Animal Rights:
Frequently Asked Questions

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." —Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Q. What does it mean to be in favor of animal rights?

A. Obviously, granting animals rights doesn’t mean we’ll see cats in the voting booths on Election Day or chickens behind the wheel of a car. What it does mean is that in similar situations, we ought to consider the interests of humans and other animals equally. That is, we should not grant less weight to an individual’s desire to avoid pain simply because she or he isn’t human. All animals bred for food, fur, animal research, and entertainment are capable of experiencing pain. They seek to live free of suffering. They care about their lives and those of their loved ones. As such, nonhuman animals, like humans, should be treated compassionately and live without fear of torture or death.

Q. Obviously humans should have rights, but aren’t animals inferior to us and therefore not deserving of rights?

A. Throughout history, people have tried to withhold rights from one group or another on the basis of race, gender, class, religion, or sexual orientation. Discrimination based on species (speciesism) is no more justifiable than these other forms of discrimination. Many arguments are used to justify speciesism, often based on the fact that humans are more intelligent than nonhuman animals. This fact may be useful in determining someone’s right to read Thoreau or Shakespeare, but it is irrelevant if we’re discussing someone’s right not to be treated like a commodity. However, many nonhuman animals are more intelligent than human infants and even some human adults who suffer from severe mental retardation. If someone can feel pain, does it matter how smart she or he is? We would never claim that infants or severely mentally retarded adults should be used in painful experiments, have their skin worn as clothing, hunted for sport, used for our entertainment, or eaten merely because they are less rational than we are. When it comes to experiencing pain, other animals are our equals.

Millions of animals are killed every year for their fur.

Q. If the animals are raised to be eaten or used in other ways, isn’t that okay?

A. Two hundred years ago in the United States, humans raised other humans as slaves. The fact that these humans were raised to be slaves did not justify their slavery. For the same reason, raising animals for the purpose of eating them, using them for entertainment or sport, experimenting on them, or using their fur or skin does not justify their exploitation.

Q. But it’s legal to use animals.

A. In the United States, it was once legal to refuse women the right to vote. In Nazi Germany, it was legal to torment and kill Jews. Cockfighting was legal across the United States. The legality of something does not determine its morality.

The vast majority of animals raised for food are intensely confined on factory farms.

Q. Didn’t God give humans dominion over other animals?

A. It’s hard to imagine the divinity of any religion condoning the misery we cause animals. We deny the animals we raise for food everything that is natural to them. Most have little freedom of movement and are confined in spaces so small they can’t even turn around, let alone access sunlight and fresh air, or socialize normally. They are tormented in ways that would horrify any humane person, and almost always for purposes that are unnecessary. Most religious and spiritual people agree animal cruelty is immoral. If we agree that God is against animal cruelty, then we should end our support of industries that mistreat animals for profit.

Animals forced to perform for human "entertainment" suffer both physical and psychological abuse, such as beatings, food depravation, and even electrocution.

Q. Other animals eat each other. Why can’t we eat them?

A. Predators in the wild kill other animals out of necessity. Without doing so, they would not survive. Humans, on the other hand, kill other animals by choice. Our bodies have no need whatsoever for animal flesh, milk, or eggs. In fact, medical research has consistently shown that a vegan diet is healthier than a diet heavy in animal products. Eating animals is not necessary for human survival. Rather, it is a choice we make. Is it right for us to choose to cause animals unnecessary suffering?

Q. Humans are the smartest animals and we’re at the top of the food chain. Why shouldn’t we use our strength to our benefit?

A. The “might makes right” argument has been used by many to justify cruelty and domination throughout history. Just as intelligence is an insufficient characteristic to justify human supremacy, so is strength.

Q. Where do you draw the line? Insects? Plants? Bacteria?

A. If the only morally relevant characteristic is the capacity to suffer, then the vast majority of animals abused in the United States today would qualify for moral status. All the animals used for food, fur, animal research, and entertainment possess a central nervous system and are capable of experiencing pain. There are some animals (such as insects) who we are less certain experience pain. It is up to each individual to decide where she or he feels the line should be drawn exactly. Plants and bacteria almost certainly do not experience pain, as they lack any nervous system at all. Nevertheless, even if one wanted to kill the fewest number of plants possible, one would be vegan. We eat substantially fewer plants by consuming them directly, rather than funneling them through farmed animals, who are extremely inefficient in converting plants to protein.

Dogs and other animals are routinely subjected to invasive experiments, often causing intense pain.

Q. If you want to be vegan, that’s fine. But, don’t tell me what to do.

A. Imagine saying to someone, “If you don’t want to beat your child, that’s fine. But, don’t tell me not to beat mine.” While we are entitled to believe what we like, we are not entitled to treat others—especially those who may be weaker—however we like. If we are harming others in our actions, people have every right to ask that we stop.

Q. It’s impossible to live completely “cruelty-free.” Almost everything we do causes someone suffering. Why try at all?

A. While we can’t completely eliminate the suffering we cause, by taking simple steps we can substantially reduce the suffering we are responsible for and even abolish various forms of institutionalized animal abuse. By becoming vegan, in particular, we can dramatically minimize the amount of suffering we cause each day. Being vegan is not about being “pure.” Rather, it is about doing what we can—within reason—to remove our support for animal abuse.