | quote = Ahimsa is the ruling principle of Indian life from the very earliest times. ... This positive spiritual attitude is easily explained to the common man in a negative way as "ahimsa" and hence this way of denoting it. Tiruvalluvar speaks of this as "kollaamai" or "non-killing." | archive-date = 22 January 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220122033037/https://ivu.org/congress/wvc57/souvenir/tamil.html | url-status = live }}</ref>

In Islam, animal rights were recognized early by the [[Sharia]]. This recognition is based on both the [[Qur'an]] and the [[Hadith]]. In the Qur'an, there are many references to animals, detailing that they have souls, form communities, communicate with God and worship Him in their own way. [[Muhammad]] forbade his followers to harm any animal and asked them to respect the rights of animals.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/islamethics/animals_1.shtml|title=BBC - Religions - Islam: Animals|publisher=bbc.co.uk|access-date=2019-12-20|archive-date=2020-02-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200204062925/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/islamethics/animals_1.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to [[Christianity and animal rights|Christianity]], all animals, from the smallest to the largest, are cared for and loved. According to the Bible, "All these animals waited for the Lord, that the Lord might give them food at the hour. The Lord gives them, they receive; The Lord opens his hand, and they are filled with good things".<ref>Proverbs 30:24 and NW; Psalm 104:24, 25, 27, 28</ref> It further says [[God]] "gave food to the animals, and made the crows cry."<ref>Ps 147:9</ref>

==Philosophical and legal approaches==

===Overview===
{{Further|Consequentialism|Deontological ethics}}
[[File:Martha Nussbaum wikipedia 10-10.jpg|thumb|180px|[[Martha Nussbaum]], Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, is a proponent of the [[Capability approach|capabilities approach]] to animal rights.]]
The two main philosophical approaches to animal ethics are utilitarian and rights-based. The former is exemplified by [[Peter Singer]], and the latter by [[Tom Regan]] and [[Gary Francione]]. Their differences reflect a distinction philosophers draw between ethical theories that judge the rightness of an act by its consequences (consequentialism/teleological ethics, or utilitarianism), and those that focus on the principle behind the act, almost regardless of consequences (deontological ethics). Deontologists argue that there are acts we should never perform, even if failing to do so entails a worse outcome.<ref>Craig (1988).</ref>

There are a number of positions that can be defended from a consequentalist or deontologist perspective, including the [[Capability approach|capabilities approach]], represented by [[Martha Nussbaum]], and the [[Egalitarianism|egalitarian approach]], which has been examined by Ingmar Persson and [[Peter Vallentyne]]. The capabilities approach focuses on what individuals require to fulfill their capabilities: Nussbaum (2006) argues that animals need a right to life, some control over their environment, company, play, and physical health.<ref>Nussbaum (2006), pp. 388ff, 393ff; also see Nussbaum (2004), p. 299ff.</ref>

[[Stephen R. L. Clark]], [[Mary Midgley]], and [[Bernard Rollin]] also discuss animal rights in terms of animals being permitted to lead a life appropriate for their kind.<ref>Weir (2009): see Clark (1977); Rollin (1981); Midgley (1984).</ref> Egalitarianism favors an equal distribution of happiness among all individuals, which makes the interests of the worse off more important than those of the better off.<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/25115834 Vallentyne (2005)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413170400/http://www.jstor.org/stable/25115834 |date=2016-04-13 }}; Vallentyne (2007).</ref> Another approach, [[virtue ethics]], holds that in considering how to act we should consider the character of the actor, and what kind of moral agents we should be. [[Rosalind Hursthouse]] has suggested an approach to animal rights based on virtue ethics.<ref>Rowlands (2009), p. 98ff; Hursthouse (2000a); Hursthouse (2000b), p. 146ff.</ref> [[Mark Rowlands]] has proposed a [[Social contract|contractarian]] approach.<ref name=Rowlands1998p118/><!--expand Clark, Nussbaum, virtue ethics-->

===Utilitarianism===
{{Further|Equal consideration of interests|Utilitarianism}}
Nussbaum (2004) writes that utilitarianism, starting with [[Jeremy Bentham]] and [[John Stuart Mill]], has contributed more to the recognition of the moral status of animals than any other ethical theory.<ref>Nussbaum (2004), p. 302.</ref> The utilitarian philosopher most associated with animal rights is Peter Singer, professor of bioethics at [[Princeton University]]. Singer is not a rights theorist, but {{Citation needed span|text=uses the language of rights to discuss how we ought to treat individuals.|date=October 2023}} He is a [[Preference utilitarianism|preference utilitarian]],{{Needs update|date=October 2023|reason=Singer revealed in The Point of View of the Universe (2014) that he is no longer a preference utilitarian.}} meaning that he judges the rightness of an act by the extent to which it satisfies the preferences (interests) of those affected.<ref>For a discussion of preference utilitarianism, see Singer (2011), pp. 14ff, 94ff.</ref>

His position is that there is no reason not to give equal consideration to the interests of human and nonhumans, though his principle of equality does not require identical treatment. A mouse and a man both have an interest in not being kicked, and there are no moral or logical grounds for failing to accord those interests equal weight. Interests are predicated on the ability to suffer, nothing more, and once it is established that a being has interests, those interests must be given equal consideration.<ref name=Singer7>Singer (1990), pp. 7–8.</ref> Singer quotes the English philosopher [[Henry Sidgwick]] (1838–1900): "The good of any one individual is of no more importance, from the point of view&nbsp;... of the Universe, than the good of any other."<ref name="Singer5">Singer 1990, p. 5.</ref>

[[File:Singer1.jpg|160px|thumb|[[Peter Singer]]: interests are predicated on the ability to suffer.]]
Singer argues that equality of consideration is a prescription, not an assertion of fact: if the equality of the sexes were based only on the idea that men and women were equally intelligent, we would have to abandon the practice of equal consideration if this were later found to be false. But the moral idea of equality does not depend on matters of fact such as intelligence, physical strength, or moral capacity. Equality therefore cannot be grounded on the outcome of scientific investigations into the intelligence of nonhumans. All that matters is whether they can suffer.<ref name=Singer1990p4>Singer (1990), p. 4.</ref>

Commentators on all sides of the debate now accept that animals suffer and feel pain, although it was not always so. [[Bernard Rollin]], professor of philosophy, animal sciences, and biomedical sciences at Colorado State University, writes that Descartes's influence continued to be felt until the 1980s. Veterinarians trained in the US before 1989 were taught to ignore pain, he writes, and at least one major veterinary hospital in the 1960s did not stock narcotic analgesics for animal pain control. In his interactions with scientists, he was often asked to "prove" that animals are conscious, and to provide "scientifically acceptable" evidence that they could feel pain.<ref name=Rollin117>Rollin (1989), pp. xii, pp. 117–118; [http://www.nature.com/embor/journal/v8/n6/full/7400996.html Rollin (2007)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728054434/https://www.nature.com/embor/journal/v8/n6/full/7400996.html |date=2020-07-28 }}.</ref>

Scientific publications have made it clear since the 1980s that the majority of researchers do believe animals suffer and feel pain, though it continues to be argued that their suffering may be reduced by an inability to experience the same dread of anticipation as humans or to remember the suffering as vividly.<ref>Singer (1990), pp. 10–17, citing Stamp Dawkins (1980), Walker (1983), and Griffin (1984); Garner (2005), pp. 13–14.</ref> The ability of animals to suffer, even it may vary in severity, is the basis for Singer's application of equal consideration. The problem of animal suffering, and animal consciousness in general, arose primarily because it was argued that animals [[animal language|have no language]]. Singer writes that, if language were needed to communicate pain, it would often be impossible to know when humans are in pain, though we can observe pain behavior and make a calculated guess based on it. He argues that there is no reason to suppose that the pain behavior of nonhumans would have a different meaning from the pain behavior of humans.<ref>Singer (1990) p. 12ff.</ref>

===Subjects-of-a-life===
{{Further|The Case for Animal Rights}}
[[File:TomRegan2.jpg|thumb|130px|[[Tom Regan]]: animals are subjects-of-a-life.]]
Tom Regan, professor emeritus of philosophy at North Carolina State University, argues in ''The Case for Animal Rights'' (1983) that nonhuman animals are what he calls "subjects-of-a-life", and as such are bearers of rights.<ref name=Regan243>Regan (1983), p. 243.</ref> He writes that, because the moral rights of humans are based on their possession of certain [[Cognition|cognitive]] abilities, and because these abilities are also possessed by at least some nonhuman animals, such animals must have the same moral rights as humans. Although only humans act as moral agents, both marginal-case humans, such as infants, and at least some nonhumans must have the status of "moral patients".<ref name=Regan243/>

Moral patients are unable to formulate moral principles, and as such are unable to do right or wrong, even though what they do may be beneficial or harmful. Only moral agents are able to engage in moral action. Animals for Regan have "[[Intrinsic value (animal ethics)|intrinsic value]]" as subjects-of-a-life, and cannot be regarded as a means to an end, a view that places him firmly in the abolitionist camp. His theory does not extend to all animals, but only to those that can be regarded as subjects-of-a-life.<ref name=Regan243/> He argues that all normal mammals of at least one year of age would qualify:

{{Blockquote|...&nbsp;individuals are subjects-of-a-life if they have beliefs and desires; perception, memory, and a sense of the future, including their own future; an emotional life together with feelings of pleasure and pain; preference- and welfare-interests; the ability to initiate action in pursuit of their desires and goals; a psychophysical identity over time; and an individual welfare in the sense that their experiential life fares well or ill for them, logically independently of their utility for others and logically independently of their being the object of anyone else's interests.<ref name=Regan243/>}}

Whereas Singer is primarily concerned with improving the treatment of animals and accepts that, in some hypothetical scenarios, individual animals might be used legitimately to further human or nonhuman ends, Regan believes we ought to treat nonhuman animals as we would humans. He applies the strict [[Immanuel Kant|Kantian]] ideal (which Kant himself applied only to humans) that they ought never to be sacrificed as a means to an end, and must be treated as ends in themselves.<ref>Regan (1983).</ref>

===Abolitionism===
{{Further|Abolitionism (animal rights)|Animals, Property, and the Law}}
[[File:Gary Francione (cropped).jpg|thumb|130px|[[Gary Francione]]: animals need only the right not to be regarded as property.]]
Gary Francione, professor of law and philosophy at [[Rutgers Law School]] in Newark, is a leading abolitionist writer, arguing that animals need only one right, the right not to be owned. Everything else would follow from that [[paradigm shift]]. He writes that, although most people would condemn the mistreatment of animals, and in many countries there are laws that seem to reflect those concerns, "in practice the legal system allows any use of animals, however abhorrent." The law only requires that any suffering not be "unnecessary". In deciding what counts as "unnecessary", an animal's interests are weighed against the interests of human beings, and the latter almost always prevail.<ref>Francione (1990), pp. 4, 17ff.</ref>

Francione's ''Animals, Property, and the Law'' (1995) was the first extensive jurisprudential treatment of animal rights. In it, Francione compares the situation of animals to the treatment of [[Slavery in the United States|slaves in the United States]], where legislation existed that appeared to protect them while the courts ignored that the institution of slavery itself rendered the protection unenforceable.<ref>Francione (1995), pp. 4–5.</ref> He offers as an example the United States [[Animal Welfare Act of 1966|Animal Welfare Act]], which he describes as an example of symbolic legislation, intended to assuage public concern about the treatment of animals, but difficult to implement.<ref>Francione (1995), p. 208ff.</ref>

He argues that a focus on animal welfare, rather than animal rights, may worsen the position of animals by making the public feel comfortable about using them and entrenching the view of them as property. He calls animal rights groups who pursue animal welfare issues, such as [[People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals]], the "[[Animal protectionism|new welfarists]]", arguing that they have more in common with 19th-century animal protectionists than with the animal rights movement; indeed, the terms "animal protection" and "protectionism" are increasingly favored. His position in 1996 was that there is no animal rights movement in the United States.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=AmKARgx_FCgC&pg=PA32 Francione (1996), p. 32ff]
*Francione and Garner (2010), pp. 1ff, 175ff.
*Hall, Lee. [http://www.friendsofanimals.org/programs/animal-rights/interview-with-gary-francione.html "An Interview with Professor Gary L. Francione"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090508021512/http://www.friendsofanimals.org/programs/animal-rights/interview-with-gary-francione.html |date=May 8, 2009 }}, Friends of Animals. Retrieved February 3, 2011.</ref>

===Contractarianism===
{{Further|Social contract}}
[[Mark Rowlands]], professor of philosophy at the University of Florida, has proposed a contractarian approach, based on the [[original position]] and the [[veil of ignorance]]—a "state of nature" thought experiment that tests intuitions about justice and fairness—in [[John Rawls]]'s ''[[A Theory of Justice]]'' (1971). In the original position, individuals choose principles of justice (what kind of society to form, and how primary social goods will be distributed), unaware of their individual characteristics—their race, sex, class, or intelligence, whether they are able-bodied or disabled, rich or poor—and therefore unaware of which role they will assume in the society they are about to form.<ref name=Rowlands1998p118>Rowlands (1998), p. 118ff, particularly pp. 147–152.</ref>

The idea is that, operating behind the veil of ignorance, they will choose a social contract in which there is basic fairness and justice for them no matter the position they occupy. Rawls did not include species membership as one of the attributes hidden from the decision-makers in the original position. Rowlands proposes extending the veil of ignorance to include rationality, which he argues is an undeserved property similar to characteristics including race, sex and intelligence.<ref name="Rowlands1998p118"/>

===''Prima facie'' rights theory===
{{Further|Prima facie right}}
American philosopher Timothy Garry has proposed an approach that deems nonhuman animals worthy of ''prima facie'' rights. In a philosophical context, a ''prima facie'' (Latin for "on the face of it" or "at first glance") right is one that appears to be applicable at first glance, but upon closer examination may be outweighed by other considerations. In his book ''[[Ethics: A Pluralistic Approach to Moral Theory]]'', [[Lawrence Hinman]] characterizes such rights as "the right is real but leaves open the question of whether it is applicable and overriding in a particular situation".<ref name="Hinman1998p208">Hinman, Lawrence M. Ethics: A Pluralistic Approach to Moral Theory. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College, 1998. Print.</ref> The idea that nonhuman animals are worthy of ''prima facie'' rights is to say that, in a sense, animals have rights that can be overridden by many other considerations, especially those conflicting a human's right to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness. Garry supports his view arguing:

{{Blockquote|...&nbsp;if a nonhuman animal were to kill a human being in the U.S., it would have broken the laws of the land and would probably get rougher sanctions than if it were a human.  My point is that like laws govern all who interact within a society, rights are to be applied to all beings who interact within that society.  This is not to say these rights endowed by humans are equivalent to those held by nonhuman animals, but rather that if humans possess rights then so must all those who interact with humans.<ref name=Garry2012p6>Garry, Timothy J. Nonhuman Animals: Possessors of Prima Facie Rights (2012), p.6</ref>}}

In sum, Garry suggests that humans have obligations to nonhuman animals; animals do not, and ought not to, have uninfringible rights against humans.

===Feminism and animal rights===
{{Further|Women and animal advocacy|Ethics of care|Feminist ethics}}
[[File:Carol J. Adams with Snowball.jpg|thumb|180px|The American [[Ecofeminism|ecofeminist]] [[Carol J. Adams|Carol Adams]] has written extensively about the link between feminism and animal rights, starting with ''The Sexual Politics of Meat'' (1990).]]
Women have played a central role in animal advocacy since the 19th century.<ref name="Lansbury et al">Lansbury (1985); Adams (1990); Donovan (1993); Gruen (1993); Adams (1994); Adams and Donovan (1995); Adams (2004); MacKinnon (2004).</ref> The anti-vivisection movement in the 19th and early 20th century in England and the United States was largely run by women, including [[Frances Power Cobbe]], [[Anna Kingsford]], [[Lizzy Lind af Hageby]] and [[Caroline Earle White]] (1833–1916).<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/4289385 Kean (1995)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413040407/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4289385 |date=2020-04-13 }}.</ref> Garner writes that 70 per cent of the membership of the Victoria Street Society (one of the anti-vivisection groups founded by Cobbe) were women, as were 70 per cent of the membership of the British RSPCA in 1900.<ref>Garner (2005), p. 141, citing Elston (1990), p. 276.</ref>

The modern animal advocacy movement has a similar representation of women. They are not invariably in leadership positions: during the March for Animals in Washington, D.C., in 1990—the largest animal rights demonstration held until then in the United States—most of the participants were women, but most of the platform speakers were men.<ref name=Garner2005p142>Garner (2005), pp. 142–143.</ref> Nevertheless, several influential animal advocacy groups have been founded by women, including the [[British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection]] by Cobbe in London in 1898; the [[Animal Welfare Board of India]] by [[Rukmini Devi Arundale]] in 1962; and [[People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals]], co-founded by [[Ingrid Newkirk]] in 1980. In the Netherlands, [[Marianne Thieme]] and [[Esther Ouwehand]] were elected to parliament in 2006 representing the Parliamentary group for Animals.

The preponderance of women in the movement has led to a body of academic literature exploring feminism and animal rights, such as feminism and vegetarianism or [[veganism]], the oppression of women and animals, and the male association of women and animals with nature and emotion, rather than reason—an association that several feminist writers have embraced.<ref name="Lansbury et al"/> [[Lori Gruen]] writes that women and animals serve the same symbolic function in a patriarchal society: both are "the used"; the dominated, submissive "[[Other (philosophy)|Other]]".<ref>Gruen (1993), p. 60ff.</ref> When the British feminist [[Mary Wollstonecraft]] (1759–1797) published ''[[A Vindication of the Rights of Woman]]'' (1792), [[Thomas Taylor (neoplatonist)|Thomas Taylor]] (1758–1835), a Cambridge philosopher, responded with an anonymous parody, ''A Vindication of the Rights of Brutes'' (1792), saying that Wollstonecraft's arguments for women's rights could be applied equally to animals, a position he intended as ''[[reductio ad absurdum]]''.<ref>Singer (1990), p. 1.</ref><!--add something about language; treatment of female animals; feminist care ethic; suffragettes--> In her works ''[[The sexual politics of meat|The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory]]'' (1990) and ''The Pornography of Meat'' (2004), [[Carol J. Adams]] focuses in particular on what she argues are the links between the oppression of women and that of non-human animals.<ref name="green2003">{{cite magazine|author-last=Green |author-first=Elizabeth W. |url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2003/10/2/fifteen-questions-for-carol-j-adams/ |title=Fifteen Questions For Carol J. Adams |magazine=The Harvard Crimson |date=10 October 2003 |access-date=22 November 2008}}</ref>

===Transhumanism===
Some [[transhumanism|transhumanists]] argue for animal rights, liberation, and "uplift" of animal consciousness into machines.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Ethics of Animal Enhancement|author=George Dvorsky|author-link=George Dvorsky|url=https://ieet.org/index.php/IEET2/more/dvorsky20110729|access-date=2017-04-24|archive-date=2017-04-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425030415/https://ieet.org/index.php/IEET2/more/dvorsky20110729|url-status=live}}</ref> Transhumanism also understands animal rights on a gradation or spectrum with other types of sentient rights, including human rights and the rights of conscious artificial intelligences (posthuman rights).<ref Name="Evans 2015">{{cite journal | last = Evans | first = Woody | author-link = Woody Evans | title = Posthuman Rights: Dimensions of Transhuman Worlds | journal = Teknokultura | volume = 12 | issue = 2 | date = 2015 | doi = 10.5209/rev_TK.2015.v12.n2.49072 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

===Socialism and anti-capitalism===

According to sociologist [[David Nibert]] of [[Wittenberg University]], the struggle for animal liberation must happen in tandem with a more generalized struggle against human oppression and exploitation under global [[capitalism]]. He says that under a more egalitarian [[democratic socialist]] system, one that would "allow a more just and peaceful order to emerge" and be "characterized by [[economic democracy]] and a democratically controlled state and mass media", there would be "much greater potential to inform the public about vital global issues—and the potential for  "campaigns to improve the lives of other animals" to be "more abolitionist in nature."{{sfn|Nibert|2013|p=270}} Philosopher [[Steven Best]] of the [[University of Texas at El Paso]] states that the animal liberation movement, as characterized by the [[Animal Liberation Front]] and its various offshoots, "is a significant threat to global capital." {{Blockquote|...&nbsp;Animal liberation challenges large sectors of the capitalist economy by assailing corporate agriculture and pharmaceutical companies and their suppliers. Far from being irrelevant to social movements, animal rights can form the basis for a broad coalition of progressive social groups and drive changes that strike at the heart of capitalist exploitation of animals, people and the earth.{{sfn|Best|2014|p=103}}}} 

===Critics===

====R. G. Frey====
[[R. G. Frey]], professor of philosophy at Bowling Green State University, is a preference utilitarian. In his early work, ''Interests and Rights'' (1980), Frey disagreed with Singer—who wrote in ''Animal Liberation'' (1975) that the interests of nonhuman animals must be given equal consideration when judging the consequences of an act—on the grounds that animals have no interests. Frey argues that interests are dependent on desire, and that no desire can exist without a corresponding belief. Animals have no beliefs, because a belief state requires the ability to hold a second-order belief—a belief about the belief—which he argues requires language: "If someone were to say, e.g. 'The cat believes that the door is locked,' then that person is holding, as I see it, that the cat holds the declarative sentence 'The door is locked' to be true; and I can see no reason whatever for crediting the cat or any other creature which lacks language, including human infants, with entertaining declarative sentences."<ref>Frey (1989), p. 40.</ref>

====Carl Cohen====
[[Carl Cohen (professor)|Carl Cohen]], professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan, argues that rights holders must be able to distinguish between their own interests and what is right. "The holders of rights must have the capacity to comprehend rules of duty governing all, including themselves. In applying such rules, [they]&nbsp;... must recognize possible conflicts between what is in their own interest and what is just. Only in a community of beings capable of self-restricting moral judgments can the concept of a right be correctly invoked." Cohen rejects Singer's argument that, since a brain-damaged human could not make moral judgments, moral judgments cannot be used as the distinguishing characteristic for determining who is awarded rights. Cohen writes that the test for moral judgment "is not a test to be administered to humans one by one", but should be applied to the capacity of members of the species in general.<ref>[http://spot.colorado.edu/~heathwoo/phil1200,Spr07/cohen.pdf pg. 94-100] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111127200740/http://spot.colorado.edu/~heathwoo/phil1200,Spr07/cohen.pdf |date=2011-11-27 }}. Cohen and Regan (2001).</ref>

====Richard Posner====
[[File:Richard-A-Posner.jpg|thumb|150px|Judge [[Richard Posner]]: "facts will drive equality."<ref name=Posner/>]]
Judge [[Richard Posner]] of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit]] debated the issue of animal rights in 2001 with Peter Singer.<ref>[http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/dialogues/features/2001/animal_rights/_2.html Singer (June 15, 2001)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914200057/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/dialogues/features/2001/animal_rights/_2.html |date=September 14, 2017 }}.</ref> Posner posits that his [[Ethical intuitionism|moral intuition]] tells him "that human beings prefer their own. If a dog threatens a human infant, even if it requires causing more pain to the dog to stop it, than the dog would have caused to the infant, then we favour the child. It would be monstrous to spare the dog."<ref name=Posner>[http://www.slate.com/id/110101/entry/110129/ Posner (June 15, 2001)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110821030817/http://www.slate.com/id/110101/entry/110129/ |date=August 21, 2011 }}; [http://www.utilitarian.net/singer/interviews-debates/200106--.htm Posner-Singer debate in full] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150509122917/http://www.utilitarian.net/singer/interviews-debates/200106--.htm |date=2015-05-09 }}, courtesy link on utilitarian.net.
*Also see Posner (2004).</ref>

Singer challenges this by arguing that formerly unequal rights for gays, women, and certain races were justified using the same set of intuitions. Posner replies that equality in civil rights did not occur because of ethical arguments, but because facts mounted that there were no morally significant differences between humans based on race, sex, or sexual orientation that would support inequality. If and when similar facts emerge about humans and animals, the differences in rights will erode too. But facts will drive equality, not ethical arguments that run contrary to instinct, he argues. Posner calls his approach "soft utilitarianism", in contrast to Singer's "hard utilitarianism". He argues:

{{Blockquote|The "soft" utilitarian position on animal rights is a moral intuition of many, probably most, Americans. We realize that animals feel pain, and we think that to inflict pain without a reason is bad. Nothing of practical value is added by dressing up this intuition in the language of philosophy; much is lost when the intuition is made a stage in a logical argument. When kindness toward animals is levered into a duty of weighting the pains of animals and of people equally, bizarre vistas of social engineering are opened up.<ref name=Posner/>}}

[[File:Roger Scruton, September 2002.jpg|thumb|190px|[[Roger Scruton]]: rights imply obligations.]]

====Roger Scruton====
[[Roger Scruton]], the British philosopher, argued that rights imply obligations. Every legal privilege, he wrote, imposes a burden on the one who does not possess that privilege: that is, "your right may be my duty." Scruton therefore regarded the emergence of the animal rights movement as "the strangest cultural shift within the liberal worldview", because the idea of rights and responsibilities is, he argued, distinctive to the human condition, and it makes no sense to spread them beyond our own species.<ref name=Scruton/>

He accused animal rights advocates of "pre-scientific" [[anthropomorphism]], attributing traits to animals that are, he says, [[Beatrix Potter]]-like, where "only man is vile." It is within this fiction that the appeal of animal rights lies, he argued. The world of animals is non-judgmental, filled with dogs who return our affection almost no matter what we do to them, and cats who pretend to be affectionate when, in fact, they care only about themselves. It is, he argued, a fantasy, a world of escape.<ref name=Scruton>{{cite magazine |last=Scruton |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Scruton |date=Summer 2000 |title=Animal Rights |url=http://www.city-journal.org/html/10_3_urbanities-animal.html |magazine=City Journal |location= New York |publisher=Manhattan Institute for Policy Research}}</ref>

Scruton singled out [[Peter Singer]], a prominent Australian philosopher and animal-rights activist, for criticism. He wrote that Singer's works, including ''[[Animal Liberation (book)|Animal Liberation]]'', "contain little or no philosophical argument. They derive their radical moral conclusions from a vacuous utilitarianism that counts the pain and pleasure of all living things as equally significant and that ignores just about everything that has been said in our philosophical tradition about the real distinction between persons and animals."<ref name=Scruton/>

[[Tom Regan]] countered this view of rights by distinguishing moral agents and moral patients.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thevegetariansite.com/ethics_regan.htm|title=Tom Regan: The Case For Animal Rights|website=The Vegetarian Site|access-date=November 2, 2019|archive-date=November 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191102054417/https://www.thevegetariansite.com/ethics_regan.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|WP:QUESTIONABLE|date=March 2021}}

==Public attitudes==
According to a paper published in 2000 by Harold Herzog and Lorna Dorr, previous academic surveys of attitudes towards animal rights have tended to suffer from small sample sizes and non-representative groups.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Herzog |first1=Harold |last2=Dorr |first2=Lorna |date=2000 |title=Electronically Available Surveys of Attitudes Toward Animals |journal=Society & Animals |volume=10 |issue=2}}</ref> However, a number of factors appear to correlate with the attitude of individuals regarding the treatment of animals and animal rights. These include gender, age, occupation, religion, and level of education. There has also been evidence to suggest that prior experience with [[pets]] may be a factor in people's attitudes.<ref name="SignalAndTaylor2006">{{cite journal |last1=Apostol |first1=L. |last2=Rebega |first2=O.L. |last3=Miclea |first3=M. |date=2013 |title=Psychological and Socio-Demographic Predictors of Attitudes towards Animals |journal=Social and Behavioural Sciences |issue=78 |pages=521–525}}</ref>

According to some studies, women are more likely to empathize with the cause of animal rights than men.<ref name="SignalAndTaylor2006" /><ref>{{cite journal |last=Herzog |first=Harold |date=2007 |title=Gender Differences in Human-Animal Interactions: A Review |journal=Anthrozoös|volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=7–21|doi=10.2752/089279307780216687 |s2cid=14988443 }}</ref> A 1996 study suggested that factors that may partially explain this discrepancy include attitudes towards [[feminism]] and science, scientific literacy, and the presence of a greater emphasis on "nurturance or compassion" among women.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pifer |first=Linda |date=1996 |title=Exploring the Gender Gap in Young Adults' Attitudes about Animal Research |journal=Society and Animals |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=37–52 |doi=10.1163/156853096X00034 |pmid=11654528 |url=http://www.animalsandsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/pifer1.pdf |access-date=2021-06-04 |archive-date=2021-09-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917222336/https://www.animalsandsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/pifer1.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

A common misconception on the concept of animal rights is that its proponents want to grant non-human animals the exact same legal rights as humans, such as the [[right to vote]]. This is not the case, as the concept is that animals should have rights with equal consideration to their interests (for example, cats do not have any interest in voting, so they should not have the right to vote).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/animals/rights/rights_1.shtml|title=Ethics - Animal ethics: Animal rights|website=BBC Online|access-date=February 10, 2022|df=mdy-all|archive-date=March 24, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324011846/https://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/animals/rights/rights_1.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> A 2016 study found that support for [[animal testing]] may not be based on cogent philosophical rationales, and more open debate is warranted.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Joffe |first1=Ari R. |last2=Bara |first2=Meredith |last3=Anton |first3=Natalie |last4=Nobis |first4=Nathan |date=2016-03-29 |title=The ethics of animal research: a survey of the public and scientists in North America |journal=BMC Medical Ethics |volume=17 |page=17 |doi=10.1186/s12910-016-0100-x |issn=1472-6939 |pmc=4812627 |pmid=27025215 |df=mdy-all |doi-access=free }}</ref>

A 2007 survey to examine whether or not people who believed in [[evolution]] were more likely to support animal rights than [[creationists]] and believers in [[intelligent design]] found that this was largely the case—according to the researchers, the respondents who were strong [[Christian fundamentalists]] and believers in [[creationism]] were less likely to advocate for animal rights than those who were less fundamentalist in their beliefs. The findings extended previous research, such as a 1992 study which found that 48% of animal rights activists were [[atheists]] or [[agnostic]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=DeLeeuwa |first1=Jamie |last2=Galen |first2=Luke |last3=Aebersold |first3=Cassandra |last4=Stanton |first4=Victoria |date=2007 |url=http://www.animalsandsociety.org/assets/library/745_s3.pdf |title=Support for Animal Rights as a Function of Belief in Evolution, Religious Fundamentalism, and Religious Denomination |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620141651/http://www.animalsandsociety.org/assets/library/745_s3.pdf |archive-date=2013-06-20 |df=mdy-all |journal=Society and Animals |issue=15 |pages=353–363}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Galvin |first1=Shelley L. |last2=Herzog |first2=Harold A. Jr. |date=1992 |title=Ethical Ideology, Animal Rights Activism, And Attitudes Toward The Treatment Of Animals |journal=Ethics & Behavior |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=141–149 |doi=10.1207/s15327019eb0203_1 |pmid=11651362 |url=https://animalstudiesrepository.org/acwp_sata/23 |access-date=2020-08-29 |archive-date=2020-05-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200531171029/https://animalstudiesrepository.org/acwp_sata/23/ |url-status=live }}</ref> A 2019 study in ''[[The Washington Post]]'' found that those who have positive attitudes toward animal rights also tend to have a positive view of universal healthcare, favor reducing discrimination against African Americans, the LGBT community and undocumented immigrants, and expanding welfare to aid the poor.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Park|first1=Yon Soo|last2=Valentino|first2=Benjamin|date=July 26, 2019|title=Who supports animal rights? Here's what we found.|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/07/26/who-supports-animal-rights-heres-what-we-found/|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=July 26, 2019|df=mdy-all|archive-date=July 26, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726122439/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/07/26/who-supports-animal-rights-heres-what-we-found/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Two surveys found that attitudes towards animal rights tactics, such as [[direct action]], are very diverse within the animal rights communities. Near half (50% and 39% in two surveys) of activists do not support direct action. One survey concluded "it would be a mistake to portray animal rights activists as homogeneous."<ref name="SignalAndTaylor2006"/><ref>{{cite journal |title=An attitude survey of animal rights activists |journal=Psychological Science |year=1991 |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=194–196 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9280.1991.tb00131.x |s2cid=145549994 |df=mdy-all|last1=Plous |first1=S. }}</ref>

Even though around 90% of US adults regularly consume meat,<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Berg|first1=Jennifer|last2=Jackson|first2=Chris|date=May 12, 2021|title=Nearly nine in ten Americans consume meat as part of their diet|url=https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/news-polls/nearly-nine-ten-americans-consume-meat-part-their-diet|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210720111314/https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/news-polls/nearly-nine-ten-americans-consume-meat-part-their-diet|archive-date=July 20, 2021|access-date=February 13, 2022|website=Ipsos}}</ref> almost half of them appear to support a ban on slaughterhouses: in [[Sentience Institute]]'s 2017 survey of 1,094 U.S. adults' attitudes toward animal farming, 49% "support a ban on factory farming, 47% support a ban on slaughterhouses, and 33% support a ban on animal farming".<ref name="Ettinger">{{cite news |last=Ettinger |first=Jill |date=November 21, 2017 |title=70% of Americans Want Better Treatment for Farm Animals, Poll Finds |url=http://www.organicauthority.com/70-of-americans-want-better-treatment-for-farm-animals-poll-finds/ |newspaper=Organic Authority |access-date=13 February 2022 |archive-date=29 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180929115534/http://www.organicauthority.com/70-of-americans-want-better-treatment-for-farm-animals-poll-finds/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="vox 2">{{cite web |last=Piper |first=Kelsey |date=November 5, 2018 |title=California and Florida voters could change the lives of millions of animals on Election Day |url=https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2018/10/17/17955642/california-florida-voters-animal-welfare-election-day |publisher=[[Vox (website)|Vox]] |access-date=13 February 2022 |archive-date=13 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220213174934/https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2018/10/17/17955642/california-florida-voters-animal-welfare-election-day |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Reese Anthis|first=Jacy|date=November 20, 2017|title=Animals, Food, and Technology (AFT) Survey 2017|url=https://www.sentienceinstitute.org/animal-farming-attitudes-survey-2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220104070248/https://www.sentienceinstitute.org/animal-farming-attitudes-survey-2017|archive-date=January 4, 2022|access-date=February 13, 2022|website=Sentience Institute|series=Surveys}}</ref> The 2017 survey was replicated by researchers at the [[Oklahoma State University–Stillwater|Oklahoma State University]], who found similar results: 73% of respondents answered "yes" to the question "Were you aware that slaughterhouses are where livestock are killed and processed into meat, such that, without them, you would not be able to consume meat?"<ref name="food dive">{{cite web|last=Siegner|first=Cathy|date=January 25, 2018|title=Survey: Most consumers like meat, slaughterhouses not so much|url=https://www.fooddive.com/news/survey-most-consumers-like-meat-slaughterhouses-not-so-much/515301/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102193320/https://www.fooddive.com/news/survey-most-consumers-like-meat-slaughterhouses-not-so-much/515301/|archive-date=November 2, 2021|access-date=February 13, 2022|publisher=Food Dive}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Norwood |first1=Bailey |last2=Murray |first2=Susan |title=FooDS Food Deman Survey, Volume 5, Issue 9: January 18, 2018 |url=http://agecon.okstate.edu/files/january%202018.pdf |access-date=February 13, 2022 |website=Oklahoma State University |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190806000018/http://agecon.okstate.edu/files/january%202018.pdf |archive-date=6 August 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the U.S., many public protest slaughters were held in the late 1960s and early 1970s by the [[National Farmers Organization]]. Protesting low prices for meat, farmers killed their animals in front of media representatives. The carcasses were wasted and not eaten. This effort backfired because it angered television audiences to see animals needlessly and wastefully killed.<ref>{{cite thesis |page=19 |url=http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1050951369 |title=Growing a new agrarian myth: the american agriculture movement, identity, and the call to save the family farm |first=Ryan J. |last=Stockwell |access-date=11 May 2020 |archive-date=15 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415153833/https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_olink/r/1501/10?clear=10&p10_accession_num=miami1050951369 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==See also==
{{Div col}}
*{{Portal-inline|size=tiny|Animals}}
*[[Animal cognition]]
*[[Animal consciousness]]
*[[Animal–industrial complex]]
*[[Animal liberation (disambiguation)|Animal liberation]]
*[[Animal liberation movement]]
*[[Animal liberationist]]
*[[Animal rights by country or territory]]
*[[Animal studies]]
*[[Animal suffering]]
*[[Animal trial]]
*[[Animal Welfare Institute]]
*[[Antinaturalism (politics)]]
*[[Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness]]
*[[Chick culling]]
*[[Cruelty to animals]]
*[[Critical animal studies]]
*[[Deep ecology]]
*[[Do Animals Have Rights? (book)|''Do Animals Have Rights?'' (book)]]
*[[List of animal rights advocates]]
*[[List of songs about animal rights]]
*[[Moral circle expansion]]
*[[Open rescue]]
*[[Plant rights]]
*[[Sentientism]]
*[[Timeline of animal welfare and rights]]
*[[Wild animal suffering]]
*[[World Animal Day]]
{{Div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
Books and papers are cited in short form in the footnotes, with full citations here. News and other sources are cited in full in the footnotes.
{{Refbegin|30em}}
*{{cite book |author-link=Carol Adams (feminist) |last=Adams |first=Carol J. |date=1996 |title=The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory |publisher=Continuum}} {{ISBN|1501312839}}
*{{cite book |editor-last=Adams |editor1-first=Carol J. |editor2-first=Josephine |editor-link1=Carol Adams (feminist) |editor2-last=Donovan |editor-link2=Josephine Donovan |date=1995 |title=Animals and Women: Feminist Theoretical Explorations |publisher=Duke University Press}} {{ISBN|0822316552}}
*{{cite book |author-link=Carol Adams (feminist) |last=Adams |first=Carol J. |date=2004 |title=The Pornography of Meat |publisher=Continuum}} {{ISBN|9781590565100}}
*Benthall, Jonathan (2007). [https://www.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8322.2007.00494.x "Animal liberation and rights"], ''Anthropology Today'', volume 23, issue 2, April.
*[[Jeremy Bentham|Bentham, Jeremy]] (1781). ''Principles of Penal Law''. {{ISBN|1379912326}}
*[[Tom Beauchamp|Beauchamp, Tom]] (2009). "The Moral Standing of Animals", in [[Marc Bekoff]]. ''Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare''. Greenwood. {{ISBN|0313352593}}
*[[Tom Beauchamp|Beauchamp, Tom]] (2011a). "Introduction," in Tom Beauchamp and [[Raymond Frey|R.G. Frey]] (eds.). ''The Oxford Handbook of Animal Ethics''. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|019935197X}}
*[[Tom Beauchamp|Beauchamp, Tom]] (2011b). "Rights Theory and Animal Rights," in Beauchamp and Frey, ''op cit''. {{ISBN|019935197X}}
*{{cite book |last= Best|first=Steven|date=2014 |title=The Politics of Total Liberation: Revolution for the 21st Century|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |isbn=978-1137471116|doi=10.1057/9781137440723}}
*[[Stephen R. L. Clark|Clark, Stephen R. L.]] (1977). ''The Moral Status of Animals''. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0192830406}}
*[[Carl Cohen (professor)|Cohen, Carl]] (1986). [http://spot.colorado.edu/~heathwoo/phil1200,Spr07/cohen.pdf "The Case for the Use of Animals in Biomedical Research"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111127200740/http://spot.colorado.edu/~heathwoo/phil1200,Spr07/cohen.pdf |date=2011-11-27 }}, ''New England Journal of Medicine'', vol. 315, issue 14, October, pp.&nbsp;865–870.
*Cohen, Carl and Regan, Tom (2001). ''The Animal Rights Debate''. Rowman & Littlefield. {{ISBN|0847696626}}
*[[Edward Craig (philosopher)|Craig, Edward]] (ed.) (1988). "[[Deontology|Deontological]] Ethics" and "[[Consequentalism]]." ''Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy''.
*[[David DeGrazia|DeGrazia, David]] (2002). ''Animal Rights: A Very Short Introduction''. Oxford University Press.
*[[Josephine Donovan|Donovan, Josephine]] (1993). "Animal Rights and Feminist Theory," in [[Greta Gaard]]. ''Ecofeminism: Women, Animals, Nature''. Temple University Press.
*[[Gary Francione|Francione, Gary]] (1996). ''Rain Without Thunder: The Ideology of the Animal Rights Movement''. Temple University Press.
*[[Gary Francione|Francione, Gary]] (1995). ''Animals, Property, and the Law''. Temple University Press.
*[[Gary Francione|Francione, Gary]] (2008). ''Animals as Persons''. Columbia University Press.
*Francione, Gary and Garner, Robert (2010). ''The Animal Rights Debate: Abolition Or Regulation?'' Columbia University Press.
*Fellenz, Mark R. (2007). ''The Moral Menagerie: Philosophy and Animal Rights''. University of Illinois Press.
*[[Raymond Frey|Frey, R.G.]] (1980). ''Interests and Rights: The Case against Animals''. Clarendon Press.
*[[Raymond Frey|Frey, R.G.]] (1989). "Why Animals Lack Beliefs and Desires," in Peter Singer and Tom Regan (eds.). ''Animal Rights and Human Obligations''. Prentice Hall.
*[[Robert Garner|Garner, Robert]] (2004). ''Animals, Politics and Morality''. Manchester University Press.
*[[Robert Garner|Garner, Robert]] (2005). ''The Political Theory of Animals Rights''. Manchester University Press.
*Giannelli, Michael A. (1985). "Three Blind Mice, See How They Run: A Critique of Behavioral Research With Animals". In M.W. Fox & L.D. Mickley (eds.), Advances in Animal Welfare Science 1985/1986 (pp.&nbsp;109–164). Washington, DC: The Humane Society of the United States
*[[Lori Gruen|Gruen, Lori]] (1993). "Dismantling Oppression: An Analysis of the Connection Between Women and Animals", in [[Greta Gaard]]. ''Ecofeminism: Women, Animals, Nature''. Temple University Press.
*Griffin, Donald (1984). ''Animal Thinking''. Harvard University Press.
* Horta, Oscar (2010). "What Is Speciesism?", ''The Journal of Environmental and Agricultural Ethics'', Vol. 23, No. 3, June, pp.&nbsp;243–266.
*[[Rosalind Hursthouse|Hursthouse, Rosalind]] (2000a). ''On Virtue Ethics''. Oxford University Press.
*[[Rosalind Hursthouse|Hursthouse, Rosalind]] (2000b). ''Ethics, Humans and Other Animals''. Routledge.
*Jakopovich, Daniel (2021). [https://onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca/asri/2021/10/17/the-uks-animal-welfare-sentience-bill-excludes-the-vast-majority-of-animals-why-we-should-expand-our-moral-circle-to-include-invertebrates "The UK's Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill Excludes the Vast Majority of Animals: Why We Must Expand Our Moral Circle to Include Invertebrates"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129010538/https://onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca/asri/2021/10/17/the-uks-animal-welfare-sentience-bill-excludes-the-vast-majority-of-animals-why-we-should-expand-our-moral-circle-to-include-invertebrates/ |date=2022-11-29 }}, ''Animals & Society Research Initiative, University of Victoria'', Canada.
*[[Immanuel Kant|Kant, Immanuel]] (1785). ''[[Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals]]''.
*[[Hilda Kean|Kean, Hilda]] (1995). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4289385 "The 'Smooth Cool Men of Science': The Feminist and Socialist Response to Vivisection"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413040407/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4289385 |date=2020-04-13 }}, ''History Workshop Journal'', No. 40 (Autumn), pp.&nbsp;16–38.
*{{cite book |last=Kelch |first=Thomas G. |date=2011 |title=Globalization and Animal Law |publisher=Kluwer Law International}}
*[[Coral Lansbury|Lansbury, Coral]] (1985). ''The Old Brown Dog: Women, Workers, and Vivisection in Edwardian England''. University of Wisconsin Press.
*Legge, Debbi and Brooman, Simon (1997). ''Law Relating to Animals''. Cavendish Publishing. {{ISBN|1859412386}}
*Leneman, Leah (1999). "No Animal Food: The Road to Veganism in Britain, 1909–1944," ''Society and Animals'', 7, 1–5.
*[[John Locke|Locke, John]] (1693). ''Some Thoughts Concerning Education''.
*[[Catharine MacKinnon|MacKinnon, Catharine A.]] (2004). "Of Mice and Men," in Nussbaum and Sunstein, ''op cit''.
*Mason, Peter (1997). ''The Brown Dog Affair''. Two Sevens Publishing.
*[[Mary Midgley|Midgley, Mary]] (1984). ''Animals and Why They Matter''. University of Georgia Press. {{ISBN|0820320412}}
*Molland, Neil (2004). "Thirty Years of Direct Action" in Best and Nocella, ''op cit''.
*Monaghan, Rachael (2000). "Terrorism in the Name of Animal Rights," in Taylor, Maxwell and Horgan, John. ''The Future of Terrorism''. Routledge.
*Murray, L. (2006). [http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2006/11/the-aspca-pioneers-in-animal-welfare/ "The ASPCA–Pioneers in Animal Welfare"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726021231/http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2006/11/the-aspca-pioneers-in-animal-welfare/ |date=2011-07-26 }}, ''Encyclopædia Britannica's Advocacy for Animals''.
*[[Roderick Nash|Nash, Roderick]] (1989). ''The Rights of Nature: A History of Environmental Ethics''. University of Wisconsin Press.
*[[Ingrid Newkirk|Newkirk, Ingrid]] (2004). "The ALF: Who, Why, and What?", in [[Steven Best]] and Anthony Nocella. (eds).''Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? Reflections on the Liberation of Animals''. Lantern 2004.
*{{cite book |last=Nibert |first=David |date=2013 |title=Animal Oppression and Human Violence: Domesecration, Capitalism, and Global Conflict |url=http://cup.columbia.edu/book/animal-oppression-and-human-violence/9780231151894 |location= |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=978-0231151894 |access-date=2022-09-14 |archive-date=2022-11-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104123609/http://cup.columbia.edu/book/animal-oppression-and-human-violence/9780231151894 |url-status=live }}
*[[Martha Nussbaum|Nussbaum, Martha]] (2004). "Beyond Compassion and Humanity: Justice for Nonhuman Animals", in [[Cass Sunstein]] and Martha Nussbaum (eds.). ''Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions''. Oxford University Press.
*[[Martha Nussbaum|Nussbaum, Martha]] (2006). ''Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership''. Belknap Press.
*[[Richard Posner|Posner, Richard]] and [[Peter Singer|Singer, Peter]] (June 15, 2001). [http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/dialogues/features/2001/animal_rights/_2.html Posner-Singer debate] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914200057/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/dialogues/features/2001/animal_rights/_2.html |date=2017-09-14 }}, ''Slate''.
*[[Richard Posner|Posner, Richard]] and [[Peter Singer|Singer, Peter]] (2004). "Animal rights" in Sunstein and Nussbaum, ''op cit''.
*[[James Rachels|Rachels, James]] (2009). "Darwin, Charles," in Bekoff, ''op cit''.
*Redclift, Michael R. (2010). ''The International Handbook of Environmental Sociology''. Edward Elgar Publishing.
*[[Tom Regan|Regan, Tom]] (1983). ''[[The Case for Animal Rights]]''. University of California Press.
*[[Tom Regan|Regan, Tom]] (2001). ''Defending Animal Rights''. University of Illinois Press.
*[[Bernard Rollin|Rollin, Bernard]] (1981). ''Animal Rights and Human Morality''. Prometheus Books.
*[[Bernard Rollin|Rollin, Bernard]] (1989). ''The Unheeded Cry: Animal Consciousness, Animal Pain, and Science''. New York: Oxford University Press.
*[[Bernard Rollin|Rollin, Bernard]] (2007). [http://www.nature.com/embor/journal/v8/n6/full/7400996.html "Animal research: a moral science"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728054434/https://www.nature.com/embor/journal/v8/n6/full/7400996.html |date=2020-07-28 }}, ''Nature'', EMBO Reports 8, 6, pp.&nbsp;521–525.
*[[Mark Rowlands|Rowlands, Mark]] (2009) [1998]. ''Animal Rights. A Defense''. Palgrave Macmillan.
*[[Richard D. Ryder|Ryder, Richard]] (2000) [1989]. ''Animal Revolution: Changing Attitudes Towards Speciesism''. Berg.
*[[Steve Sapontzis|Sapontzis, Steve]] (1985). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/20014103 "Moral Community and Animal Rights"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413211030/http://www.jstor.org/stable/20014103 |date=2016-04-13 }}, ''American Philosophical Quarterly'', Vol. 22, No. 3 (July), pp.&nbsp;251–257.
*[[Roger Scruton|Scruton, Roger]] (1998). ''Animal Rights and Wrongs''. Claridge Press.
*[[Roger Scruton|Scruton, Roger]] (2000). [http://www.city-journal.org/html/10_3_urbanities-animal.html "Animal Rights"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303191520/http://www.city-journal.org/html/10_3_urbanities-animal.html |date=2016-03-03 }}, ''City Journal'', summer.
*[[Peter Singer|Singer, Peter]] (April 5, 1973). [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/article-preview?article_id=9900 "Animal liberation"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100224090339/http://www.nybooks.com/articles/article-preview?article_id=9900 |date=2010-02-24 }}, ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'', Volume 20, Number 5.
*[[Peter Singer|Singer, Peter]] (1990) [1975]. ''Animal Liberation''. [[New York Review Books]].
*[[Peter Singer|Singer, Peter]] (2000) [1998]. ''Ethics into Action: [[Henry Spira]] and the Animal Rights Movement''. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
*[[Peter Singer|Singer, Peter]] (2003). [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16276 "Animal liberation at 30"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100330223321/http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16276 |date=2010-03-30 }}, ''The New York Review of Books'', vol 50, no. 8, May 15.
*[[Peter Singer|Singer, Peter]] (2004). "Ethics Beyond Species and Beyond Instincts," in Sunstein and Nussbaum, ''op cit''.
*[[Peter Singer|Singer, Peter]] (2011) [1979]. ''Practical Ethics''. Cambridge University Press.
*[[Timothy Sprigge|Sprigge, T.L.S.]] (1981) [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1154902/pdf/jmedeth00155-0044.pdf "Interests and Rights: The Case against Animals"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160219072849/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1154902/pdf/jmedeth00155-0044.pdf |date=2016-02-19 }}, ''Journal of Medical Ethics''. June, 7(2): 95–102.
*[[Marian Stamp Dawkins|Stamp Dawkins, Marian]] (1980). ''Animal Suffering: The Science of Animal Welfare''. Chapman and Hall.
*Stucki, Saskia (2020) [https://academic.oup.com/ojls/article/40/3/533/5862901 "Towards a Theory of Legal Animal Rights: Simple and Fundamental Rights"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109121601/https://academic.oup.com/ojls/article/40/3/533/5862901 |date=2021-01-09 }}, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 40:533-560.
*[[Cass Sunstein|Sunstein, Cass R.]] (2004). "Introduction: What are Animal Rights?" in Sunstein and Nussbaum, ''op cit''.
*[[Cass Sunstein|Sunstein, Cass R.]] and [[Martha Nussbaum|Nussbaum, Martha]] (2005). ''Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions''. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0195305108}}
*Taylor, Angus (2009). ''Animals and Ethics: An Overview of the Philosophical Debate''. Broadview Press.
*[[Thomas Taylor (neoplatonist)|Taylor, Thomas]] (1792). "A Vindication of the Rights of Brutes," in Craciun, Adriana (2002). ''A Routledge Literary Sourcebook on Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman''. Routledge.
*[[Peter Vallentyne|Vallentyne, Peter]] (2005). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25115834 "Of Mice and Men: Equality and Animals"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413170400/http://www.jstor.org/stable/25115834 |date=2016-04-13 }}, ''The Journal of Ethics'', Vol. 9, No. 3/4, pp.&nbsp;403–433.
*[[Peter Vallentyne|Vallentyne, Peter]] (2007). "Of Mice and Men: Equality and Animals" in Nils Holtug, and Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen (eds.) (2007). ''Egalitarianism: New Essays on the Nature and Value of Equality''. Oxford University Press.
*{{cite book |author-link=Paul Waldau |last=Waldau |first=Paul |date=2011 |title=Animal Rights: What Everyone Needs to Know |publisher=Oxford University Press}}
*Walker, Stephen (1983). ''Animal Thoughts''. Routledge.
*Weir, Jack (2009). "Virtue Ethics," in [[Marc Bekoff]]. ''Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare''. Greenwood. {{ISBN|0313352593}}
*Williams, Erin E. and DeMello, Margo (2007). ''Why Animals Matter''. Prometheus Books.
*[[Steven M. Wise|Wise, Steven M.]] (2000). ''Rattling the Cage: Toward Legal Rights for Animals''. Da Capo Press.
*[[Steven M. Wise|Wise, Steven M.]] (2002). ''Drawing the Line: Science and the Case for Animal Rights''. Perseus.
*[[Steven M. Wise|Wise, Steven M.]] (2004). "Animal Rights, One Step at a Time," in Sunstein and Nussbaum, ''op cit''.
*[[Steven M. Wise|Wise, Steven M.]] (2007). [https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9007642/animal-rights "Animal Rights"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081118132310/https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9007642/animal-rights |date=2008-11-18 }}, ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Refbegin|30em}}
*[[Joseph Lubinski|Lubinski, Joseph]] (2002). [http://animallaw.info/topics/tabbed%20topic%20page/spusanimalrights.htm "Overview Summary of Animal Rights"], The Animal Legal and Historical Center at Michigan State University College of Law.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20131005233221/http://www.animallaw.info/great-apes/index.htm "Great Apes and the Law"], The Animal Legal and Historical Center at Michigan State University College of Law.
*[[Marc Bekoff|Bekoff, Marc]] (ed.) (2009). ''The Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare''. Greenwood.
*[[Steven Best|Best, Steven]] and Nocella II, Anthony J. (eds).  (2004). ''Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? Reflections on the Liberation of Animals.'' [[Lantern Books]]
*[[Georges Chapouthier|Chapouthier, Georges]] and Nouët, Jean-Claude (eds.) (1998). ''The Universal Declaration of Animal Rights''. Ligue Française des Droits de l'Animal.
*[[Richard Dawkins|Dawkins, Richard]] (1993). [http://www.animal-rights-library.com/texts-m/dawkins01.htm ''Gaps in the mind''], in Cavalieri, Paola and Singer, Peter (eds.). ''The Great Ape Project''. St. Martin's Griffin.
*[[Daniel Dombrowski|Dombrowski, Daniel]] (1997). ''Babies and Beasts: The Argument from Marginal Cases''. University of Illinois Press.
*{{cite book|title=Respecting Animals: A Balanced Approach to Our Relationship with Pets, Food, and Wildlife |year=2018 |first=David S. |last=Favre |publisher=Prometheus |isbn=978-1633884250}}
*[[Lorna Finlayson|Finlayson, Lorna]], "Let them eat oysters" (review of [[Peter Singer]], ''Animal Liberation Now'', Penguin, 2023, {{ISBN|978 1 84792 776 7}}, 368 pp; and [[Martha Nussbaum]], ''Justice for Animals'', Simon & Schuster, 2023, {{ISBN|978 1 982102 50 0}}, 372 pp.), ''[[London Review of Books]]'', vol. 45, no.19 (5 October 2023), pp.&nbsp;3, 5–8. The question of animal rights has been approached from a variety of theoretical orientations, including [[utilitarianism]] and [[capabilities approach]] ("CA") – none of them satisfactory to reviewer Lorna Finlayson, who teaches philosophy at England's [[University of Essex]] and ends up (p.&nbsp;8) suggesting "think[ing] politically [and pragmatically] about animals: "It ought to be – it is – possible to arrange society differently." (p.&nbsp;8.)     
*[[Richard Foltz|Foltz, Richard]] (2006). ''Animals in Islamic Tradition and Muslim Cultures''. [[Oneworld Publications]].
*Franklin, Julian H. (2005). ''Animal Rights and Moral Philosophy''. University of Columbia Press.
*[[Lori Gruen|Gruen, Lori]] (2003). [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/moral-animal/ "The Moral Status of Animals"], ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', July 1, 2003.
*[[Lori Gruen|Gruen, Lori]] (2011). ''Ethics and Animals''. Cambridge University Press.
*Hall, Lee (2006). ''Capers in the Churchyard: Animal Rights Advocacy in the Age of Terror''. Nectar Bat Press.
*[[Andrew Linzey|Linzey, Andrew]] and Clarke, Paul A. B.(eds.) (1990). ''Animal Rights: A Historic Anthology''. Columbia University Press.
*[[Keith Mann|Mann, Keith]] (2007). ''From Dusk 'til Dawn: An Insider's View of the Growth of the Animal Liberation Movement''. Puppy Pincher Press.
*[[Jo-Anne McArthur|McArthur, Jo-Anne]] and Wilson, Keith (eds). (2020). ''[https://weanimalsmedia.org/our-work/hidden/ Hidden: Animals in the Anthropocene]''. Lantern Publishing & Media.
*[[Jean-Marc Neumann|Neumann, Jean-Marc]] (2012). "The Universal Declaration of Animal Rights or the Creation of a New Equilibrium between Species". Animal Law Review volume 19–1.
*[[David Nibert|Nibert, David]] (2002). ''Animal Rights, Human Rights: Entanglements of Oppression and Liberation''. Rowman and Litterfield.
*{{cite book | editor-last = Nibert | editor-first = David  | date = 2017 | title = Animal Oppression and Capitalism | publisher = Praeger Publishing | isbn = 978-1440850738}}
*Patterson, Charles (2002). ''Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust''. Lantern.
*[[James Rachels|Rachels, James]] (1990). ''Created from Animals: The Moral Implications of Darwinism''. Oxford University Press.
*Regan, Tom and Singer, Peter (eds.) (1976). ''Animal Rights and Human Obligations''. Prentice-Hall.
*Spiegel, Marjorie (1996). ''The Dreaded Comparison: Human and Animal Slavery''. Mirror Books.
*[[David Sztybel|Sztybel, David]] (2006). "Can the Treatment of Animals Be Compared to the Holocaust?"  ''Ethics and the Environment'' 11 (Spring): 97–132.
*[[Michael Tobias|Tobias, Michael]] (2000). ''Life Force: The World of Jainism''. Asian Humanities Press.
*Wilson, Scott (2010). "[http://www.iep.utm.edu/anim-eth/ Animals and Ethics]" ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy''.
*Kymlicka, W., Donaldson, S. (2011) ''Zoopolis. A Political Theory of Animal Rights''. Oxford University Press.
{{Refend}}

{{Animal rights|state=expanded}}
{{Vegetarianism}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Law country lists}}

[[Category:Animal rights| ]]
[[Category:Bioethics]]
[[Category:Political movements]]
[[Category:Ethical schools and movements]]
[[Category:Animal ethics]]