I'm curious to hear your opinions on this. We were debating this in my political theory class today and it was really, truly interesting.
Do you think animals have rights? (I'm using the term "rights" loosely here on purpose.)
An article I read was written from the point of view that animals may NOT have their own rights... but that it was still desirable to protect animals. We were mainly talking about things like religious animal sacrifice and slaughterhouses, along with other cultural traditions involving animals.
Do you think we need to protect animals from harm? Do you think we need to do this for their sake (the animals) or for our own sake (that it is beneficial to us to do so)?
I can also try to link the article if anyone is really curious. It's graphic as a warning.