May 27, 2015 (NationalReview.com) — I hope these people didn’t think the question through.
Gallup reports that a worrying 32% of respondents believe animals should have “the same rights as people.”
Good grief. That would mean no ownership of animals. After all, people have the right not to be owned.
It would also mean no eating meat, animal experimentation to achieve medical and scientific advances, or perhaps even the ownership of pets–unless one had to obtain a guardianship for dogs, cats, fish, and birds as they often do for a dependent human.
Sixty-two percent agreed animals deserve “some protection from harm and exploitation.” Of course they do. That’s the difference between animal rights–an ideology believing in human/animal equality–and animal welfare, which posits a human obligation to treat animals humanely.
I am an animal welfarist. Animal rights is anti-human.
Reprinted with permission from the National Review Online.