PUBLIC INFORMATION / ANIMAL LIBERATION / PETA

During my research, I have found a book named 'Animal Liberation' by Peter Singer. In his, book Singer states that the basic principle of equality does not require equal or identical 'treatment'; it requires equal 'consideration'. This is an important distinction when talking about animals rights. People often ask if animals should have rights, and quite simply, the answer is 'Yes'. Animals surely deserve to live their lives free from suffering and exploitation. Jeremy Bentham, the founder of the reforming utilitarian school of moral philosophy, stated that when deciding on a being’s rights, “The question is not ‘Can they reason?’ nor ‘Can they talk?’ but ‘Can they suffer?’” In that passage, Bentham points to the capacity for suffering as the vital characteristic that gives a being the right to equal consideration. The capacity for suffering is not just another characteristic like the capacity for language or higher mathematics. All animals have the ability to suffer in the same way and to the same degree that humans do. They feel pain, pleasure, fear, frustration, loneliness, and motherly love. Whenever we consider doing something that would interfere with their needs, we are morally obligated to take them into account. 

Supporters of animal rights believe that animals have an inherent worth—a value completely separate from their usefulness to humans. Animal rights are not just a philosophy—it is a social movement that challenges society’s traditional view that all nonhuman animals exist solely for human use. As PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk has said, “When it comes to pain, love, joy, loneliness, and fear, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy. Each one values his or her life and fights the knife.” Reference: Peta