Preview

Animal rights vs. animal welfare

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1268 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Animal rights vs. animal welfare
If you were given the option to engage in a practice that could bring pain upon you, would you participate? If you were given a choice of housing, would you choose a beautiful home or a tight cage? Most people will choose to refrain from the pain and living in a cage, so why do some people think that an animal would choose any differently? Animal rights and welfare usually are put into the same category or on the same side of an argument, but they do have a difference in the fact of the rights of humans using animals. According to Abigail Geer, an easy way to define the difference between these two ideas is that “animal rights advocates are campaigning for no cages, while animal welfarists are campaigning for bigger cages” ("Animal Welfare and Animal Rights"). There are very many approaches that one can take on animal issues. Often people find their views change regarding the specific situation in which the animal is placed. Is the idea of animals’ rights more sensible in the society we live in today or is the idea of animal welfare more rational? In order to know this, one must know the definition and meaning of both of these. Animal rights are the rights that are free from human services that can potentially or certainly hurt them. Animal rights supporters believe that animals have the same value to the world as humans do. On the PETA website, members “believe that every creature with a will to live has a right to live free from pain and suffering. Animal rights is not just a philosophy—it is a social movement that challenges society’s traditional view that all nonhuman animals exist solely for human use” (PETA). Animals all fight for their lives just as humans do. Animal rights activists believe that we are all in this world together and that we are obligated to the same rights. Animal rights advocates usually tend to think differently than animal welfare activists. Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals. The science


Cited: Animal Rights and Animal Welfare: Do You Know The Difference? Digital image. Life With Dogs. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. Animal Rights: Pigs. Digital image. Animal Rights: Pigs. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. "Animal Welfare and Animal Rights." Welcome to SUBR. States United for Biomedical Research, n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. "Animal Welfare v. Animal Rights." Fur Commission RSS2. Fur Commission, n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. Francione, Gary L. “Animal Rights and Domesticated Nonhumans.” Animal Rights: The Abolitionist Approach. Gary L. Francione, 2007. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. The Official Meatrix I. YouTube. YouTube, 8 Nov. 2006. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. PETA. "Why Animal Rights?" PETA.org. PETA, n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. Young, Peter. “FBI Closes Investigation into Iowa A.L.F. Lab Raid.” Digital image. Animal Liberation Front-line. N.p., 2 Dec. 2010. Web. 27 Oct. 2013.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Regan, Tom. "Animal Rights, Human Wrongs." Forming a Critical Perspective. Boston, MA: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2010. 336-40. Print.…

    • 1234 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The general public as well as animals are put at a severe disadvantage as a result of the rules created by the politically elite. Those who are vulnerable in society: animals deemed useful and people who are economically disadvantaged, experience the most severe injustice, in part due to inadequate representation. There is no perceptible correlation between legislature, and mercy. The social justice movement is as strong as ever, and the discrepancy between laws passed and the need for basic human and animal rights has become more ubiquitous in modern culture. Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy, Una Chadhuri and Holly Hughes’s Animal Acts, and multiple articles that identify key issues pertaining to animal and human rights. As illustrated through…

    • 157 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Care Ethics and Animal Welfare” is an article written by Daniel Engster from the Journal of Social Philosophy, published by Wiley Periodicals in 2016. Daniel Engster received his PhD from the University of Chicago and is a professor in the Political Science department at the University of Texas in San Antonio.…

    • 441 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Annotated Bibliography

    • 1753 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Morris, Cindy. "Animal Cruelty." E-mail interview. 6 October 2011. ProQuest Staff. "At Issue: Animal Cruelty." ProQuest LLC. 2011: n.p. SIRS Researcher. Web. 10 October 2011. < http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=S200008280-0-285&artno=0000307333&type=ART>…

    • 1753 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In this essay, I’d like to argue against the general movement concerning animal rights. This movement aims to give animals more rights than is necessary. One of the main people who advocate this movement is Peter Singer. Singer uses many logical arguments that are reasoned and well thought out but are flawed and it will be very useful to show how the animal liberation movement is misguided and unrealistic.…

    • 2564 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cited: Epstein, Alex and Yaron Brook. "The Evil of Animal "Rights"." James, Missy and Alan P. Merickel. qtd in Reading Literature and Writing Argument. Upper Saddle River: Prentice hall, 2008. 604-605. Text. 8 September 2012.…

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tom Regan's Position

    • 1157 Words
    • 5 Pages

    An Argumentative essay that looks at and breaks down the philosophical difference between Tom Regan’s position on Animal rights and, Peter Singer’s position on Animal liberation as a basis for better treatment of animals.…

    • 1157 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In todays society many human right activists want fair and equal rights for their own being, however when it comes down to the animals wellbeing many are unaware about how they get treated. Animals have little rights in the world but there are many bills out there to trying to protect the animals life and its life in our future. Many people are trying to standup for the innocent animals that are locked up in cages, overbred and even forced to perform. Only if more of the population knew how animals were treated there would be less worrying about themselves and more on the animals that don't have a word to say.…

    • 1934 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    If humans have been given rights of their own, animals should have rights, too. Animals don’t deserve to be experimented on. They feel pain just as humans. We shouldn’t take animals for granted. They have a huge part in our world’s natural cycle. In Lisa Kemmerer’s article titled “Animal Rights” she asserts the issue of what defines animal rights. She addresses the fact that animals need rights just as humans. Ms. Kemmerer subtopics consist of the challenges that follow animal rights, the importance of animal rights, and the reasons why we need to consider standing up for animal rights. As Lisa Kemmerer states, “Animal rights is a simple idea because, at the most basic level, it means only that animal share a right to be treated with respect. It is a profound idea because its implications are far-reaching” (275). It is very important to acknowledge that animals need to be treated with respect. Animals are unable to voice their own rights. It is our duty to use our own rights to advocate the rights of animals. Without advocates for the rights of animals, our economic system may drop from unlawful standards. As a second writer suggests that as human we have moral obligations to not judge one by their outward appearance, skin colour, and ethical background yet we seem to judge animals without considering their feelings (274). We have such an impact on animals that we must stand up for animals and protect them. If we don’t take a…

    • 1733 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are differences between animal welfare and animal rights, but they share one main goal: an animal’s well-being. Animal welfare protects animals from abuse and exploitation. Animal rights are the rights of animals that they should be protected from abuse and exploitation. Even though these two terms have similar, yet different meanings, and are often misused, they still both involve the humane treatment of an…

    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Animal Rights Definition

    • 1251 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Definition- Animal rights are the philosophy of allowing non-human animals to have the most basic rights that all sentient beings desire: the freedom to live a natural life free from human exploitation, unnecessary pain and suffering, and premature death.…

    • 1251 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Rich, Alex & Wagner Geraldine (2011), p1-1, 1p Points of View: Animal Rights: An Overview.…

    • 2250 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Animal Bill Of Rights

    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Now in my opinion, I believe that animals should have an official “Bill of Rights”. They have emotions and show signs of intelligence. I believe that we need to draft a legal “Bill of Rights” for animals. Simple laws should be, and already are, in place to protect animals to some extent but there is more that could be done. Currently, the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) remains the only federal law that regulates the treatment of animals [1]. I believe that the AWA is enough protection for animals, we don’t need additional legislation on top of this and similar…

    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Animal cruelty has been a problem for many years, but also a major topic all over the United States. Over the years there has been people who have been trying to stop the cruelty to of these innocent animals. For example, Peter Singer and his book Animal Liberation, which caused the movement in 1975 to experience a veritable organizational explosion ( Beers 3). Just imagine how many animals are fighting for their life because of their heartless owners who believe it is okay for them to treat an animal aggressively as if their life didn’t matter. These animals are neglected, beaten, and are forced to survive. Animals should receive the same respect as humans. They are capable of thinking and feeling just the same way we do, so they deserve respect. These animals shouldn’t have to feel pain, which is caused by humans. Animals are not stones, they are able to feel and suffer (Cohen 3). Animal right consists of cruel and unusual abuse to another living being in the United States, because of them being used for experiments, getting killed for their fur and being used in fights.…

    • 1652 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In his essay The Case for Animal Rights, Tom Regan has set out a broad outline as an introduction for his book, The Case for Animal Rights, with same title. In the beginning, the author makes a special emphasis on that, the goals of the advocation of animal rights not only make people treat animals ‘more humane’, but also deny the view, which is fundamental wrong, that animals are humans’ resources. As a defender of animal rights as well as a philosopher, Regan attempts, through his professional knowledge, which area he has been exploring over ten years, to justify that animals have the rights as equal as human beings. In his own words, “people must change their beliefs before they change their habits”.…

    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics