Since rights put a duty on others that some other entities must respect, rights are far more essential than interests. If animals have rights, there are particular things that humans should never do to them, as doing so would violate their rights. Animal rights are ethical concepts based on the conviction that nonhuman creatures deserve the freedom to live their own lives without being influenced by human interests. Autonomy lies at the heart of animal rights; therefore, breaching these rights impacts the ability of animals to lead an all-encompassing life of their picking.
Animal rights are essential because they reflect a set of views that challenge the incorrect but long-held belief that animals are nothing but mindless creatures. Animals’ perception as non-thinking, non-feeling creatures justified their use for human demands, resulting in today’s world. However, farmed mammals outnumber wild mammals, and most farmed animals are compelled to live in brutal surroundings on industrial farms. Animal rights are in direct conflict with cruelty to animals, involving animals utilized by people for many purposes, such as food, research, or even pets.
Animal rights can still be infringed upon when humans destroy animal habitats. Animal exploitative businesses and the myriad of environmental problems they produce, such as air pollution, deforestation, water pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions, would cease if animal rights were acknowledged. People have the rights that avoid unfair suffering. Meanwhile, animal rights activists want animals to have liberties to protect them from suffering maliciously. Animal cruelty laws exist to alleviate some animal cruelty, yet United States’ law only forbids the most extreme and extraordinary forms of animal cruelty. Most instances of mistreatment of animals, including veal, foie gras, and fur, are unaffected by these rules.
The global situation would be significantly less harmed if humans consumed more substitute protein sources, such as lab-grown or plant-based meat, and clean meat. Substitute sources, such as pineapple leather derived from waste materials from the fruit industry, could eliminate toxic factories, allowing clothing to be made minus leather or other animal byproducts. Fashion companies are progressively shunning fur in preference for faux materials, indicating that the fur business is being rejected. Marine populations and bottom habitats would be replenished, allowing ocean ecosystems to recover.
Since animals are sentient, animal rights advocates claim that people are treated differently because of speciesism, which is an arbitrary distinction founded on the false idea that humans are the only species worthy of moral respect (Crush course, 2017). Like sexism and racism, speciesism is evil because animals commonly used in the meat industry, such as chickens, pigs, and cows, suffer when confined, tormented, and slaughtered. There is no moral difference to be made between nonhumans and human animals. Of course, if the animal rights campaign succeeds in its objectives, society will be very different from what it is now.
In conclusion, no one is advocating for the similarity of animal and human rights; however, in an ideal world, animals would be free from human use and abuse a vegan universe where animals are not exploited for food, entertainment, or clothing. A world free of human exploitation of animals appears to be a long way off. Animals might someday be treated more fairly by humans due to activism initiatives spreading consciousness of the harsh surroundings they face in locations like industrial farms. As humans, we have no control over whether or not each bird has a nest or every rodent has an acorn. Animal rights allow animals to enjoy their lives without humans interfering with their surroundings or lives.
Reference
Crush Course. (2017). Non-human animals: Crash course philosophy #42 [Video]. YouTube.