Animal Rights and

Welfare

Animal Rights

Animal rights, also referred to as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings.

Advocates approach the issue from different philosophical positions but agree that animals should be viewed as legal persons and members of the moral community, not property, and that they should not be used as food, clothing, research subjects, or entertainment.

Animal Rights

FOOD

CLOTHING

ENTERTAINMENT

Animal Welfare

Animal welfare refers to the viewpoint that it is morally acceptable for humans to use nonhuman animals for food, in animal research, as clothing, and in entertainment, so long as unnecessary suffering is avoided.

Animal Welfare

The position is contrasted with the animal rights position, which holds that other animals should not be used by, or regarded as the property of, humans.

Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare

• Freedom from thirst and hunger• Freedom from discomfort• Freedom from pain, injury, and

disease• Freedom to express normal behavior• Freedom from fear and distress

Organizations

• PETA (People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals)

• HSUS (Humane Society Of The United States)

• PAWS (The Philippine Animal Welfare Society)

• AWC (Animal Welfare Coalition)

PETA

• largest animal rights organization in the world

• with more than 2.0 million members and supporters

• focuses its attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: on factory farms, in laboratories, in the clothing trade, and in the entertainment industry.

PETA

• works through public education, cruelty investigations, research, animal rescue, legislation, special events, celebrity involvement, and protest campaigns.

PAWS

• exists to prevent cruelty, alleviate pain, fear and suffering in animals

• to promote a society based on humane principles

PAWS

• fulfills its mission by working to provide leadership in humane education, public awareness, legislation, shelter support, charitable veterinary services, animal re-homing, counseling, investigation and legal support.

Animal Welfare vs Animal Rights

• The animal welfare movement accepts the idea that non-human animals can be used as resources as long as little suffering as possible is inflicted upon them.

Animal Welfare vs Animal Rights

• The animal welfare movement accepts that non-human animals interests can be ignored or undervalued when there is a perceived human interest in doing so.

• In practice, the animal welfare movement seeks to regulate the ways in which animals are used.

Animal Welfare vs Animal Rights

• In contrast, the animal rights movement defends the concept that animals have significant interest that should be respected and protected by legal rights.

Animal Welfare vs Animal Rights

• In practice, the animal rights movement aims at progressively abandoning the use of animals so that fewer and fewer animals have to suffer and die for purposes such as food, clothing, experimentation and entertainment.